The Transnational Villagers by Peggy Levitt

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Introduction

Despite the growing numbers of migrants in the US who seem to be highly incorporated in the American political, social and economic culture, and these individuals remain attached to their homeland countries. Many migrants from across the Caribbean islands, including Jamaica, El Salvador, and the Dominican, remain glued to their countries through active participation in their homelands social, economic, and political activities. In his book The Transnational Villager, Peggy Levitt provides an insightful analysis of the phenomenon, discussing the reasons for the same. Explaining the occurrence, the book uses the general meaning of transnational migration to shed more light. Literally, transnational migration refers to the movement of people rooted in social fields involving ties and relationships across the nation-states borders. That is to say, the crisscrossing of national borders into new regions and maintaining the culture of the motherland. Citing examples from Miraflores Town, a neighborhood migrant town in Boston standing between the Dominican Republic and Jamaican Plain, Peggy Levitt explores the strong familial, religious, and political connections the regions residents share with the community of origin to demonstrate the transnational organization.

Summary of the Book

Transnational Villager analyzes the core details of the occurrence by carrying out detailed research. In the book, Peggy focuses on the significant aspects of culture, such as politics, language, education, and social life of the migrants, and compares them with the general life back in their homeland. While acknowledging the factors facilitating migration, such as market labor segmentation, wage differential, education disparity, and other triggers, the author exposes the strong connection the culture of the new migrants share with their motherlands. Even though some migrants may spend most of their lives in the US, they remain strongly attached to the homelands through some aspects of culture, such as religious affiliation, politics, economic activities, and language. The migrants actively participate in economic activities back in their homeland and political activities.

In addition, the migrants tend to maintain the religious beliefs and language they practiced in their homelands. In enhancing the customs, the migrants use their children by instilling or training them in the ways of their countries of origin. The kids are taught their mother tongues and enlightened about the political and social culture of their ancestral countries. These children will then continue to remain embedded in the familial, social, religious, and political culture of their homelands while integrating into the US (Peggy 20). While the individuals are hosted in America, their cultural ways will always point in the direction of their motherland. Most migrants from the Caribbean Islands, El Salvador, and Mexico practice transnational movements. Even though they are eager to move to the US in search of opportunities, they are hesitant to cut cultural ties with their homelands. Using Miraflores Town as a case study, The Transnational Villager by Peggy Levitt has exposed the existence of two cultural identities through ancestral cultural connections among most American migrants.

Critical Analysis

In his book The Transnational Villager, Peggy Levitt analyzes how transnational communities exhibit transnational cultural practices. Using Miraflores town as a case study, Peggy argues that a large number of migrants from the Caribbean Island, Mexico, and El Salvador moving to the US have maintained links with their homelands through social, familial, religious, economic, and political ways. Even though this group has assimilated into American culture, they do not completely cut ties with their motherlands but remain actively connected to their ancestral roots (Peggy 12). Despite the sharp distinction between the two cultures, the migrants have always found a way to maintain their ancestral cultural identities in the new lands. In shedding more light, the book reviews the life of the migrants in their new destinations and tries to link it with their life back at their ancestral homes, where it finds a powerful connection between the two. Some migrants have established permanent communities in the US, as in the example of Miraflores Town, which harbors migrant societies and has proven to maintain strong ties with their countries of origin.

Due to the difference in the labor market, wages, education opportunities, and other economic advantages in America, the US experiences an influx of a large number of migrants across the American continent, with the majority from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and the neighboring Mexico. These migrants occasionally move in groups and form small migrant communities in the destination states. Staying in America, the communities assimilate into the American economic, political and social culture, becoming active members of the country. However, these groups do not forget their ancestral homes and always remind themselves of where they came from (Peggy 14). To keep their ancestral identity, the new migrant communities maintain strong ties with homelands and actively engage in political, social, and economic activities while participating in the same activities in the host countries. As in the case of the US, the migrant communities actively participate in the political, social, and economic activities in America and do the same in their homelands.

