SCHILLER Et Al. - Transnationalism: A New Analytic Framework for Understanding Migration

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Transnationalism:

A

New

Analytic Framework for

Understanding Migration

NINA GLICK SCHILLER

Department

of

Anthmpology

Vaivewit?,

f

ew

Hampshire

Durham,

New

Hampshire 03824

LINDA BASCH

School

o Arts

and Sciences

Manhattan C ol kp Parkway

Bronx, New rOvk

10471

CRISTINA BLANC-SZANTON

Southem Asian Institute

International

A@irs

Columbia Universit?,

iw

rik,

ew Yovk

10027

O u r earlier conce ptions of imm igrant and migrant n o longer suffice. T h e word

immigrant evokes images

of

permanent rupture, of the uprooted, the aban-

d o n m en t of old patterns a nd the painful learning of a new language and cul-

ture. Now, a new kind of m igrating population is emerging, com posed o f

those whose networks, activities and patterns of life encompass both their

host and

home

societies. T he ir lives cut across national bounda ries a nd bring

tw o societies i nt o a single social field.

In this book we argue that a new conceptualization is needed in order

to come

to

terms with the experience and consciousness of this new migrant

population. We call this new conceptualization, “transnationalism,” and de-

scribe the new type o f migrants as transmigrants.

We

have defined transna tion-

alism as the processes by which immigrants build social fields that link to-

gether their country of origin and their cou ntry of set t lement. Imm igrants

who

build such social fields are designated “transmigrants.” Transmigrants de-

velop and maintain multiple relations- familial, economic, social, organiza-

tional, religious, and political that span borders. Transmigrants take actions,

make decisions, and feel concerns, and develop identities within social net-

1



2 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY

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works that connect them

to two

or more societies simultaneously (Basch,

Glick Schiller an d Blanc-Szanton n.d.).’

T he following vignettes based o n ourob servations o f migrants from Haiti,

the eastern Caribbean, and the Philippines now living in New York allow a

ghmpse of the complexities and intricacies of transmigrant experience and

identity that, we believe, calls for a new analytical hmework.

T he ten men sat around a living room o n Lo ng Island. Th e occasion was

a meeting of their regional association. Each member of the association had

pledged to send

10.00

a month to su pp or t an older person living in their

home town in Haiti. They came from different class backgrounds in Haiti,

although

a l l

were fiirly successful in New York. But o ne o f the members, a

successful doctor, expressed dissatisfiction lthough he has a lucrative prac-

tice, a comfortable life style in New York and a household in his hometown

which he visits every year “no matter what.”

As

he stated it, “I’m making

money and I am not happy. Life has no meaning.”

H is speech ab ou t his em otion al state was a preamble

to

his making an am-

bitious proposal

to

his ho metown association. H e called on his fellow m em-

bers to join him in the building of a sports complex for the youth in their

hometow n. H e indicated that he already had bou gh t the land which he would

do nate and he would also donate

4,000-5,000

for the building

and

called

o n others

to

assist in th e construction. H e had given n o th ou gh t

to

main-

taining th e building o r staffing it.

T he doctor was n o t alone in his aspirations to make a mark back home

in a way t ha t maintains o r asserts status bot h in H aiti and am on g his personal

networks in New York. There were more tha n 20 Haitian hometown associa-

tions in New York in 1988.Their memberships were composed o f people w h o

have lived in New York for many years. Many of them undertook large scale

projects back “home,” projects which o ften are grand rather than practical. For

example, an ambulance was sent to a town w ith no gasoline supply and n o

hospital.

These associations differ dramatically in the activities and audience from

hom etow n associations o f earlier immigrants whose main, if no t only th rust

o f activity was to help th e newcomers fice social welfire issues in th e new land.

Russian Jewish immigrants in th e beginning of th e 2 0t h century, for example,

The term “transnational” has long been used to describe corporations that have major

financial

operations

in more than one country and a significant organizational presence in several

countries simultaneously. The growth

of

transnational corporations has been accompanied by

the relocation

of

populations. It therefore seems appropriate

to

use the term “transnational” as

a description

for

both the sectors

of

migrating populations who maintain a simultaneous presence

in

two

or more societies and

for

the relations these migrants establish. In 1986 the American

Academy

of

Political and Social Science employed the term as the theme of a conference publi-

cation entitled

F n m r h

wwkm o settkrs? i’innmahal

rn atzim

and thc tmqjmcc ofa

tlclp

mi-

m 9

The conference papers dwelt more on the effect o n public policy

of

this type

of

migration,

but did

so

without developing the concept

of

transnational migration.



CLICK SCHILLER e t al.: A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK 3

founded “landsman” associations to provide their mem bers with burial fund s

an d assist t l ie poo r and orph aned in the U nited States. In contrast, the m em -

bers of Haitian hometown associations, much as the participants in similar

Filipino an d Gren adian an d Vinc entian associations, are part of

a

social system

who se netw orks are based in tw o o r more nation states and w h o maintain ac-

tivities, identities and statuses in several social locations.

Approximately 200 well-dressed Grenadian immigrants, mostly from

urban areas in Grenada and presently employed in white collar

jobs

in New

York, gathered in a Grenadian-owned catcring hall in Brooklyn

t

hear the

Grenadian Minister of Agricul ture and Development . The Minister shared

with Grenada’s ‘i-onstituency in New York,” his plans for agricultural devel-

opm ent in Grenada and encouraged them to beco me part o f this effort .

By being addressed and acting as Grenadian nationals, these immigrants

were resisting incorp oration in to the b ot to m o ft li e racial orde r in t he Un ited

States that categorizes them as “black,” mu ch as Haitians d o when they con-

struct horn etow n associations

o r

meet as mem bers of the Haitian diaspora to

discuss tlie situation in Haiti.

By having their views elicited by a governm ent minister from home, the

Grenadi ans were exercising

a

status

as

Gre nadian leaders, a social status gener-

ally unavailable

to

them in the racially stratified environment of New York.

Th eir perce ptions of themselves as Gre nadia n “leaders” were fu rthe r activated

by tlie minister’s suggestion that these migrants have the power

to

convince

their relatives at home that agricultural work, generally demeaned as a pro-

ductive activity, is worthwhile and important.

