On Social Justice
Spring 1998Transnationalism and the Second Generation
June Carolyn Erlick
Transnationalism and the Second Generation
Transnationalism and the Second Generation", a two-day conference April 3 and 4, examined the changing nature of immigration in the United States and increasingly interactive ties between this country and the country of origin. The conference,co-sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and theWeatherhead Center for International Affairs, was organized by Wellesley College Sociology Professor and WCFIA associate Peggy Levitt and Harvard Professor of Sociology Mary Waters.
"These strong, widespread ties turn migrants and non-migrants into transnational actors who live some aspects of their lives in two contexts, though not always simultaneously or with equal force, explains Levitt."What is different about contemporary migration is that new technology, ease of travel, heightened economic and political interdependence and sending-state policies often heighten the intensity and frequency of these connections. Increasing macro-level economic, political and cultural interdependence mean that these transnational ties are likely to deepen and spread."
The idea for the conference proposal grew from Levitt's and Water's conversations about such questions as whether second generation immigrants will participate socially, politically, and religiously in the places that their parents come from or will they simply become ethnic-Americans. Levitt and Waters believe their conversations mirror larger debates among scholars of immigration and race and ethnicity, and decided to bring together a small group of scholars to discuss them. The conference focused on the following questions: "To what extent can we speak about second generation transnationalism? What does it look like? How do we distinguish it from other forms of identity? How does it manifest itself in everyday social, political, and religious life? What do we know about second generation transnationalism among earlier arriving immigrants and how do their experiences compare to contemporary groups?"
Transnational culture was examined both in general contexts and specific to particular cultures. For example, Nina Glick Schiller, an anthropology professor at the University of New Hampshire, and Georges Fouron, a professor of behavioral science at SUNY, Stony Brook, N.Y., explored the degrees to which Haitian youth in Aux Cayes, Haiti, and New York City are participants in transnational practices and discourses.
"Understanding that the old world does not stand separate from the new, we question previous definitions of the second generation and include within the second generation all those who have been born after a transmigrational migration process has been established, whether they live in the sending or the receiving country," they observed. "Hence both young people who now live in Georges' hometown of Aux Cayes, as well as his children, the children of his peers, and the Haitian youth he teaches at college in New York are part of this second generation, wherever these young people were born. Once a migration is established in which immigrants maintain multiple familial, economic, social, religious, and political connections back home, children in the sending country grow up in a world shaped by transnational connections. Even if they themselves do not have family abroad, their environment and political consciousness is shaped by the constant interchange of goods and service that take place around them and the changed patterns of consumption and expectation of their peers."
Diane L. Wolf, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis, took an intriguing look at a very different population, second generation Filipinos.
"What is surprising in this case," she found, "is the high level of Filipino assimilation and economic success in the United States when compared to other immigrant groups, juxtaposed with the despair, alienation, and unhappiness experienced by a significant proportion of youth."
Other conference speakers included Philip Kasinitz, Hunter College and the Graduate Center at CUNY; Diane Wolf, University of California, Davis; Parminder Bachu, Clark University; Jean Bacon, Williams College; and Ruben Rumbant, Russell Sage Foundation.
Discussants included, among others, Nancy Foner, SUNY, Purchase; Joel Perlman, Bard College; Milton Vickerman, University of Virginia; Nina Glick Schiller, University of New Hampshire; Susan Eckstein, Boston University; Michael Jones-Correa, Harvard University; Reed Ueda, Tufts University, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Harvard University.