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West Indian in the West: Self-Representations in an Immigrant Community
Contributor(s): Hintzen, Percy (Author)
ISBN: 0814736009     ISBN-13: 9780814736005
Publisher: New York University Press
OUR PRICE:   $28.50  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: November 2001
Qty:
Annotation: "An important contribution to discussions of identity construction in a globalized world and will be enjoyed and debated by students of ethnic studies."
--"Library Journal"

"I believe Hintzen's work reflects valuable insights."
--"International Migration Review"

As new immigrant communities continue to flourish in U.S. cities, their members continually face challenges of assimilatation in the organization of their ethnic identities. West Indians provide a vibrant example.

In West Indian in the West, Percy Hintzen draws on extensive ethnographic work with the West Indian community in the San Francisco Bay area to illuminate the ways in which social context affects ethnic identity formation. The memories, symbols, and images with which West Indians identify in order to differentiate themselves from the culture which surrounds them are distinct depending on what part of the U.S. they live in. West Indian identity comes to take on different meanings within different locations in the United States.

In the San Francisco Bay area, West Indians negotiate their identity within a system of race relations that is shaped by the social and political power of African Americans. By asserting their racial identity as black, West Indians make legal and official claims to resources reserved exclusively for African Americans. At the same time, the West Indian community insulates itself from the problems of the black/white dichotomy in the U.S. by setting itself apart.

Hintzen examines how West Indians publicly assert their identity by making use of the stereotypic understandings of West Indians which exist in the larger culture. He shows how ethnic communities negotiate spaces forthemselves within the broader contexts in which they live.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Emigration & Immigration
- Social Science | Minority Studies
Dewey: 305.896
LCCN: 2001003120
Physical Information: 0.54" H x 5.94" W x 9.04" (0.66 lbs) 272 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

As new immigrant communities continue to flourish in U.S. cities, their members continually face challenges of assimilation in the organization of their ethnic identities. West Indians provide a vibrant example.
In West Indian in the West, Percy Hintzen draws on extensive ethnographic work with the West Indian community in the San Francisco Bay area to illuminate the ways in which social context affects ethnic identity formation. The memories, symbols, and images with which West Indians identify in order to differentiate themselves from the culture which surrounds them are distinct depending on what part of the U.S. they live in. West Indian identity comes to take on different meanings within different locations in the United States.
In the San Francisco Bay area, West Indians negotiate their identity within a system of race relations that is shaped by the social and political power of African Americans. By asserting their racial identity as black, West Indians make legal and official claims to resources reserved exclusively for African Americans. At the same time, the West Indian community insulates itself from the problems of the black/white dichotomy in the U.S. by setting itself apart.
Hintzen examines how West Indians publicly assert their identity by making use of the stereotypic understandings of West Indians which exist in the larger culture. He shows how ethnic communities negotiate spaces for themselves within the broader contexts in which they live.

Contributor Bio(s): Hintzen, Percy: - Percy C. Hintzen is Associate Professor and Chair of African American Studies and former Director of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of California at Berkeley He is the author of The Costs of Regime Survival: Racial Mobilization, Elite Domination, and Control of the State in Guyana and Trinidad.