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“We Are Not Surviving, We Are Managing”: the constitution of a Nigerian diaspora along the contours of the global economy

“We Are Not Surviving, We Are Managing”: the constitution of a Nigerian diaspora along the... This ethnographic piece outlines how the geography of globalization and its socieconomic vicissitudes condition unique life experiences for Nigerian Igbo immigrants in the U.S. The elite class of Igbo people from Nigeria continue to immigrate to the U.S. in large numbers. As professionals, ethnic group members tend to settle in mainstream American neighborhoods, experiencing a high degree of structural integration into global professional workplaces and occupations. Ironically, the same physical and occupational mobility that disperses Igbo elites across the globe and across the U.S. also provides the enhanced means by which Igbo‐speaking people sustain their ethnic organizations and diasporic communities. Professional work, normally in places which are assimilated to the American mainstream despite being extra–Igbo contexts, actually encourage habits of interactive communication that are brought into the service of Igbo community cohesion. In that sense, a geographical distribution that is primarily socio‐economic is also parlayed into a means by which people come together through travel, through literacy, and through synchronous communication technologies. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png City & Society Wiley

“We Are Not Surviving, We Are Managing”: the constitution of a Nigerian diaspora along the contours of the global economy

REYNOLDS, RACHEL R.
City & Society , Volume 16 (1) – Jun 1, 2004
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23 pages

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
0893-0465
eISSN
1548-744X
DOI
10.1525/city.2004.16.1.15
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This ethnographic piece outlines how the geography of globalization and its socieconomic vicissitudes condition unique life experiences for Nigerian Igbo immigrants in the U.S. The elite class of Igbo people from Nigeria continue to immigrate to the U.S. in large numbers. As professionals, ethnic group members tend to settle in mainstream American neighborhoods, experiencing a high degree of structural integration into global professional workplaces and occupations. Ironically, the same physical and occupational mobility that disperses Igbo elites across the globe and across the U.S. also provides the enhanced means by which Igbo‐speaking people sustain their ethnic organizations and diasporic communities. Professional work, normally in places which are assimilated to the American mainstream despite being extra–Igbo contexts, actually encourage habits of interactive communication that are brought into the service of Igbo community cohesion. In that sense, a geographical distribution that is primarily socio‐economic is also parlayed into a means by which people come together through travel, through literacy, and through synchronous communication technologies.

Journal

City & Society – Wiley

Published: Jun 1, 2004

References

  • Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination
    Appadurai, Appadurai
  • The Commodification of Ethnicity in an Asian Indian Economy in Chicago
    Bubinas, Bubinas
  • What Is to Be Done? A Look at Some Causes and Consequences of the African Brain Drain
    Dei, Dei; Asgharzadeh, Asgharzadeh
  • Linguistic Politeness and socio‐cultural variations of the notion of face
    Nwoye, Nwoye
  • An analysis of brain‐drain and its impact on manpower development in Nigeria
    Odunsi, Odunsi