Rethinking Caribbean transnational connections: conceptual itineraries

Abstract

In academic debates across the social sciences, transnationalism has increasingly come to denote the cross‐border networks developed by migrants and the ways in which these link geographically distinct places into a single social field. At the same time, the intense focus on linkages between origin and destination groups frequently ends up privileging this binary ‐ home/away ‐ as the only way to map enduring cross‐border linkages. Drawing on two examples of Caribbean practices connecting Toronto and New York, in this article I suggest the traversing of a different spatial terrain and consider the implications of expanding our conceptual itineraries to include these other journeys that so far have tended to fly under the radar in discussions of transnational migration.

The demobilization of diaspora: history, memory and ‘latent identity’

“…The case of the 'Bihari' diaspora reveals the specific, variegated histories and present-day politics that position South Asians in very different ways. The idea of 'latent identities' illustrates the limits of a diaspora concept that relies on fixed cartographic coordinates of 'home' and 'away' (Trotz 2006). Once we recognize this difference, the idea of diaspora can truly 'trouble the notions of cultural origin, of "roots", of primordial identities and authenticity' (Hall 2012: 30).…”

“…The idea of 'latent' identities refers to the way a 'Bihari' identity is there in the background, not at the forefront of thought but ready to be 'opened up', ready to 'come to mind' when called. It illustrates the layering of identity and affiliation, which is insufficiently recognized in a field of literature that has tended to concentrate on 'dyadic' relations of 'home' and 'away' (Trotz 2006). Back in East London, Shafiq's centre of gravity shifted almost in a single sentence -from 'we belong to India', 'they know I am Bihari' to 'still I am … I am from Bangladesh … they know that I am the Bangladeshi', and towards the end 'I'm not Pakistani, I'm not Bangladeshi now, I'm British.'…”

Gender and Migration: West Indians in Comparative Perspective

“…The two cities’ location, a driving distance from each other, has given rise to a business opportunity for some Toronto‐based West Indian female entrepreneurs. They charter buses and fill them with other West Indians (mainly women) in the Greater Toronto area who travel to Brooklyn for the weekend to visit relatives and friends and attend community events or who take day‐excursions to outlet malls and flea markets in upstate New York and Detroit (Trotz, 2006). 24…”

(Re)theorizing hybridity for the study of identity and difference

“…Other research on Indo‐Caribbeans in the U.S. and Canada explore factors that influence their acculturation and adaptation patterns (Clément, Singh, & Gaudet, ; Sills & Chowthi, ), how they seek cultural and political recognition (Premdas, ), their self‐representations in media (Tanikella, ), how physical appearance and closeness to the dominant group influence identity development (Plaza, ), and transnational connections between Indo‐Caribbean diasporas in Canada and the U.S. (Trotz, ). Across the literature, a key tension that is addressed by researchers is how Indo‐Caribbeans navigate identifying with dominant racial categories, falling outside of hegemonic conceptions of both what is considered “Indian” and “Caribbean.” Returning to our definitions of hybridity as a refusal of racial purisms and essentialized notions of identity and culture, Indo‐Caribbean identity has been understood in the literature as a traveling identity, multi‐rooted, and at times, contradictory.…”