JEMS 25(2)

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS)
ISSN 1369-183X

Volume 25 Number 2 April 1999

Special issue: Caribbean migration to Europe and North America

Articles
Research notes
Reviews
Abstracts

Articles

Editorial

Suzanne Model, Gene Fisher and Roxane Silberman
Black Caribbeans in comparative perspective [Abstract]

Micheline Labelle
Re-reading citizenship and the transnational practises of immigrants [Abstract]

Ramon Grosfoguel
Puerto Ricans in the USA: a comparative approach [Abstract]

Mary Chamberlain
The family as model and metaphor in Caribbean migration to Britain [Abstract]

Karen Fog Olwig
Narratives of the children left behind: home and identity in globalised Caribbean families [Abstract]

Margaret Byron
The Caribbean-born population in 1990s Britain: who will return? [Abstract]

Giles A. Barrett
Overcoming the obstacles? Access to bank finance for African-Caribbean enterprise [Abstract]

Research notes

Suet Ying Ho and Jeffrey Henderson
Locality and the variability of ethnic employment in Britain
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 2: 319-329)

Michael Rowe and Jon Garland
Field of dreams? An assessment of antiracism in British football
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 2: 331-340)

Reviews

Elspeth Guild
Frances Nicholson and Patrick Twomey (Eds), Current Issues of UK Asylum Law and Policy

Peter I. Rose
Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race

Christiano Codagnone
Hilary Pilkington, Migration, Displacement and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia

Christiano Codagnone
Taras Kuzio, Ukraine: State and Nation Building

James A. Beckford
R. Stephen Warner and Judith G. Wittner (Eds), Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration

Philip Martin
David M. Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers: American Identity and the Turn Against Immigration

Philip Martin
James G. Gimpel and James R. Edwards, Jr., The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform

Maykel Verkuyten
Johan Leman (Ed.), The Dynamics of Emerging Ethnicities: Immigrant and Indigenous Ethnogenesis in Confrontation

John Stone
Peter I. Rose, Tempest-Tost: Race, Immigration and the Dilemma of Diversity

Dermot McGovern
James Nazroo, The Health of Britain’s Ethnic Minorities: Findings from a National Survey
James Nazroo, Ethnicity and the Mental Health

Kevin Mumford
Kathleen Odell Korgen: From Black to Biracial: Transforming Racial Identity Among African Americans

Books received, to February 1999

Abstracts

Black Caribbeans in comparative perspective
Suzanne Model, Gene Fisher, Roxane Silberman

Abstract This article compares the gap in socioeconomic well-being between native-born white persons and Black Caribbean immigrants in four nations: the USA, the UK, Canada and France. Theoretical considerations suggest that the gap will be smallest in France, followed by the USA. The data come from recent censuses and labour market surveys. Four labour market outcomes are considered: labour force participation, unemployment, occupational status and earnings. Each outcome is analysed using multi-variate models which are estimated separately by gender and nation. A comparison of the size of the inter-racial gap within genders and across nations reveals a pattern of cross-national similarity, other things equal. The article's conclusion considers some reasons why the empirical analysis failed to support theoretical expectations. It appears that these reasons have as much to do with the shortcomings of cross-national methodology as with the shortcomings of social science theory.

Re-reading citizenship and the transnational practices of immigrants
Micheline Labelle and Franklin Midy

Abstract There is a well-documented and increasing trend within industrialised countries towards strict immigration control, and for a growing emphasis on the value of citizenship. A parallel evolution is now discernible among immigrant populations, which argue for multiple identities and citizenships, backing up these claims with reference to the connections that immigrants maintain with their countries of origin. This article explores the extent to which these two trends are in conflict, and suggests that the traditional link between citizenship and nationality is undergoing a redefinition.
A survey of the literature on transnationality forms the first part of the article. A portrait of the Haitian diaspora in North America serves to illustrate the interaction between immigrant and host society. A concluding discussion suggests a re-evaluation of the discourse on transnationality. This shows that the terms employed to discuss the supposedly new phenomenon are riddled with imprecision and double meanings. ‘Transnational’ may or may not equal ‘international; it may construed as a threat to the nation state or, conversely, an opportunity for immigrant and host populations alike.

