Peopling of NYC 2012

Sherri-Ann P. Butterfield tackles the question of identity in second generation West Indian immigrants and how second generation immigrants see themselves in a New York setting. She hypothesizes certain types of self-identification for the people she interviews. Some people may identify with their parents’ culture and strictly adhere to it. Others would somewhat assimilate to different degrees into the culture they encounter every day. Some will assimilate, but will still try and uphold the culture their parents have shown them. The participants in her interviews show different types of self-identification based on their life experiences. Also it seems that it is not really hard at all to identify one’s self until someone else asks about it.

Pearl, a thirty-three year old nurse, says in her interview that even though her parents did not like Trinidadians their perspective changed when they became neighbors with them. Also a thirty-year-old woman Marie remembers about the time she was in high school and a teacher asked her about the “black experience.” To this day Marie has no idea what that means. From these two interviews alone it is apparent that perspective about oneself occurs when one finds other that are different from them. When Pearl’s parents decided that they did not like Trinidadians they must have been in an environment where everyone hated Trinidadians because they lived in a different country and spoke a different language. Before Marie was asked the question about the “black experience” she might have never known that her teacher felt so different from her or how her other classmates may feel different from her as well. It’s these experiences that force people to decide who they are and what do they stand for.

The self-identification process changes as you grow from a young child into early adulthood. Children identify themselves as nothing more than children that like to play around, eat junk food, and watch movies. It’s the later experiences with other people that change how they see themselves. A parent may tell their child that they are different from other children and then the child will go around expressing this difference. This leads to a whole cycle of people expressing their differences throughout their life. Even though as humans we possess very little differences between each other, we escalate whatever differences we have.

This weeks articles mainly focused on second-generation immigrants and how they are struggling to find their unique identity within the vast and diverse culture of New York City that can be overwhelming. In Butterfield’s article, she goes through many personal accounts of West Indian people, whose identity and cultural uniqueness has been suppressed, simply because they have dark skin color. Second-generation West Indians as described by Butterfield often find themselves labeled as “being black” in school by many of their peers, and even their teachers.

Many of the West Indians in Butterfield’s article do fall into the “third place” or rather third category which Maira describes in her article. The third place, is for second-generation immigrants those who are stuck within two separate categories. The first category being people like their parents, who have immigrated to the United States, and carry with them cultural and ethnic values of their home, which they wish to imbed in the minds of their children. The second category consists of the people who have assimilated well into American culture. The “third place” Maira describes is sort of a hybrid, a mix between American culture, and the cultural values of their homeland.

Despite their ethnic, and cultural differences, West Indians are still discriminated and ignored at times by American society. The account of the graduate student studying sociology brought up a very interesting point. She said that while New York is very diverse and unique, it is sometimes detrimental to people of various ethnic backgrounds. “We all have different backgrounds and identities, but which ones need to get backburned for the sake of the larger good?” This somewhat relates to World Systems theory in anthropology where, in order for the advancement of some, others need to be sacrificed. Does this system also apply to the way American culture works? Are there certain groups who have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good?

Butterfield’s conception of West Indian self-identity reminded me of a concept I learned last semester in Sociology 101. This concept is called the Looking-Glass Self, created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902. It says that we view ourselves and form our identities based on impressions of how others perceive us. Essentially, what it is saying is that our self-identity, how we think of ourselves, is a product of how other people view us. Butterfield’s analysis of West Indian identity is a perfect example of this concept.

The primary question that Butterfield deals with is how West Indians view themselves; do they see themselves as either West Indian or an assimilated American identity? Or is their identity more fluid than that? Meaning, is there a unique combination of both pan-Caribbean and American identity mixed together? Butterfield does careful fieldwork by going to different communities of West Indians in New York City and asks about the dynamics of the people at home, in school, in the market, at a hair salon, and the general perceptions of how they see themselves. Almost across the board, the West Indians perceptions of themselves seem to directly stem from a very unique combination of external sociological factors: home (their first-generation parents); their ethnic enclave (if any); the way that teachers treat them or their expectations of the West Indians knowledge of the “Black” experience; the social groups in high school where you had to choose which group you belonged to; the connection to other second-generation students in college; the cops’ suspicion of all Black people regardless of their ethnicity. The list goes on and on. All these concepts are products of society that exerts an influence on the West Indian identity and contributes to their self-identification. It could be argued that with so many complicated external factors that go into the formation of such an identity, it is no wonder that their identity is so fluid. This concept of the Looking-Glass Self could also be helpful in understanding the self-identification of other ethnic groups as well.