But tlie M inister was

also

addressing tlie migrants as Grena dian eth nic s in

Ne w York wh en he asked them to try to assist in in trod uci ng Gre nad ian agri-

cultural goo ds to the United States market by using their connect ions in N ew

York within the fledgling Caribbean Am erican C ha m be r o f Co mm erce to

wh ich many o f them belonged. And of particular significance, the organ izers

of this meeting, who had each been in the United States a minimum of t en

years, were as involved in the local politics of New York City as in Grenada.

In fact, they were able to transfer-and build on- the political capital they

gained in New York to Gre nad a, an d vice versa. Grenada’s am bass ador t tlie

Un ited N ations has been a leader in t he N ew

York

Caribbean com mu ni ty for

20 years. And so often did these political actors travel between Grenada and

New York, that it became difficult for the anthropologist t recall where she

had last seen them.

Well-established Filipino migrants are also periodically visited by represen-

tatives of th e Philippines gov ernm ent urging transnational activities includ ing

st rong encouragement

to

reinvest their Am erican earnings in to Philippine agri-

culture. The role of tlie Philippines state in contributing to the construct ion

of transnational migrant fields extends even further.

A t a desk, an em ployee was helping a custo me r close her box an d com plete



4

AN NAL S NEW YORK ACADEM Y OF SCIENCES

th e listing o f items it c ontains. We were in t he offices o f a com pany in N ew Jersey

(th e only c om pan y where ho ses can be delivered directly

to

the warehouse

rather than being picked up for delivery). A regular

flow

of

such boxes leaves

every day from seven to eight m ajor Filipino s hipping companies. Any thing

can be sent back do or- to- do or and w ith limited taxes-appliances, elec tron ic

equ ipm ent and the like-as long as it fits the weight and size prescriptions

defining a Balikbayan box.

President Marcos had created the term balikbaym (literally homecomers)

dur ing a major national speech encouraging immigrants to visit their home

country once

a

year during the holidays. He developed economic and legal

means to facilitate their retu rn a nd allowed each of th em to bring yearly two

Balikbayan boxes duty-free. Mrs. Aquino restated her concern for the nu-

merous silent “heroes and heroines o f the Philippines.” She then enabled th em

to purchase gifts o f u p to 1,000 duty-free up on entering the Philippines. Co n-

tracting for overseas labor an d the system o f send ing remittances,

so

very im-

po rta nt now for the country’s econom y, has been similarly institutionalized.

The existence of transnational migration is thus officially sanctioned and

higlihr regulated by the Philippine state.

We thus

see

ho w the transnational social field is in part c om pos ed o f family

tics sustained throug h e conom ic disbursements and gifts. At the sam e time

this field is sustained by a system o f legalized exchanges, str uc tured an d offi-

cially sanctione d by t he Philippine state.

As these examples show, transnational migrants arrive in their new

cou ntry o f residence with certain practices a nd conce pts construc ted at hom e.

They belong

to

certain more o r less politicized pop ulati ons an d h old particu-

lar class affiliations. They then engage in complex activities across national

borders that create, shape and potentially transform their identities in ways

that we will begin to explore in this paper and in these conference proceed-

ings. This is not to say that this phenomenon has not been observed

by

others. However, an adequate framework for understanding this phenome-

non or its implications has yet

to

be constructed. Building on our own re-

search with transmigrants from

Haiti,

the English-speaking Caribbean, and

the Philippines2

as

well as the earlier observa tions of oth ers, we seek in this

paper

to

develop such a fram ewo rk. This framework we argue allows an ex-

am inatio n o f how transmigrants use their social relationships an d th eir varying

an d m ultiple identities generated fro m th eir simultaneo us positioning in sev-

eral social locatio ns bo th

to

accommodate

to

and

to

resist th e difficult circum -

stances and the dominant ideologies they encounter in their transnational

A fuller

development of th e them es in this article can be found in our book, Rethink

mrguarimt,

etbnicizy, m e , and

matimatism

in mnsn at imulppect ive

(Basch, Glick Schiller, and Blanc-

Szanton , forthcoming). See also Glick Schiller an d F ouron (1990)an d Basch

etal .

(forthcoming).



G LI C K SC H I LLER

e t

al.: A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK 5

fields. We start our analysis by identifying and developing six premises that

situate transn ationalism in time, space, world systems an d sociological theory .

T h e six premises central

to

o u r conceptualization o f transnationalism are

th e following:

1)

bo un de d social science con cepts such as tribe, eth nic group ,

nation, society, or culture can limit the

ability of

researchers to first pe rce i\q

and th en analyze, the p hen om eno n of t ransnat ional ism;

2)

the development

of

th e transn ational m igrant experience is inextricably linked to th e changing

cond itions of global capitalism, a nd m ust be analyzed within tha t world co n-

text;

3)

transnationalism is grounded in the daily lives, activities, and social

relationships of migrants; 4) transnational migrants, although predominantly

workers, live a comp lex existence that forces them

to

confront , draw upon,

an d rework different identity cons tructs-n ational, eth nic an d racial; 5) t he

fluid an d comp lex existence of transnational migrants com pels us to reconcep-

tualize th e categories of nationa lism, ethnicity, an d race, theoretical w ork th at

can contribute

to

reformulat ing ou r understanding of cul ture, c lass, and so-

cictv; and 6) t ransmigrants deal with and confront a n um be r of hegemonic

contexts, bo th global and national.3 Th ese hegem onic contexts have an im-

pact o n th e transmigrant’s consciousness, b u t at th e same time transm igrants

reshape these contexts by their interactions and resistance.

SOCIAL SCIENCE UNBOUND

For the past several decades descriptions of migrant behavior that could

be characterized as transn ational have been present in the mig ration literature,

b u t these d escriptions have n o t yielded a new approach to the s tudy o f mi-

gration. Stud ents

of

migration did no t develop a conceptual framework

to

en-

compass t he global p he no m ena o f immigrant social, political, a nd eco nom ic

relationships that spanned several societies.

Th ere was a certain recogn ition tha t th e constant back an d forth flow o f

people

could no t be captured by the categories of“permancnt migrants,” “re-

turn migrants,” “temporary migrants,” or “sojourners.” In fact, Richardson,

who se ow n w ork do cum en ts Caribbean “migration as livelihood” states that

“students

of

the movements of Pacific islanders have found human mobility

there so routine that they now employ the term circulation rather than mi-

gration”

1983:176).