Puerto Ricans in the USA: a comparative approach
Ramon Grosfoguel

Abstract This article discusses Puerto Rican migration within the broader context of Caribbean migration to the USA. The first part discussest the theoretical framework. The labour market incorporation of migrants is conceptualised as a result of the socio-political modes of incorporation which among other dimensions include the US foreign policy/geo-politics in the region; public opinion/perception of the migrants within the host society; the presence or absence of a migrant community as well as the class/racial composition of the migrants and the the sending country’s core–periphery relationships. The historical origins of Caribbean migration to the USA are examined next, whereupon the article moves on to discuss the class origin of the post-1960s Caribbean migrants. Modes of incorporation to the host society are then explored, as is the foundational myth that forms part of US narratives about the nation and the way this affected the mode of incorporation for Puerto Ricans. Finally, the article discusses the challenges which the identification strategies adopted by Puerto Ricans pose to traditional conceptualisations of identity. In sum, this article portrays the multiple complex dimensions that determine the Puerto Rican migrants' particular mode of incorporation in the host society.

The family as model and metaphor in Caribbean migration to Britain
Mary Chamberlain

Abstract Until recently Caribbean migration has largely been viewed as a movement of labour, an approach which tended to exclude or marginalise the importance of historical, cultural and social influences in migration and settlement. This article is based on research conducted by Harry Goulbourne and Mary Chamberlain and financed by the ESRC on the evolution of Caribbean families in Britain. It explores the role of the family in Caribbean migration, and the impact of migration on the evolution of the family. It suggests that while individuals migrated, the wider family were implicated in the endeavour either at the point of departure or destination. In the process, family values of support, obligation and responsibility were reinforced and continue to be retained across the oceans, and the generations. Cheap communications and the move towards return provides further opportunity for family contacts to be replenished and with that fresh opportunities for cultural retention. The family therefore provides (and has done so historically) a model for migrant behaviour; this model however stresses the importance of siblings and kin peers who provide the basis of social networks and act as a metaphor in settlement and organisation. These two processes may be regarded as the avenues through which Caribbean peoples have ‘indigenised' in the countries of settlement.

Narratives of the children left behind: home and identity in globalised Caribbean families
Karen Fog Olwig

Abstract The long history of population movements in the Caribbean has led to the establishment of globalised families in which diffuse networks of relationships tie migrants and the relatives they leave behind into coherent social fields. Migration studies have documented that migrants often leave children behind with relatives, and that these children constitute pivotal points in the social fields. Yet there has been little focus on the children who grow up in these global family networks. This article examines four life stories related by young people from the Leeward Island of Nevis who were left behind by their migrant parents to live with their grandparents when they were small children. The aim of the analysis is to elucidate how children experience growing up in a home environment which is based on global relations as far as the most fundamental social, economic and emotional aspects of life are concerned. This study may also lead to a broader understanding of the cultural values associated with a good family life among people for whom population mobility and socioeconomic connectivity on a global scale have long constituted a basic framework of existence.

The Caribbean-born population in 1990s Britain: who will return?
Margaret Byron

Abstract As the Caribbean-born population in Britain ages, the issue of return migration of labour migrants becomes pertinent. The migratory cycle model is examined in the context of this postwar movement of labour to Britain. Return migration is revealed to be a very complex issue and is only one option which migrants consider. While return is considered a less desirable option by some migrants, others are denied this option due to a lack of capital. The close relationship between mobility and wealth is clearly demonstrated here. Meanwhile, the length of time over which migrants have remained in Britain has affected their lives and links with this country while their places of origin in the Caribbean have also altered considerably. Migration from the region has widened the geographical range of migrant contacts and, at times, dilutes the ties to the place of origin. Caribbean migrants appear to embody the notion of the ‘transnational community’.

Overcoming the obstacles? Access to bank finance for African-Caribbean enterprise
Giles A. Barrett

Abstract Small enterprises under the ownership of persons of African-Caribbean origin are a relatively under-researched phenomenon (Barrett et al. 1996). This article seeks to partially fill this research void by drawing on evidence collected from in-depth interviews. The article highlights strategies utilised by African-Caribbeans in financing their businesses, particularly in respect of their take-up of bank finance.
Contrasts are drawn with a control sample of South Asian and white businesses. The nature of the finance used for the business start-up is exposed. Evidence is presented in a number of formats including quantitative and qualitative data.
The article concludes that access to a key source of start-up capital, bank finance, is still a major stumbling block for prospective African-Caribbean business owners. This resource gap threatens the sustainability of their enterprises and the long-term development of an African-Caribbean business-owning class.