Week 3: Schiller et al. - "From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational" (Ang, Adrian)

A major idea raised in "From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational" by Schiller et al. is that today's immigrants no longer migrate to their new lands and sever ties with their homelands, but that they maintain ties to their homelands in their new lands primarily through familial networking and remittances. This is wholly recognized by the homelands, and propel them to label the country as "nation-states" and the country including the diasporic subjects, while the U.S. does not, and demands that they pledge allegiance to just one country — the U.S.

I thought that this article was an interesting read - it really highlights how the context of globalization and the process of transnationalism are so inherently tied to the institution of the economy. Even though transmigrants are typically ignored and discriminated against in Western society, the governments of these Western societies are cracking down on the transmigrants' overseas activities and remittances and forcing them to pledge allegiance to said Western nations. I think that it's ironic of these governments to expect these transmigrant workers to funnel their income into a society that rejects them and debases them into menial workers in the service sector. These Western governments do not realize that the familial unit is so powerful in West Indian and Filipino culture. Also, it doesn't surprise me that these transmigrant workers also maintain a stronger affinity with politics in their homeland than politics state-side. When these transmigrant workers are subjected into jobs primarily in the service sector, they are seen only within the lower-class from the rest of society and thus rejected in a social and political realm.

In writing my response, I chose to look mostly at how Western governments, like the U.S., see transmigrant workers. After writing this, my questions posed are: is the idea of the transmigrant generalized to all immigrants, or is it still only applicable to certain groups (like the Haitians, Vincentians, Grenadians, and Filipinos)? Furthermore, does homeland culture affect the strength of the ties that one has to their homelands?

Haitians in New York protesting the FDA ban of blood from Haitians amidst the labelling of them being "carriers of AIDS".

Sources:

Nina Glick Schiller et al. “From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational.”

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1483958!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/nyc-haitians-fda-blood-ban-rally.jpg