Claudia Yan
Peopling of NYC
3/12/15
New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network by Karen Fog Olwig
New York treated everyone differently. Through the interviews that Karen Fog Olwig conducted on Jamaican immigrants in NYC, each person experienced New York City in a different way. All the people who immigrated to New York experienced racism, however, some people felt it more than others and others, when looking back at their experience remember the family and security they had there.
At the start of the journal, it is mentioned that New York was a central location for immigrants to settle and it as also where many experienced “their first encounter with American culture and society” (Olwig 143). I do not think that what immigrants experienced in NYC would be considered as “American” culture. Even today, NYC is almost a country in itself, the city is incredibly diverse and as a result, the culture is significantly different.
Jamaica is a small island and when the country begins to have economic problems it can be very hard to pick things back up. William and Marie’s family was middle class in Jamaica as they ran their own fishing and stevedoring business. The family began struggling when the economy of the local harbor began to decline and demonstrated how fragile the economic situation in Jamaica was. By moving to America the economic opportunities for the family would be much greater and the economic status of the family would not be as dependent solely on the fishing and stevedoring market. As the family slowly moved to America, with Bill leading the way, most of the family got jobs in the same company that Bill worked in. This reminded me of an extension of the snowball effect when immigrants would come to America, following the footsteps of their family members; in addition to following the footsteps of their family members, they would also use those same connections to get jobs in the society.
As immigrants continue to live in the United States and become more integrated in society, the younger generation begins to move away from where a majority of the family is located in order to “make it on its own” (154). The moving away is reflective of becoming more integrated in American culture, but Charles mentioned that one of the reasons why he moved from Jamaica was because he would have been dependent on his parents. There is still a motivation to become independent, adding to the current security of the family. It can almost be viewed as, there can be no such thing as too much security. The higher up you can bring yourself in economic status, the better.
West Indian Migration to New York by Nancy Foner
The main problem that West Indians face when migrating to NYC is that they get associated with African American people. While their origins are very different, and their cultural upbringings are very different as well, it is difficult for West Indians to get people in American society to view them differently. Racism is one of the biggest problems that immigrants from the Caribbean face. African Americans as well as West Indians would be the least likely to be in intermarriage with another white person. Even though people from the West Indies experienced different culture and behaved differently from African Americans they could not escape the racism that they would experience. There was a recurring point that was made where immigrant parents told their children to not become too upset by the racism they were experiencing. Similar to what people would say in a bullying situation, do not let it bother you. The thinking is that you mind your own business, work toward the ultimate goal and place yourself higher up in society.
I was a little bit confused at the end of the journal when it was mentioned that the low levels of self-employment in West Indian groups could be detrimental compared to other immigrant groups. A majority of West Indians who migrated to America were of middle class or higher back at home, they were likely educated and moved to America to work their way up in society. Entrepreneurship occurred more frequently in other groups because people in other immigrant groups had difficulty learning the language and could not communicate with people in society, and thus became their own employers.
Trust Networks in Transnational Migration by Charles Tilly
This text emphasized the significance of trust networks in transnational migration. There are different scales to trust networks in transnational migration, but they are there to provide security to the people in the network as well as to work towards a larger long-term goal. Sending children to live with grandparents could have multiple purposes such as allowing the parents to invest more time in their jobs as well as working on improving the language and cultural understanding in their children.
Trust networks could either limit you or take you farther. Trust networks sound like they should provide people with more benefits than negatives. You give, you take and you receive security. However, when one person in the network is unable to fulfill his/her part of the responsibility, the network begins to fall apart and everyone in that network is put in a difficult situation. This is why it was so important that you really trust all the people in the network and why so many people worked so hard because they had such strong responsibilities to their family. It was even mentioned before how remittances and responsibilities towards the family would be more important than an individual’s own expenses. I really admired the dedication that was seen in the trust networks and people would work harder to improve and provide more the the network they were in.