Sherri-Ann P. Butterfield’s study on the way West Indians are identified versus what their ethnicity actually is, reveals some harsh truths about the way society views people. At first glance, people usually don’t take the time to ask where a person is from, much less what their ethnicity really is. As a result, we often go on quick judgments based on the color of a person’s skin to get an initial idea of who they are. However, this can be quite misleading seeing that people can have the same skin color but have extremely different cultures. For example, among the West Indian community, many of the people are often mistaken to be African American.

Although we are told not to judge people by the color of their skin, we still end up doing it. In the case of the West Indians, they are often seen as African American and are subjected to the same stereotypes that the African American people face. Obviously, this isn’t very fair to either party because their cultures are vastly different along with the history of their ancestors. Nevertheless, the way American society views the West Indians ends up causing a slight identity crisis among the second generation West Indians: should they keep their traditions or should they blend into the African American culture?

Being in America has created some changes in tradition of the West Indians. This can be seen in the gender roles now compared to what it used to be. Typically, American women aren’t expected to be subservient to the men in their lives. This contradicts the tradition of the West Indians where women would be the homemakers and the men would be the breadwinners. As a result, West Indian women of the second generation stray away from the tradition and have become more independent. Still, many traditions are kept to this day, such as the music and food.

What really appealed to me in this week’s readings was the discussion of education and its involvement in shaping the identity of second generation immigrants. Schools are one of the biggest catalysts of cultural diversity here in New York. During the school years, children come into contact with other children who come from various backgrounds. Such an environment almost forces one to develop some sort of identity in order to distinguish themselves from others and/or fit into certain identifiable groups. Much of this is touched upon in Butterfield’s piece regarding West Indian identity in New York.

As a whole, Butterfield’s article touches upon the mix up of West Indians and African Americans, and how West Indians react to such comparison in terms of identity.  Education made up a sizable portion of her discussion. Many times, West Indians with black skin color found themselves mistaken for African Americans. In one of Butterfield’s interviews, a West Indian girl recounted her time in high school when her teacher asked her to explain her “Black experience.” When she responded that she was in fact West Indian, her teacher became upset with her. The same scenario occurred for two other West Indian peers in her class. Another interview came from a West Indian man who discusses how in first grade, his teacher would not pick on him during class even though he was the only one with his hand raised. During parent teacher conferences, the teacher would have the audacity to mention that he lacked class participation. Both of these cases are clear examples of ignorance by faculty of the school in which West Indians are automatically categorized as African Americans because of the color of their skin. Most of these situations occurred a few decades ago when racism was much more blatant in the school systems. Any racial stereotypes attributed to African Americans were thus spread onto West Indians of dark skin color.

When it came to social interaction at school, a big decision had to be made for West Indians. Schools are an environment where social niches play a huge role. Because West Indians were often regarded as African Americans, many West Indian children found themselves grouping together with the African American niche; they assimilated to the African American culture. However, that was only at school. Most second generation West Indians had to maintain their West Indian culture to appease their parents who believed that they should embrace their ethnicity. One of Butterfield’s interviewees reported being “African American by day and West Indian by night.” Such was the case for many young West Indians attending schools. As they progressed through school levels, West Indians found themselves sticking to their own ethnic identities and diverging away from the African American label. Butterfield noted that as West Indians went through college, they found it easier to identify with their culture. They found it easier to discuss the disparities between the African American and West Indian communities.

In the end, the second generation West Indians identified themselves with being of American culture while at the same time keeping a balance with their ethnic culture and heritage to appease their families. Such a duality exists with second generation immigrants in general within New York. This is thanks to the exposure to different cultures and the battle of identity that takes place in school. The feeling of being different amongst a crowd really sets one apart and forces them to take a step back to look at themselves. I should know considering I was the only Asian-American in a predominantly african-american school until high school. Acknowledging differences and coming to terms with them is an important part of assimilating and identifying who you are.