Georges Woke Up Laughing

Schiller Nina Glick Schiller Glick, Fouron Georges Eugene Fouron

Description

Combining history, autobiography, and ethnography, Georges Woke Up Laughing provides a portrait of the Haitian experience of migration to the United States that illuminates the phenomenon of long-distance nationalism, the voicelessness of certain citizens, and the impotency of government in an increasingly globalized world. By presenting lively ruminations on his life as a Haitian immigrant, Georges Eugene Fouron-along with Nina Glick Schiller, whose own family history stems from Poland and Russia-captures the daily struggles for survival that bind together those who emigrate and those who stay behind.According to a long-standing myth, once emigrants leave their homelands-particularly if they emigrate to the United States-they sever old nationalistic ties, assimilate, and happily live the American dream. In fact, many migrants remain intimately and integrally tied to their ancestral homeland, sometimes even after they become legal citizens of another country. In Georges Woke Up Laughing the authors reveal the realities and dilemmas that underlie the efforts of long-distance nationalists to redefine citizenship, race, nationality, and political loyalty. Through discussions of the history and economics that link the United States with countries around the world, Glick Schiller and Fouron highlight the forces that shape emigrants' experiences of government and citizenship and create a transborder citizenry. Arguing that governments of many countries today have almost no power to implement policies that will assist their citizens, the authors provide insights into the ongoing sociological, anthropological, and political effects of globalization.Georges Woke up Laughing will entertain and inform those who are concerned about the rights of people and the power of their governments within the globalizing economy."In my dream I was young and in Haiti with my friends, laughing, joking, and having a wonderful time. I was walking down the main street of my hometown of Aux Cayes. The sun was shining, the streets were clean, and the port was bustling with ships. At first I was laughing because of the feeling of happiness that stayed with me, even after I woke up. I tried to explain my wonderful dream to my wife, Rolande. Then I laughed again but this time not from joy. I had been dreaming of a Haiti that never was."-from Georges Woke Up Laughing

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• USA
• Haití
• Nationalism
• Haiti
• États-Unis
• Migration

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 14 novembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822383239
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

a m e ri c a n e n c o u n t e rs / g l o b a l i n t e ra ct i o n s A series edited by Gilbert M. Joseph and Emily S. Rosenberg

This series aims to stimulate critical perspectives and fresh interpre- tive frameworks for scholarship on the history of the imposing global presence of the United States. Its primary concerns include the deployment and contestation of power, the construction and deconstruction of cultural and political borders, the fluid meanings of intercultural encounters, and the complex interplay between the global and the local. American Encounters seeks to strengthen dia- logue and collaboration between historians of U.S. international relations and area studies specialists. The series encourages scholarship based on multiarchival his- torical research. At the same time, it supports a recognition of the representational character of all stories about the past and promotes critical inquiry into issues of subjectivity and narrative. In the pro- cess, American Encounters strives to understand the context in which meanings related to nations, cultures, and political economy are continually produced, challenged, and reshaped.

Georges Woke Up Laughing

long-distancenationalism

a n d t h e s ea r c h f o r h o m e

Nina Glick Schiller &Georges Eugene Fouron

d u k e u n i ve rs i t y p res s

d u rh a m / l o n d o n

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2001 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. Alist of previously reprinted materials appears on page 325.

To the memory of Arthur Eugene Fouron, my father, Ananie Colin Fouron, my mother, Artulia Eugene, my paternal grandmother, and Luce Peck Beauduy, my aunt, who nurtured and sheltered me for so many years. To my wife, Maud David Fouron, my children, Seendy, Valery, and Roselaine, and my wife’s cousin, Fanchette Molin, whose sup- port, understanding, and encouragement have been so important for the completion of this project. —georges e. fouron

* * * To the women who made this book possible: Rebecca Weissman Zaretsky, my paternal grandmother, who inspired the questions be- hind this book; Connie Sutton, my sister/teacher, who taught me how to answer them; Evelyn Rosenzweig Barnett, who helped me live the answers; and my daughters, Rachel and Naomi Schiller, who continue to ask questions. And to Stephen Perry Reyna, my hero, husband, and soul mate, who has provided unfailing intellec- tual and emotional support, patience, and humor, and understands the lessons of family. —nina barnett glick schiller reyna

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Contents

Acknowledgments ‘‘At First I Was Laughing’’ Long-Distance Nationalism Defined Delivering the Commission: The Return of the Native ‘‘Without Them, I Would Not Be Here’’: Transnational Kinship ‘‘The Blood Remains Haitian’’: Race, Nation, and Belonging in the Transmigrant Experience ‘‘She Tried to Reclaim Me’’: Gendered Long- Distance Nationalism The Generation of Identity: The Long-Distance Nationalism of the Second Generation ‘‘The Responsible State’’: Dialogues of a Transborder Citizenry The Apparent State: Sovereignty and the State of U.S.–Haitian Relations Long-Distance Nationalism as a Debate: Shared Symbols and Disparate Messages The Other Side of the Two-Way Street: Long-Distance Nationalism as a Subaltern Agenda Notes Bibliography Index

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank the large number of people who made this book possible: family members, colleagues, institutions, and interviewees. Our families have lived with this book. The disruptions were many. They range from Georges and Nina moving into each other’s households so as to be able to write together, to us demanding that each member of our household define the termsnationalism, patriotism, andtransnationalism. For their patience, moral and material support, and intellectual contributions, we would like to thank: Maud, Seendy, Valery, Fanchette, Gaelle, Maurice, Solange, Pat- rick, Fabiola, Farah, Leni, Kethly, Josette, Milou, Gerald, Miche, Manvyo, Pada, Guetty and family, Yvette, Berline, Closita, Fabienne, Magi, and Yvonne, Rachel, Naomi, Steve, Devan, Evelyn, and Warren. This book was completed because of the perceptive and patient editing of Rachel Schiller, Naomi Schiller, and Richard Downs, the research and word-processing support of Natalie Elivert, Carrie Fisher, Rachel Price, Pierre Minn, Greg Osborn, and Carolyn Stolzenburg, and the computer wizardry of Dee-Ann Dixon, and we thank them. We would also like to ac- knowledge the research assistance of Jonas Frank, Max Guerrier, Fabienne Molin, Claude Monfiston, and Warren Silverzahn, whose help all proved invaluable. Institutional support has been provided by sabbatical leaves granted from SUNY Stony Brook and the University of New Hampshire, and grants from the Wenner Gren Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation through the Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, unicamp, the Mel- lon Foundation through postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University, and