Chan ey astutely noted that there were no w people wh o

had their “feet in two societies”

1979:209).

Noting that many Garifuna

“today have become United States citizens, yet they think of themselves as

members of two or more) societies,” Gonzale z described migrants from Belize

as forming “‘part societies’ within several countries” 1988:10).

T he concept of hcgemony ong embedded in Marxism but developed by Gramsci

1971).

Eicilitatcs the discussion of t h e relationship b etween power and ideology.



ANNALS

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In part, the recognition by social scientists that many migrants persist in

their relationship

to

their hom e society, n o t in contradiction to but in con-

junction with their settlement in the host society, did not develop beyond

th e descriptive level because migrant experiences in d ifferent areas of th e world

tended to be analyzed as discrete and separate phenomena rather than as part

of a global phenomen on. For example, students of Caribbean migration noted

the tendency of generations of migrants from the Caribbean

to

spend long

periods away fi-om hom e, yet su pport their families an d often family landhold-

ings o r small enterprises with th e money they sen t hom e. Th ey identified Ca-

ribbean nations as “remittance societies” an d viewed this as a Caribbean phe-

nomenon (Wood and McCoy 1985; Rubenstein 1983). Yet remittances are

now part of the economies of nations in disparate parts of the world.

In ll th e social sciences, analyses of immigrant populations, their patterns

of social relations and systems of meaning have continued

to

be enmeshed

within theories tha t approached each society as a discrete and bounded entity

with its own separate economy, culture, and historical trajectory. That the

study of immigrant populations shou ld have been built up on such a bounded

view of society and culture is no t surprising considering that ll social sciences

had for decades been dominated by such static models.

Anthropologists, for example, were lon g constrained by the closed models

of “structural functionalism” (Radcliffe Brown 1952 ) that endowed popula-

tions, variously designated as “tribes,” “peoples,” “ethnic groups,” or simply

“cultures,” with given, “natural,” and group-specific properties. Each popula-

tion was studied as a bounded un it, living in on e place, bearing a uniq ue an d

readily identif iable ~ulture.~ociology, meanwhile, had fastened o n Parsons’

emphasis on “social system” and the development of systems theory, and

political scientists created m odels of “traditional” versus c‘modern’’ societies

(Parsons 1951). In the comparative study of “social systems,” ll fields of

scholarship projected an ethnograph ic present in which th e stasis o f tradition

was broken apart only by 19th and 20th century European or American “con-

tact,” resulting in migration, urbanization, and acculturation. Anthropolo-

gists may have expressed uneasiness ab out the consequences o f th e very

same

processes that produced th e political scientists’ quintessential goal of modern-

ization, but until the 1970s ll disciplines remained constrained by their

bounded categories of social analysis.

For the past

two

decades, such views have been subject

to

powerful cri-

tiques generated by several different analytical paradigms. But these critiques

have yet to lead

to

new approaches to the study of immigrant populations.

In anthropology, efforts

to

break free fi-om bounded thinking have gone in

While the concept o f uniform patterns o f culture (Benedict 1959) has been thoroughly

critiqued by numerous anthropologists it persists in the profession and is a basic building block

of

most introductory texts.



GLICK SCHILLER

e t al.:

A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK 7

two directions. Some analysts “deconstruct” culture, recognizing the artifice

o f the bo un de d un it o f analysis by replacing conceptions o f a single uniform

“pattern” with multiple visions o f individual, gendered and particularized ex-

periences. By and large, as Marcus has noted, “ethnographers o f an inte rpre-

tive bent-m ore interested in problems of cultural meaning than in social

action- have no t generally represented th e ways in which closely observed cul-

tural worlds are embedded in larger, more impersonal systems” (Marcus

1986:166). The emphasis is on the formulation of the ethnographic text as

a pro du ct of th e interaction between th e individual ethnographer an d the “in-

formant” (Rosaldo 1989). For those writers who, in their dwussion

of

“text

construction:’ acknowledge a global context the question becomes “once th e

line between the local worlds o f subjects and th e global world o f systems be-

com es radically blurred , (h)o w, . . is th e representational space of th e

realist ethnog raphy to be textually bo un ded and contained in the compelling

recognition of the larger systems contexts of any ethnographic subjects?”

(Marcus 1986:171).

Others, such

as

Wolf(1982; 1988) and W onley (1984),building o n a Marxist-

influenced anthropology which decades earlier had expressed disquietude

ab out th e reification o f the concep t of “tribe,”5 have called for a global level

of

analysis. Sectors of sociology and political science share this global vision an d

look

to

th e “world capitalist system”

as

a unit of analysis. Wallerstein, a soci-

ologist, developed a “world systems theory” in which different geographic re-

gions of the world performed different and unequal functions in a global di-

vision of labor (Wallerstein

1974;

19 82 ). World systems theory allowed social

science to move beyond th e examination o f th e structures o f individual econ-

omies and

to

link the penetration of capital into previously non-capitalized

sectors of produ ction

to

th e movements o f people into th e labor market.6

However necessary this global perspective,

it

has proved

to

be insufficient

o n several counts.’ Little has been d one by world systems theorists

to

explain

the continuing significance of nation-states within these larger global pro-

cesses, and world systems theorists have tended

to

ignore the

legal,

military,

an d ideological basis for th e c on tinu ing existence of nations. In fact, th e inter-

national flow of capital and distribution of labor takes place in a world that

continues to be very much politically divided into nation-states that are un-

The authors represented in

says

on

the

P f 0 b . h

of

the

tribe

(Helm 1975) and Morton

Fried’s (1975) insightfid work on primordial state formation and the tribe made seminal contri-

butions to the effort t move anthropology beyond the conceptualization o f cultures as tightly

bounded, and discrete.

6 Important early work in a global analysis was carried out by Andr6 Gunder Frank (19 66 ).

Work t link world system theory t migration has been carried out by numerous authors in-

cluding Bach (19 80), Portes and Walton (1981), Pessar

1982)

and Sassen (1988).

For efforts to both critique and build upon a world systems framework see Smith (1984),

Lozano (1984), Portes and Bach (1985).



