Re-Constituting Place and Space: Culture and Communication in the Construction of a Jamaican Transnational Identity

摘要

Using the post-colonial tropes of space and place, the central thesis of this article is that immigrants arrive from developing, often previously colonized lands with detailed knowledge of and very specific attitudes toward the more developed host culture; knowledge and attitudes that impact their willingness and motivation to assimilate. Furthermore, because of the colonial history of many of these developing countries, the process of cultural adaptation has an added layer of complexity linked to issues of race, class, and history. Drawing on the work of Caribbean scholars who have analyzed the Jamaican immigrant experience in the United States, an argument is presented for how colonial history, particularly as it intersects with race and class, can influence the willingness of immigrant groups from developing countries to assimilate into majority White, Western, developed host cultures.View full textDownload full textKEYTERMScultural adaptation, Jamaica, Jamaican immigrants, transnationalismRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10646171003727425