African Women Immigrants in the United States
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African Women Immigrants in the United States Crossing Transnational Borders John A. Arthur
african women immigrants in the united states Copyright John A. Arthur, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61778-0 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38069-5 DOI 10.1057/9780230623910 ISBN 978-0-230-62391-0 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arthur, John A., 1958- African women immigrants in the United States : crossing transnational borders / by John A. Arthur. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-349-38069-5 1. West Africans United States Social conditions. 2. Women immigrants United States Social conditions. 3. Africa, West Emigration and immigration. I. Title. E184.A24.A73 2009 305.896'6073 dc22 2009004018 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: September 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to Madam Agnes Tagoe, affectionately called Nii Ami. Your enduring sage and refrain adjo and efee noko are timeless and very soothing to the ears of all your children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren. These simple words are gems of truth. They continue to brighten and illuminate our collective paths and journeys as we strive to live by your precepts, humility, and enduring strength. In your often-soft voice, you taught, uplifted, and touched so many lives. For all the adversities and challenges you endured, you were still able to preserve your capacity to show gratitude. We stand in awe of your selflessness. Thank you.
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Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction and Organization 1 2 Centering Gender in African Regional Migration 11 3 Passage from the Savannah Grasslands of Africa to America 29 4 Gender and Forced Migration: Rebuilding Shattered Lives 63 5 Gender and Transnational Black Immigrant Identities 105 6 Gender, Migration, and Work 131 7 Rethreading Fertility Decisions in New Settings 165 8 Concluding Remarks and Looking Ahead 193 Notes 213 References 217 Index 225
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Preface According to United Nations (UN) data, in 2005, women migrants represented half of the world s migrant population. This means that nearly 100 million women regularly move across international boundaries (Morrison, Schiff, and Sjoblom 2008, 2). African women form a significant portion of this transnational movement. Migration theorists have assumed that women s migration is largely determined by the migratory decisions usually made by men who migrate to the major global labor and economic centers. Women s migration is explained through the lens of their male counterparts, implying that women are not autonomous and independent actors when it comes to migration. The need for migration scholars to incorporate gender sensitivities in migration studies is warranted. This book is about the transnational migration of West African women to the United States. The aim of the book is to center the migration of West African women in the global migration of skilled and unskilled labor to the advanced nations. West African women now migrate at almost the same rate as their male counterparts. Unearthing the unique processes by which West African migrant women come to shape, forge, and create self-sustaining social, cultural, and economic capacities to enhance their empowerment and status are sociologically interesting and invigorating. Impacted and shaped by continued globalization, economic incorporation, technology, easy access to transportation, information flows from core to periphery countries, and the demand for cheap sources of skilled and unskilled labor, West African women are responding to the global demand for skilled and unskilled female workers by leaving home and carving occupational and employment niches for themselves and their families. Often driven and pushed to leave home due to ethnic strife, civil wars, poverty, chronic and mass unemployment, structural adjustments of economies, decline in food production, patriarchal oppression, ecological destruction, growth in informal economy, and the segmentation of labor in the West, numerous young West African women have come to see international migration as a way of ensuring
x Preface their own economic survival as well as that of their families. Some of the women go to the United States in search of work, while others pursue cultural goals (attend school and upgrade their credentials) to enhance the odds of finding higher paying jobs upon completion of their educational training. Still others enter the country with the sole purpose of reuniting with a spouse or extended family members who have already settled in the United States. For others, migration is involuntary or forced as a result of wars and conflicts. For all the women whose transnational migratory journeys are chronicled in this book, international migration is constructed as a strategy and agency to achieve autonomy while contesting the boundaries of gendered structural institutions used by African men to suppress and subjugate women s aspirations. Whether they are in the country legally or illegally, the African women described in this book are united by a common goal: to recreate multiple forms of their gendered Black and international identities in a foreign land, and to assert their economic and social autonomy through work, mobility, collective empowerment, the assumption of new roles, and working toward incorporation into the new and emerging forms of transnational citizenship. The portrait of the West African immigrant woman that is presented in this book is one of resilience, strong work ethic, a firm conviction in altruism, and collectivized action to meet and confront obstacles posed by their marginalized and alienated statuses in the United States. Added to this is a strong commitment to family relationships and the understanding that the experiences garnered in the process of international migration have placed them in a unique position to assist and contribute to community building and national reconstruction in their respective countries in Africa. For many of the immigrant women, the concepts of citizenship, nationalism, family, community, and identity are often constructed in fluid ways to allow for the redefinitions and reconfigurations of their statuses and roles as circumstances may warrant. This adaptive mechanism ensures that the immigrant women will be able to respond to normative and cultural changes and challenges regarding their identities, transnational foci, femininity, and roles as immigrants. Fluid definitions of transnational identity afford the women opportunities to reconstruct new identities and contextualize the spatial and place dimensions within which images associated with their gendered identities are played out. Projecting a predominantly African-centered identity, but certainly not bound by its cultural and normative renditions, these immigrant
Preface xi women are extending the boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, and gender relationships as they shape, and are in turn shaped, by their interactions with minority populations in the United States. In leaving West Africa and migrating abroad, the women gain economic power, some control, and a presence at the table of familial decision making over the appropriation of family resources in spite of their absence from home. Some of the women use this power to deconstruct the existing unequal gender structures at home through advocacy, resource utilization, and directives concerning the need to equalize the social relationships between men and women. I have benefited immensely from several friends and colleagues in writing this book. I owe a debt of gratitude to Geraldine Gomes Hughes for reading and bringing her superb editing skills and insights to earlier drafts of this manuscript. I could not have completed this book without her assistance. Special thanks also to Brandy Hoffman for her insightful editorial craftsmanship. I am equally grateful to Dr. Linda Krug and Dr. Vince Magnuson for their continued financial support in aid of my research. I am indebted to the respondents who took time from their busy schedules to participate in the interviews and numerous focus groups sessions. Without your assistance, I could not have written this book. Special thanks to the staff at the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota for making available the IPUMS data. To all of you, thank you very much. Dr. John A. Arthur, Professor Former Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Former Director, University of Minnesota Study in England Program Minnesota, U.S.