8 ANNALS NEW

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equal in their power, and which serve differentially as base areas of inter-

national capital. Wallerstein has addressed the constructed nature of nation-

alism and has recognized t h e significance o f nationalism in th e deve lopm ent

of states. Nevertheless, a great deal more needs to

be

said ab ou t th e fact tha t

nation-states, although they exist with in th e world capitalist system, cont inue

to

control armies and nuclear weapons. Much world system analysis has fo-

cused o n th e econom ic rather tha n the political aspects of the system, espe-

cially in discussions of migration.8

A no the r shortcoming o f world systems theorists wh o have built u po n W al-

lerstein has been their tendency

to

view migrants as essentially units of labor.

While the direction has been set by authors such as Portes and Bach

(1985)

and Sassen (1988) who acknowledge that a global perspective must include

th e social, cultural, and political dimensions of migrant experiences, this work

has yet

to

be done. Our observations suggest that the transnational context

of migrants’ lives develops from the interplay of multiplex phenomena-

historical experience, structural conditions, and the ideologies of their home

and host societies.

In developing th e concep t of transnationalism we wish

to

provide those

studying contemporary migrating populations with a framework in which

global economic processes, and the continuing contradictory persistence

of

nation-states can be linked

to

migrants’ social relationships, political actions,

loyalties, beliefs, and identities. At this juncture in the social sciences,

it

is

es-

sential that t he stu dy of migrating populations comb ine a n emphasis o n social

relations, understood to be fluid and dynamic, yet culturally patterned, with

an analysis of the global context. Such an approach is certainly necessary

to

elucidate th e processes underlyin g th e experience o f those sectors of migrating

populations who become transmigrants.

l+ansnutionalismas a

duct

of orld Capitalinn

To analyze transnationalism we must begin by recognizing that th e world

is currently bound together by a global capitalist system. Such

a

perspective

allows us

to

examine the economic forces that structure the flows

of

inter-

national migration and

to

place the migrants’ responses to these forces and

their strategies o f survival, cultural practices an d identities within the w orld-

wide historical context o f differential power and inequality.

Because of the growing internationalization of capital, by th e

1980s

the

structure of employ ment in the Un ited States had u ndergone transformations

often called “restructuring” o r “deindustrialization” (Block 1987:136). Many

stable industrial-sector jobs had been lost through the export of manufac-

Zolberg 1983)has emphasized the political and

legal

structuring of international m igration.



GLICK SCHILLER et a l . : A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK

9

turing industries and related jobs abroad, frequently to Third World coun-

tries. In many large urban areas in the United States well-paying, unionized,

industrial e m plo ym en t was replaced by service sector an d clerical em plo ym en t.

Sweat shops and ho m e w ork proliferated. T h e newly created e mp loym ent was

characterized by low pay an d little o r n o benefits o r security.

At the same time, in the global restructuring of capital, the local econo-

mies of the Third World were disrupted by the intrusion of large scale agro-

busincsses, the investm ent o f transnation al corporations in exp ort processing

industries, and tourism (Nash and Fernandez 1983). The se econo mic shifts

created a displaced, underemployed, labor force, not easily absorbed by the

grow ing b ut still relatively small highly capitalized sector of the econo my. T h e

econo mic dislocations in b oth the Third W orld and in industrialized nations

increased migration, yet made it difficult fo r the migrants

to

construct secure

cultural, social or e con om ic bases within their new settings. Th is vulnerability

increased the likelihood tha t migrants would co nst ruc t a transnational existence.

Understanding this

global

con text has led

to

new perspectives o n migra tion,

perspectives th at can con tribu te to an under standing that cu rrent migration is

a new and different phenomenon. There is, however, no consensus among

analysts o n the character o f the ne w m igration. There are som e wh o po int to

the invention of rapid transportation a nd com mu nication systems, rather than

th e cur ren t state of the world social an d econ om ic system, as th e reason w hy

mod ern-day migrants are more likely than their predecessors to maintain on-

goin g ties to their societies of ori gin (Wakeman 1988).Others cont inue to view

migrants within a classic “push-pull” model in which migration is seen as a

prod uct ofsepara te an d unrelate d forces in th e society of origin a nd t h e society

ofsett lement (Lee 1966).Using rec ent historiog raphy tha t has revised o u r pic-

ture of l 9 th century immigrants , on e might argue that there has been n o major

cha nge in migration patte rns. Appa rent ly ma ny earlier migrants were, in som e

sense, transmigrants w ho remained in com mun ication with the ir hom e country

an d participated in its national mo vem ent (Vassady 19 82 ). We believe tha t cur-

rent transnationalism doe s ma rk a new type of mi gra nt existence and tha t o nly

by m ore fully dev elop ing a global perspective o n t he trans natio nal life experi-

ence of migrants, will social scientists be able

to

understand the similarities

and differences between past and present migrations.

Pansnatkmalism

as

Cultural

Flow

or

as Social Relations?

T h e word transnationalism has recently bec ome p opularized in the realm

of cultural studies with references made to “transnational phenom ena” an d

“transnational research” (Wakeman 1988:85). However, this usage of trans-

nationalism stands conceptually apart from th e en tire bodies o f literature o n

migration and on the world system. Instead, those who speak of “trans-



1

ANNALS NEW

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national phenomena” focus o n

flows

of meanings and material objects in an

effort

to

describe “transnational” culture, and put the discussion of culture

in a world-wide framework.

Appadurai an d Breckenridge seek to explain the recent development of a

“public culture” in Ind ia, which they see manifested in public foods, enterta in-

ment, goods and services that largely transcend national boundaries. Such a

public culture, they argue, is a response

to

India’s cultural in teractions an d ex-

changes with other nations (Appadurai and Breckenridge 1988).They high-

light the complexities, the back-and-forth transferences, and the contradic-

tions that characterize transnational flows of objects and cultural meanings.

A similar approach to global cultural trends has been taken by Hannerz

1989).Critiquing those w ho see the diffusion of cultural goodsand ideas only

fkom powerful core nations to those o n th e econom ic periphery, Hann erz ar-

gues against notions of a “global village” o r t he “hom ogenization” o f culture.

Hannerz rightly emphasizes the constant tendency of people

to

creatively re-

interpret, a process he calls “creolization.” Focusing largely on movements o f

cultural items and flows of media images, he also emphasizes “cultural flows.”

T he concurrent m ovem ent of peoples, and the activities, networks, relation-

ships, and identities of transnational migrants have yet to be addressed.