Migrant communities turn out to be just one of the ways of maintaining transnational culture; there are other ways that transnational communities maintain a strong connection with their homelands. Some migrants organize political groups to identify themselves in the new host countries. Political groups are used to bring together members of the same kind together. For instance, in the US, some small political groups associated with migrant communities with membership from the community enable individuals from the same background to come together and interact, thereby enhancing their cultural ties (Peggy 12). For example, a migrant from Mexico can decide to have a division of a national party with membership drawn from Mexican individuals. The same happens in the religious context with the formation of religious groups. An example is the Catholic Church, which can be used by transnational migrants to bring together members of a particular ethnic group in a foreign land. Using religious groups can be useful in maintaining the religious culture of a particular group, especially in receiving countries with different religious practices.

Besides political and religious groupings, the transnational effect can be facilitated by economic programs through the joint efforts of migrants. Members of a particular ethnic group can decide to come together and initiate programs that empower their members in the host countries and individuals back in their homelands. Since most transnational movements in the US are motivated by economic opportunities, the migrants can opt to organize similar economic opportunities to their colleagues back at their ancestral homes or decide to better the economic status of the members by initiating development programs. For instance, Mexican migrants in the US can decide to initiate joint economic programs to help in their Mexican homeland (Peggy 18). By coming together for such projects, the migrants will have a chance to connect and maintain close cultural ties. The same can be employed by other migrant communities spread across the US to facilitate their connection and maintenance of cultural ties.

The Transnational Villagers book also points to language as a way of bringing transnational effect, which is quite true. Migrants can use their mother tongue to facilitate strong connections and maintain ties with their communities of origin. Language is one of the marks of identity; therefore, by maintaining language as a form of communication among members of the same background, they will be able to remind themselves of their origin and enhance close ties. For instance, migrants from El Salvador can choose to maintain their language in the US to promote ties among their members (Peggy 18). Even though America is dominated by the English language, El Salvador may use their ethnic language as a form of communication among their members. This will tighten the bond among the group and encourage the ties with the community of origin.

With unrestricted US migration, Peggy argues that transnational practices will increase as migrants continue to maintain close ties with their communities of origin. Unlike in the past century when ethnicity and race was an emotive issue in America with minority communities facing discrimination, modern times have come with a lot of freedom for all ethnic groups (Peggy 24). This allows members of a particular community to unite and maintain strong ties with their ancestral roots. Besides, modern developments in communication and transport all serve to enhance transnational effects. Unlike in the past when communication and movement were inhibited by poor mediums in the field, the developments have made it easier for communication and movement, thereby enhancing maintenance ties with motherlands. For example, one can use an airplane and travel back to ancestral homes, which were complicated before.

In his book The Transnational Villager, Peggy Levitt has shed more light on the topic of the transnational movement, which is becoming a popular occurrence in the advent of globalization. His analysis has comprehensively discussed some significant factors that have facilitated the transnational effect. Mentioning aspects such as the development of transport and communication, the book has done well in covering the topic (Peggy 22). In addition, Peggy has used Miraflores as a case study, a pragmatic example of a transnational setup. The town is one of the successful regions that portray transnational effects and where the phenomenon has excelled. In summary, the book has succeeded in explaining the study.

It is surprising to read that Miraflores are racist and classify people in terms of their skin color. Both in their homelands and overseas in the US, Boston, where they have created their migrant community, the members of the Miraflores and the mother country of the Dominican practice racial distinction, giving the white complexity a greater attention compared to the colored complexity. Considering themselves a better race, they believe in white supremacy and discriminate their Black counterparts in many aspects (Peggy 108). Ironically, in the same vein, the White Americans in Boston discriminate and consider them inferior. While the members of the Miraflores consider themselves White, their colleagues in Boston regard them as inferior colored people, subjecting them to the same treatment of racial discrimination they practice back at home.

Conclusion

In summary, despite the increase in transnational communities facilitated by a significant rise in migration, individuals seem determined to carry forward their customs and beliefs in the destination countries as well as maintain close contact with their homelands. With the development of communication and transport systems, host nations for migrants, such as the US, Britain, and France, among others, must be prepared to have a rising transnational setup in their makeups.

Work Cited

Peggy, Levitt. The Transnational Villager. The University of California Press, 2001.

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