Spring 2018: The People of New York City
a macaulay honors seminar taught by tamar rabinowitz, ph.d
Absara Hassan
Response 5: George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World.
George Chauncey takes readers into the depths of the gay community in his Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World. In the introduction, Chauncey says that the “gay world” before World War II is hidden behind three myths: the myths of isolation, invisibility, and internalization. Continue reading “Gay New York”
Absara Hassan
Response 4: Sarah C. Bishop, “(Un)documented immigrant media makers and the search for connection online” and Subhash Kateel, Aarti Shahani, “Families for Freedom: Against Deportation and Delegalization”
Sarah Bishop highlights the many drawbacks of digital media by giving examples of ways that it has had negative impacts on undocumented immigrants. Bishop interviews twenty-five undocumented media makers, who share their personal experiences on the matter. One could only imagine the difficulty with which an undocumented person finds the courage to “come out”, and Bishop introduces several accounts of this situation. Continue reading “Undocumented Immigration”
Absara Hassan
Response 3: Kirk Semple, New York Times, “Take the A Train to Little Guyana” and Vivek Bald, “’Lost’ in the City, Spaces and stories of South Asian New York, 1917-1965”
The waves of immigration that have passed over the decades have led to the formation of immigrant enclaves across all five boroughs of New York City. In the article, “Take the A Train to Little Guyana”, Kirk Semple organizes the formation of enclaves into different sections, giving details of anecdotes, historical facts, specific locations, and the changes that these locations have undergone with respect to population for each immigrant group. Initially starting out as Kleindeutschland, also known as Little Germany, the area of lower Manhattan has been transformed throughout the years, drastically changing in ethnic composition with the addition of several immigrant populations such as those from Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa after 1965’s immigration reform legislation. The New York Times article expands on this change in ethnic composition by giving examples of ten relatively new immigrant enclaves that have settled throughout New York City.
Absara Hassan
Response 2: Ramiro Martinez, Abel Valenzuela, Jr ed., Immigration and Crime: Race, Ethnicity, and Violence
As America increasingly experiences flow of people from other nations, debates arise concerning the relationship between immigration and crime. According to Ramiro Martinez, these debates are futile, as there really is no substantial evidence to prove the detrimental effects of immigration on crime rates. In his book, Immigration and Crime: Race, Ethnicity, and Violence, Martinez highlights criminal immigrant stereotypes by providing examples from social scientists and intellectuals, and then refuting their statements with his own argument supported by statistical facts, before introducing “the reality of immigrant crime”.
Continue reading “Disassociation between Immigration and Crime”
Absara Hassan
Response 1: Sean Basinski, “Hot Dogs, Hipsters, and Xenophobia: Immigrant Street Food Vendors in New York”
There’s almost never a time when we don’t come across one: a shiny metal cart reflecting the view of the city, emitting an aroma that mixes with the urban atmosphere. Food carts can be found at any corner, and while we often stop by one in between classes, or just on our way somewhere, we rarely consider the role food vendors have played in the history of New York, specifically our immigration history. Continue reading “Xenophobia and Street Food Vendors”