In ou r task of developing a transnational h m e w o rk tha t is of use in th e

analysis of migration, we can build o n some ground-breaking w ork th at has

directed o ur a ttention to systems of social relations th at are wider tha n national

borders. In their 1975 description of Barbadian immigrants, Sutton and

Makiesky-Barrow spoke o f a “transnational sociocultural an d political system”

1987).9They posited tha t migration provides “an impo rtant channel for the

bi-directional flow of ideas such th at political events at hom e

eg.,

ndepen-

dence) had an impact on the migrant communities abroad while migrant ex-

periences were relayed in the opposite direction” 1987:114).Portes and

Walton s u g p t e d that m igration could be “conceptualized as a process of net-

work building”

1981:60).

u s e ntroduced the concept of“transnational mi-

grant circuits’’ th at encom pass several societies 1988; 1989).

As th e work o f these authors and ou r ow n research makes clear,

to

under-

stand current day migrants we must not only map the circulation of goods

and ideas, but understand that material

goods

are embedded in social rela-

tions. If someone sends hom e a barbecue grill to Haiti, th e

gnll

does no t stand

in an d o f itself as an item of material culture th at will change the material cul-

ture of Haiti. While it

is

interesting

to

talk about the new development of

cultural forms around imported items, some thing else needs to be said. Th e

grill

is a statement ab ou t social success in t he Un ited States and an effort

to

9

See also Sutton’s more recent discussion of “the emergence of a transnational socio-

cultural system”

1987).



GLICK SCHILLER

e t

al.: A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK

1 1

build and advance social position in Haiti. It will be used in

a

fashionable

round of party-going in which status is defined and redeemed in the context

of

consumption .

When someone from a small town in

Haiti,

St. Vincent, o r th e Philip-

pines who now lives in New York sends home a cassette player, how are we

to

interpret this flow? T h e player can be used alon g with im port ed cassettes

to bring the latest musical forms an d them es from ar oun d th e world i nto th e

most remote

rural

area. B ut o n this same cassette tho se sitting o n

a

mountain-

side in Haiti, in a rural village in the Philippines, or on

a

family veranda in

St. Vincent send messages, warnings, information about kith and kin “ a t

home” that influence how people behave and what they think in New York,

Los Angeles, and Miami (Richman 1987). Connections are continued, a

wider system of social relations is maintained, reinforced, and remains vital

and growing.

W heth er the transnational activity is sending the barbecue to Haiti, dried

fruits and fabric ho m e to Trinidad

s o

these goods can be prepared for a wed-

din g in Ne w York, o r using the special tax statu s of Balikbayan boxes to send

expensive goods from the United States

to

families back ho m e in t h e Philip-

pines, the constant and various flow of such goods and activities have em-

bed ded w ithin th em relationships be tween people. T hese social relations take

OJI meaning within the flow and fabric of daily life, as linkages between

different societies are m aintained, renewed, an d reco nstituted in the con text

of families, of institutions, of economic investments, business, and finance

an d of political organiza tions an d stru ctures including nation-states.

The Cmnplex Identities

of

l3ansnatimtal Migrants

Within their complex web of social relations, transmigrants draw upon

and create fluid a nd multiple identities gro un de d both in their society of

origin an d in the hos t societies. W hile some migrants identify mo re with o n e

society than the other, the majority seem

t

maintain several identities that

link them simultaneously

to

more than one nation. By maintaining many

different racial, national, an d e thnic identities, transmigrants are able

to

ex-

press their resistance to the global political and econo mic situations that en-

gulf them , even as they accom mo date themselves to living conditio ns mark ed

by vulnerability and insecurity. These migrants express this resistance in small,

everyday ways that usually do not directly challenge or even recognize the

basic premises of the systems that surroun d them and dictate th e terms o f their

existence.

As transmigrants live in several societies simultaneously, their actions and

beliefs contribute to the continuing and multiple differentiation of popula-

tions. T h e creolization observed by H ann erz is n o t only a prod uct o f intensified



12 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

world-wide product distribution systems, but also of this dynamic of migra-

tion and differentiation.

In order for us

to

be able even

to

perceive, much less analyze, the role

played by migration in the continuing differentiation of the world’s popu-

lation, we must add to the study of international migration an examina-

tion of the identities and aspirations of transmigrants. This perspective should

accompany our understanding that such migrants compose a mobile labor

force within a global economic system. This is a labor force th at acts and reacts

in ways that emphasize, reinforce, or create cultural differentiation and sepa-

rate identities.

For example, the same individual may attend a meeting o f U.S. citizens

of th e same “ethnic g roup,” be called as a New Yorker

to

speak

to

the Mayor

of New York abo ut th e developm ent of “our city,” and the next week go “back

home” to Ha iti, St . Vincent, o r the Philippines and speak as a committed na-

tionalist about the development of “our nation.” A migrant may pray in

a

multi-ethnic congregation that identifies itself as a common community in

Christ, attend rallies for racial empowerment that emphasize Black or Asian

identities, and dance at a New Year’s Eve ball organized for members of the

migrant’s “own” ethnic community. This same person may swear allegiance

to

his or her fellow workers at a union meeting in the United States while

sending money back home to buy property and become a landlord. Through

these seemingly contradictory experiences, transmigrants actively manipulate

their identities and thus both accomm odate to and resist their su bo rdn ation

within a global capitalist system.

Transnational social fields are in part shaped by the migrants’ perceptions

that they must keep their options open . In the globalized economy that has

developed over the past several decades, there is a sense that no one place is

truly secure, although people d o have access to many places. One way mi-

grants keep options o pe n is

to

continuously translate the econom ic and social

position gained in one political setting in to political, social and economic capi-

tal in another.

Som etimes the transnational field of relations extends

to

the leadership

of

nation-states. The Aquinos rallied political support among Filipinos in the

United States and brought many of them back

to

the Philippines in Cory

Aquino’s first government. Some of these peop le were sent back

to

the United

States in turn

to

pressure American politicians with regard

to

key issues such

as econom ic aid and th e U nited States military bases in the Ph ilippines.

Social scientists are only now beginning to comprehend the significance

of these developments and

to

develop an appropriate analytical frame-

work. What is needed is a reconceptualization of culture and society, work

that is only now begnning (Wolf 1982, 1989; Worsely 1984; Rollwagen

1986).

As a first step we m ust rethink ou r notions o f nationalism, ethnicity

and race.



