Deportation as a Process of Irreversible Transformation

摘要

Based on life stories from 24 deported Jamaican immigrants and extensive examination of secondary data from nearly 1 million historical newspaper pages in The Gleaner's online archives (years 1834 to 2008), this article argues that the deportation of Jamaican immigrants from the US is an emblematic case of transformation which is, in fact, irreversible. In the literature, the term ‘transformation’ is used to describe the radical changes and rapid adjustments which immigrants are forced to make in order to become American. This article contributes to the forced-return migration literature by pointing out that some immigrants’ identities are transformed from ‘voluntary migrant’ to ‘deportee’, and their transformation into deportees is a process which can begin soon after immigrants make attempts to achieve their American dreams of socio-economic mobility. In the absence of the requisite familial support and financial and human capital, some immigrants experience sharp socio-economic decline, run foul of the law, are removed from the US and irreversibly prevented by force of law from returning. On the migrants’ return to Jamaica, the deportation process does not end, as local media and countrymen facilitate the irreversible identity transformation process which was started in the US by referring to subjects as ‘deportees’ and associating them with a lack of capital and an involvement in criminal activity.View full textDownload full textKeywordsDeportee, Transformation, Immigrant, Forced and Voluntary Return Migration, JamaicaRelated 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/10.1080/1369183X.2012.640024