“West Indian Migration in New York: An Overview” by: Nancy Foner

This Introduction was about the reasons why Caribbean people migrate to New York. Emigration from the Caribbean is often because of poor conditions in their home countries. Many of these migrants come to New York and make up the large West Indian Population in new York City. Many West Indians come to New York with the help of many transnational ties. They retain the ties while living here in New York. Transnational ties are retained through the exchange of letters, goods, or through formal associations. Technology also plays a big part in maintaining these transnational ties. Often times, these transnational ties play a major role in the politics of the home countries. Money is send from the United States to help towards a party’s political campaign before elections

West Indians are often put together with African Americans because of their skin color. So, West Indians often have to face discrimination and prejudice and racial stereotypes. There are times when West Indian families try to leave their communities and move to white neighbor hoods because they feel that they connect to white people more. However, these attempts are often futile because when black families move into white neighborhoods, due to prejudice, white families begin to move out while no other white people move in. This makes the community become increasing black once more. Then the segregation is once again reinforced in these neighborhoods. In these segregated areas, west Indians are forced to live with inferior schools, higher crime rates. This environment is different from the communities west Indians come from. They are normally not too concerned with race but they have a strong sense of ethnic identity and therefore, they try to separate themselves from African Americans.

As I was reading this, I thought that immigrants from various different countries are often more similar than we think. As an immigrant myself, I know that there are often times here when people are put into stereotypes that have no base with that individual person. The Stereotype might not necessarily be bad but these stereotypes can often be limiting of a person’s experiences. Foner also talked about some suggestions for future research. One of the suggestions that was interesting was the idea to explore the experiences of new immigrant groups.

“New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network” by: Karen Fog Olwig

This chapter talks about the notion that migrants come from poor, neglected groups in their own country who want to achieve the American Dream. Through their experiences they migrants are incorporated into their communities and societies and eventually shed their old identities an become “Americans.”

There are two opposing theories that go against this notion. The First theory says that a separated assimilation occurs and that these migrants are not assimilated into the mainstream American society but instead they are assimilated in to separate subcultures. The Second theory is that migration happens between places and several mixing countries. There is a two way flow of people, goods, and ideas like a transnational system where people have ties to more than one country or nation.

It also talks about how New York is often seen as the first encounter of a migrant with the American Society. New York was a point of transition for migrants. The chapter talks about one Jamaican family who first saw New York as a place to achieve their dreams. however,as more of their family moved in, New York became a “family center.” The family members lived within walking distance of each other. Over time, family members moved away because of family problems and deterioration of the family before them.

I feel sad that families were broken up after a while of living here in New York. I think it is true however that family must be held close but still at an arms distance. It is important to value your family but at the same time you need to keep it a certain distance away because if families become too close, conflicting views will make it easy for the family to deteriorate and separate. I wonder if making more money than they were making in their own countries or the money they were making when they first moved to New York might be causing these family problems. Maybe jealousy for a family member who makes more money might lead to something similar to a superiority complex for some family members and inferiority complex for other family members that could become the cause of arguments and family problems.

“Trust Networks in Transnational Migration” by: Charles Tilly

This article talked about the the connection between transnational networks and trust networks. Trust is defined by the author as an attitude or relationship that is made up of “placing valued outcomes at risk to others’ malfeasance, mistakes, or failures.” Trust networks have common characteristics such as there are people who are connected through similar ties. Then these ties between people gives then the aid of one another. Members of these Trust networks are doing long-term enterprises together. These transnational ties are very important because members of these networks looked to each other for help, advice, etc to fulfill certain responsibilities. The article also talked about remittances and the role they play in the organization of power. It also said that remitter’s obligations had to upheld and if they were not upheld then the remitter was shunned and criticized.

An important point was made that these transnational ties can also be limiting in the opportunities and overall futures of these migrants. Migrants find themselves stuck in niches of these trust networks unable to reach for other opportunities. This author also talked about the popular images of immigrants as one way travelers who are” desperate for work and looking for welfare in a richer country.” It is also said that these migrants cut ties to their home countries as soon as possible to take advantage of the new country they are migrating to.

While I do think that Transnational ties are important, I must agree with the author that these ties can also be limiting. Ties with people can help you get opportunities at the beginning but if a migrant wanted to take up a certain job that the networks don’t like, it will be difficult to take up those jobs because then you will be criticized and shunned for going after their own new opportunities.

I was able to understand the role transnational ties have in the lives of many people.