GLICK SCHILLER

e t

al.: A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK

3

RETHINKING CLASS, NATIONALISM,

ETHNICITY AND RACE

As we indicated above when we traced the link between transnationalism

and world capitalism, transnational migrants are primarily proletarian in their

placem ent within th e ho st labor force if n o t in their class origms . A t th e sam e

time each transm igrant pop ulati on is class differentiated. T h e Chine se trans-

migrant population contains powerful elem ents of the H o n g Kong capitalist

class, for example, w hile th e In dian , C aribbean an d Filipino p opu lation s have

important petit bourgeois and professional strata.

T h e identity of the transmigrant popula tion is contested terrain. Bo th th e

capitalist class forces within th e do m ina nt society a n d the leading class forces

of the migrating populat ion collude and com pete in their interests an d out-

look

with respect to the d omin ation of the migrant workforce. N ote those

Grenadian leaders who defined the entire transmigrant population in terms

th at min imiz ed class stratification, yet reinforce t he ir class pos ition by em ph a-

sizing Grenadian transmigrants as both citizens of th e Grenadian nation an d

members of a U.S. Caribbean ethnic group. Thu s tha t sector of the migrant

workforce that is proletarian whether in origin or in insertion is both

subjecth ctor in

a

continuin g discourse abo ut no t only how they should be-

have, bu t just as importantly a bo ut w ho they are. The ir loyalty an d sense of

self, b oth individually a nd collectively, are the subjects of he gem onic co nstru c-

t ions that emanate both from the place of set t lement, such as the Uni ted

States, and from their h om e society. H ege m ony is at its ro ot a conceptuali-

zation a bo ut th e process by which a relationship is maintained between those

w h o do mina te within the state and those w ho are dominated (Gramsci 1971;

Williams 1977; Brow

1988;

Comaroff

1991).

While ultimately relations of

dom inatio n are maintained by force, th e social ord er is enforced by th e daily

practices, habits and co m mo n sense thro ugh which th e dom inated

live

their

lives, dream their dreams, and understand their world. By conceptualizing

hegemony we are led to see, as Raymond Will iams pointed o u t , that

(Hegemony) is a lived system of meanings and values-constitutive and

constituting-which as they are experienced as practices appear as recipro-

cally confirming.

.

I t is . . a culture which also has t be seen as

the lived dominance and subordination of particular classes. (Williams

1977:llO).

He gem onic construc tions and practices are constantly created, reenacted, and

reconstituted. These conceptions and categories are in part internalized by

both dom inant a nd d om inated alike and create a sense of c o m m on loyalty and

legitimacy for the d om ina nt classes. In the Un ited States, hegemon ic construc-

tions speak little of class b u t m uch mo re directly of race, ethnicity, an d na tion-

alism. Simultaneously these constructions serve to discipline a “classless”



14

ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

public in to capitalist subjects through practices o f consu mption , leisure, an d

work.

Th e socially constructed nature of ou r entire repository of terms used

to

define and bou nd

identity~‘nationality,’’

“race,” and “ethnicity’: has just re-

cently begun to be scrutinized adequately by social scientists. And the impli-

cations of transnationalism for hegemonic constructions o f identity have yet

to

be analyzed.

The different hegemonic contexts

to

which these transnational migrants

relate must be examined. Within b oth the United States and the ho me coun -

tries th e state an d th e domina nt classes attem pt to establish and perpetuate

control over their populations. T hey d o this by elaborating systems of domi-

nation based on hegemonic constructions and practices in a process that is

closely related

to

nation-building . These emergent formulations will speak to

an d build o n the experiences and consciousness o f the transnational migrants,

directing the migrants’ incorporation into the class relations of the nation

states in which they are living-both home and hos t. As we have seen, the

activities of the transmigrants within each state and across national boundaries

are influenced by, b ut also influence, all aspects o f this hegemonic process in

each nation-state.

In t he Un ited States these hegemonic constructions, though n o t uniform,

have certain basic them es. T he possibility of class identities is no t on ly negated

but cross-cut by constructions of race and ethnicity. The racial categories of

their new setting, in this case th e U nited States, are imposed o n those incom-

ing populations, though this occurs in different ways an d with different em -

phases if they are Caribbeans, Chicanos, o r Asians for example. At the same

time, demands are placed on those same populations

to

identify ethnic ally.^

Th e hegemonic context imposes a discipline o n newcomers w ho develop

self-

identifications, if not broader collective action, in accordance with categories

and related behaviors that are no t of their own making. But transnational mi-

grants, with variation linked to their class background and racial positioning,

have their own notions ab ou t categories of identity an d their own concep-

tions of the rules

of

the hegem onic game. Peop le live in a nd create a new social

and cultural space which calls for a new awareness of who they are, a new con-

sciousness, and new identities. However, bo th th e actors and analyst still look

around them with visions shaped by the political boundaries of nation-states.

lo

Nationalism

has been identified as an early 19th century invention

(Ke-

dourie

1960;

Kamenka

1973),

resulting from th e rapid replacement of existing

absolute monarchies in Europe by units called nation-states and the subse-

quent establishment of such polities in other parts of the world. While the

unifying conten t of nationalism varied from country

to

country,

i t

was based

10 For a more complete explanation

of

these processes see Basch, Click hiller and Blanc-

Szanton, 1992; n.d.



GLICK SCHILLER

et al.:

A NEW ANALYTIC

FRAMEWORK

15

on an ideology of the commonness of origins, purposes, and goals that al-

lowed those in power

to

legitimate rule over large and diverse populations.

Nationalism gave heterogeneous groups

a

sense of

a

shared com m on interest,

and carried a vision of a nation-state as a “people,” each nation making u p a

separate, equal, and natural unit.

Intellectuals provided these new formulations with their ow n rationality,

describing religon , ethnicities, and kinship as archaic, whereas the new na-

tions were seen as moving towards a rational and scientific modernity-part

of an unending spiral of forward-looking improvemen ts. Nations were defined

as the necessary outcome of commercialism, scientific culture, and industrial

progress occurring in Europe.

By

th e 20th century the concept of nation-state

embodied a series of ideological constructions including scientific rationality,

the economic role of the State, the institutionalization of economic calcula-

tions, and modernism.

