Claudia Yan
Peopling of NYC
3/19/15
Caribbean Transnationalism as a Gendered Process by Christine G. T. Ho
The cost of emigration from the Caribbean is not only a large financial expense but also has huge human costs as well. As it is uncommon for families to move to the United States all at once, immigration tends to start with one person in the family and as that one person sets things up and becomes more financially stable, brings in more family members from the Caribbean. For some people it can take a very long time to achieve that dream and things do not always go as planned. Immigration creates a huge impact on family relations in the Caribbean.
In Caribbean culture the relationship between mother and child are viewed as the strongest and most special. Despite this fact, women are not necessarily the center of the household, with men taking the place as head. These are pretty standard roles in the family dynamic. Immigration very easily ruins this family dynamic. As women leave behind their children with grandparents or other relatives, children can often go for years without seeing their mothers and when they are reunited, may not feel any connection to their mothers at all. The idea of the nuclear family is much less important in the network of Caribbean migration, as it is difficult to keep a family together; economic opportunity tends to precede everything else in importance.
The most interesting part of this journal was how sexism and racism worked together in order to create uneven wage distribution in society. Men were paid extra to accommodate the supporting of a woman in a family and women were forced to rely on men to supplement their income. When I read this I was reminded of the character Suggie from Brown Girl, Brownstones as she had a job as a cleaning woman but really only managed to get by with her numerous male companions. What made it really difficult for people from the West Indies was that often times the jobs that were supposed to provide family incomes would not be available for them to work thus many families struggled economically.
Growing Up West Indian and African American: Gender and Class Differences in the Second Generation by Mary C. Waters
In this reading, Mary C. Waters addresses the interesting differences in how second generation children view themselves in American society. The second generation has become more integrated in society and also more aware of the racism that is very prevalent in society. Even though second generation children have this experience in common, how these individuals view themselves in society are extremely different and there are many reasons for that coming about, one of which being economic status, gender, race and even the neighborhood that children grow up in. The statistics provided indicated a relatively even split amongst individuals regarding whether they identity ethnically, American, black or immigrant. It is amazing how all these little factors can affect how children grow up and take their place in American society. Boys face more oppression than girls as boys are viewed in society as capable of being a public menace and thus all boys with dark skin color would be subject to harsher racism than girls. Because of these boys experience racism at such a young age, their outlook on society can become extremely hateful and thus inhibit their ability integrate into American society and try to get jobs.
I thought it was interesting how ethnic identified teens thought that race conditions have improved while American identified teens thought that they were not treated equal enough. I think the difference here is because ethnically identified teens view society in a more distanced way and thus expect to be treated a little differently. American identified teens however view themselves as a part of American culture and thus expect to be treated the same as anybody else in American society.
