Where is Home? Immigrants of Color in Massachusetts
RESEARCH IN ACTION
The University of Massachusetts Boston’s William Monroe Trotter Institute studied immigrants’ impact on Boston’s and New England’s demographics. The institute’s scholarly journal, the Trotter Review, published devoted a special issue on immigrants’ successes in asserting their political, economic, social and civil rights.
The articles were part of a larger interdisciplinary research project on intergroup cooperative strategies among immigrant-based community organizations funded in part by the Sociological Initiatives Foundation.
The special issue explores community development, integration and migration by examining how immigrant communities organize themselves as they shape their identities, communities and relationships with other immigrants and long-term community residents.
The challenges of successful immigrant integration
Several of the journal’s core articles weave together common themes. Among them:
Shirley Tang’s research on the Cambodian community in Lynn, Massachusetts underscores the importance of understanding both the forms of cultural citizenship and the more familiar structures of formal citizenship with its emphasis on legal and political rights.
Jorge Capetillo-Ponce and Giselle Abreu-Rodriguez present the first formal study of the indigenous Guatemalan group, Maya K’iche. Displaced by war, the Maya K’iche settled in coastal New Bedford, Massachusetts only to face new forms of economic, political and legal hardships.
The immigrant city of Chelsea, Massachusetts, provides the context for Glenn Jacobs to compare the development and political involvement of the city’s leading immigrant advocacy organizations as they respond to needs of immigrants and other people of color.
In their report on Boston’s Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Tim Seiber and Maria Centeio focus how organizations support the work of neighbors of different cultural backgrounds to address common concerns.
Alex Cantave explores the complex relationship between Haitian immigrants, who are concentrated in Mattapan, and African Americans born in the United States. His research shines light on the often strained relationships between the two groups.
Finally, Ryan Mann-Hamilton returns for a family reunion in the Dominican Republic and shares his story of migration with his younger U.S.-born cousins. The stories gleaned from his aunts and uncles help sharpen an evolving family narrative about race, class and identity.
Scholars and community activists seldom examine organizational factors that support the successful integration and full participation of immigrants which each of these articles highlight. While the authors emphasize that resident participation in neighborhood planning and decision-making is essential in building healthy communities, the political strategies and means of incorporating immigrant participation varies considerably and deserves much more discussion and analysis. To access the Trotter Review, click here.
Where is Home? Immigrants of Color in Massachusetts
Trotter Review, Volume 19, Number 1 – Winter/Spring 2010
Editor: Kenneth J. Cooper
Contact: Dr. Barbara Lewis, Director, Trotter Institute – trotterinstitute@umb.edu
Featuring the William Monroe Trotter Institute – University of Massachusetts Boston, a grantee of the Sociological Initiatives Foundation.