Only recently have intellectuals begun

to

approach the study of nation-

alism m ore critically, and a nu mb er o f authors have conceptualized nationalism

as a historically specific construction in which th e country’s leaders and popu -

lations play an active role (Anderson 1983; Worsely 1984; Chatterjee 1986;

Kapferer 1988; Fox 1990).Som e writers link the construction of nationalism

to

the colonial venture. T his work has provided th e social sciences with an

analysis of nationalism that highlights its construction, through shared sym-

bolism, of an imaginary co m m on interest th at may occasionally galvanize re-

bellion

to

existing authority o r m ore often allow such authorities t control

their national populations most effectively.

Despite the internationalization of capital and the transnationalization of

populations, nation-states and nationalism persist and must be the topic of

hrther analysis. For our purposes,

it

is important to recognize that trans-

national migrants exist, interact, are given and assert their identities, an d seek

or exercise legal and social rights within national structures th at monopo lize

power and foster ideologies of identity. At th e same time, it is clear that t he

identity, field of action, ideology, or even legal rights o f citizenship o f trans-

national migrants are not confined within the boundaries of any one single

polity. Th e developm ent of transnationalism challenges ou r current formula-

tions about nationalist projects. We must ask whether transmigrants will

continue to participate in nationalist constructions that contribute

to

the

hegemony

of

the dominant classes in each nation state as they live lives that

span national borders (Basch, Glick Schiller and Blanc-Szanton

1992).

As with nationalism, the constructed, manipulated, variable, flexible na-

ture of ethnicity is only now becoming clear.

Ethniczty

first emerged as a key

concep t in social science in th e United States during th e late

1960s. Until that

time, despite the multitude of indicators that sectors of populations of im-

migrant descent continued

to

maintain or even develop separate identifica-

tions, often including some ties

to

their country or region of origin, social



16 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

science maintained tha t t he appropriate m od e of analysis for the stu dy of im-

migrant populations was “assimilation.”

T h e assimilationist framework th at envisioned th e melting of th e prior na-

tional identities of immigrants into a single new American nationality has

been shown to be a construction reflecting and con tributin g both to a myth

of social mobility (Om i and W inan t 1986) and to th e construction of Ameri-

can nationalism. T h e assimilationist framework and its concom itant populari-

zation as an ideology, with America cast as a “melting pot,” prom oted a consis-

te nt message:

a

universal promise

of

mobility and success based o n individual

motivation and effort in a society in which there were no class barriers.

The assimilationist model had little

to

say about race. Often African-

Americans were seen as a recently arriving immigrant group in the North,

even tho ugh a section of this population had helped construct an d the n c on-

tinued

to

live in these cities.” However, in the

1960s,

as demands for civil

rights and full assimilation changed to demands for Black Power, the entire

nature of ethnic ity in America was re-examined by social scientists. T h e result

was

the creation of new theoretical models. First, Glazer and Moynihan’s

1963)

effort to look “beyond the melting po t” took u p and popularized plu-

ralist ideology first articulated in the 1920s (Kallen 1956). T he enthusiastic

reception of th e n ot ion o f cultural pluralism several years later by media, aca-

demics, an d white “ethnics” (Greeley

1971;

Novack

1974)

seems linked to the

development of minority demands for empowerment. A structuralist ap-

proach which emphasized the role of the larger society in fostering ethnic

difference developed soon after as a critique (Alba

1985;

Yetman

1985).

Neither approach provided insights into racial divisions in the United States,

however. Both were products of and c ontrib uted to the c ontin uatio n of para-

digms that conceptualize populations as divided into discrete, tightly

bounded groups, and explain persisting identities as products of forces con-

tained within separate nation-states.

In the United States, the cultural pluralists focus attention on cultural

differentiation which they maintain divides the populace into separate, but

equivalent, “ethnic groups,” each with its own history, culture, and political

interests. Cen tral

to

the entire paradigm o f cultural pluralism is the fact of per-

sisting cultural differentiation traced by some pluralists to primordial senti-

ments described as virtually a “tribal” instinct (Isaacs

1975).

Pluralists have paid scant attention

to

differences within the populations

labeled as ethnic. Jews and Italians, for example, are categorized as single

i Classic assimilationist works are tho se o f Wirth (1928) and Park (19 50). This framework

was extended t African-Americans in the work of Myrdal 1962 (1944) and E. Franklin Frazier

(19 57) . Critiques

of

this approach have been made by numerous authors. For writers who spe-

cifically compare the experiences of immigrants and African-Americans see Stanley Lieberson

1980)

and Omi and Winant

1986).



GLICK SCHILLER

e t al.: A

NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK

17

ethnic groups, whereas in both cases they in fact originated from different

classes, regions, or countries, arrived with profound internal cultural differ-

ences, an d in t he co urse of settle me nt, developed new inte rnal differentiations

ofclass, region, a nd o utloo k (di Leonardi 1984; Gorelick 197 4). National

loy-

alties that link incoming populations to ancestral homes may be acknowl-

edged by pluralists, but such relations are believed

to

fade over time.

T he structuralists focus more o n the econo mic a nd social forces within the

polity that foster divisions between ethnic populations and thus the persis-

tence of ethn ic groups (Alba 198 8; Glick 197 5). Th ey pay m ore att entio n to

the constructed and manipulated nature of ethnic boundaries and ethn ic

differentiation. The term “ethnogcnesis” is sometimes used to distinguish a

process o f cultural differentiation th at develops from forces fou nd wi thin th e

larger society (Gonzalez 1988). In its extreme, all cultural differentiation is

seen as no t just “invented” bu t imagined, so th at n o ac tual cultural differences

separate populations conceived

to

be culturally distinct. Bentley (1987) has

labeled this the “empty vessel” approach to the s tudy of cu l ture to highlight

the tendenc y of structuralist analysis to discount the role of the mem bers of

ethnically defined po pula tions to actively em ploy ong oing cultural repertoires.

T h e curr ent critique o f pluralist an d struc turalist arg um ents has called for

an analysis of ethnicity that leaves room both for “cultural practice” and

human agency. There is an understanding that ethnicity is a product of the

dialectic between continuities of cultural behavior and social constructions

that are defined or reinforced by a particular nation-state (Blanc-Szanton

1985a,b; Basch 198 5). However, a growing tendenc y in writing on ethnicity

to

focus o n individual ch oice reduces rather tha n e xpand s o u r analytical h oriz ons

(Cohen 1978). With the eniergence of transnationalism the individual mi-

grant is now emb edded in a wider social field tha t spans two o r m ore na tions.

A transnationa l perspective on ethnicity m ust be developed tha t includes an

examination of culture and agency within this expanded social field.

Race is also a social construction but one with a different history and a

different relationship to the grow th o f the global system.

I t is

useful to recall

tha t un til recently race an d na tion o ften were used interchangeably, as in the

construction “the British race,” in order to make clear that race is no more a

product of genetics than nationality or ethnicity. 2 Over time, however, in

places like the United States, the set character of race was imposed by the

insistence th at biology ra ther th an culture is to be determ inative o f differen-

tiation. In other national settings, ethnic divides may be used as race is-in

this sense both are social constructions used

to

order social and economic

relations.

2 Park 1950), whose writings contributed

t

the assimilationist framework, spoke

of

the

“race-relations cycle” and used the terms “nationality” and “race” interchangeably, thereby s ide-

stepping the historic separation in the United States betw een peo ple

of

color and white America.



18 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF

SCIENCES

At the same time, the historical construction

of

race is

so

firmly en-

trenched w ithin th e structure of global capitalism, and in t he structures

of

in-

equality of particular societies, that some argue th at social organization

on

the

basis of race is best described as a “racial order” (Greenberg 1980), besides

which ethnic categories seem ephemeral and fluid.

Eric Wolf has stressed the historical difference between th e operation o f

ethnic and racial categories in the development of capitalism. “Racial desig-

nations, such as “Indian” or “Negro” are the outcom e o f the subjugation of

populations in the course of European mercantile expansion’’

(1982:380).

Formulations

of

cultural difference d o n o t app ly

to

race-as we saw in the 1990

census-when

one

could only be black, n o t African-American, West Ind ian,

or Haitian. While ethnic or national terms stress cultural difference, Wolf

makes it clear that racial terms disregard “cultural and physical differences

within each

of

th e tw o large categories, denying any constituent gr ou p politi-

cal, economic, or ideological identity of their own.”

The analytical mandate here is urgent and complex. Because race per-

meates all aspects

of

th e transnational migrant’s experience, it is important to

analyze its several com ponen ts. First

of

all, migrant identity and experience

are shaped by th e position of their coun try w ithin the global racial order just

as they are affected by th e social location

of

their racial gr ou p within the nation

state. Secondly internal class differentiation exists within the racial group to

which transmigrants are assigned. For example, all those designated black in

the United States can hardly be said

to

share the same class position. More-

over, the population designated as black in the United States is culturally

differentiated (Basch 1987; Bryce-Laporte 1972, 1980; Foner 1983; Fouron

1983; Charles 1989; Glick Schiller and Fouron 1990). Migrants coming fi-om

the Caribbean, for example, confiont an African-American population that

shares several centuries of historical experience. A t the same time th e global

construction of race provides the basis for affinity and comm unality.

Yet

a l l

of these fictors do n o t encompass th e complexity of th e racial iden-

tity

of

migrants w ho are transnationals. An analysis of t he concep tions of race

of transnational migrants also m us t examine the constructions

of

race that per-

sist “back home.” Tallring abo ut “back hom e” emphasizes the necessity o f ex-

amining how th e several nation-states w ithin which transmigrants reside influ-

ence constructions of identity that draw on race, ethnicity and nationalism

an d the manner in which transmigrating populations, w ith their ow n internal

differences, process these constructions within their daily lives.

CONCLUSION

We have emphasized the constructed nature of the identities of nation-

ality, ethnicity, and race, and stressed the necessity of looking beyond the



GLICK SCHILLER e t

al.:

A NEW ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK 19

boundaries of existing analytical categories of social science. To conceptualize

transnationalism we must bring to the study of m igration a global perspective.

Only a view of t he world as a single social and economic system allows

us

to

comprehend the implications of the similar descriptions of new patterns of

migrant experience that have been emerging from different parts of th e globe.

At th e very same time, i t is in terms of these bounded identity constructs tha t

migrants frame their individual and collective strategies of adaptation. In

forging a framework of analysis capable of comprehending th e life experiences

of transnational migrants, social scientists can no t m erely dismiss categories o f

iden tity as artificial and reified constructions th at mask more global processes.

A focus on transnationalism as a new field of social relations will allow

us

to

explore transnational fields of action an d m eaning as operating within and

between continuing nation-states and as a reaction to the conditions and

terms nation-states impose on their populations. Migrants will be viewed as

culturally creative but as actors in an arena that they do not control. Trans-

national flows of material objects and ideas will be ana lyzed in relation

to

their

social location an d utilization-in relation to the people involved with the m .

This approach will enable us to observe the migrant experience in process,

analyze its origins, monitor changes within

it,

and see how it affects both

country of origin and countries of residence. Such a perspective will serve as

a necessary building block for th e reformulation of such key social science con-

cepts as society an d culture.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article was co-written, but

it

is based on research carried out by the

individual authors. We gratefully acknowledge the material and intellectual

su pport we have received. We also wish

to

thank Iching Wu for his assistance

and support. Glick Schiller’s work was funded first by a doctoral fellowship

from the National Institute of Mental Health Doctoral and then by a grant

to

Josh DeW ind and Nina Glick Schiller from th e National Institute for Child

Health and Hu ma n Development (Grant H D 18140-02).This latter research

was conducted jointly by a team of researchers which included Marie Lucie

Brutus, C arolle Charles, George Fouron, and Luis Anto ine T hom as. Basch’s

early research on th e Caribbean was su pported by a doctoral dissertation grant

from the National In stitute of Mental H eal th. H er subseq uent research, con-

ducted together with b s i n a Wiltshire, W inston W iltshire, an d Joyce Toney,

and with th e assistance of Isa Soto, M argaret Souza, and C olin Rob inson, was

funded by grants from the International Development Research Centre of

Ottawa, Canada an d th e U nited Nations Institute for Training and Research

th e U nited Nations Fund for Population a nd Activities. Blanc-Szanton’s ini-

tial research in th e Philippines was fun ded by a grant from a joint Penn State-



2

ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Ateneo de Manila University research project. Her subsequent work was

carried out while living and working for many years

in

the Philippines and

Thailand and most recently in the process

of

carrying out a research project

for the Ford Foundation in th e region. A dditional h n d i n g was received from

Columbia University and the New York Council for the Humanities.

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