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Reviewed by:
  • In a New Land: A Comparative View of Immigration
  • Jeffrey G. Reitz
Nancy Foner , In a New Land: A Comparative View of Immigration. New York and London: New York University Press, 2005, 327pp.

Nancy Foner began the comparative study of international migration in the 1970s, focusing on Jamaican immigrants in New York and London. This was pioneering work, using the contrasts between different host societies to provide [End Page 420]highly original insights into the forces shaping immigrant settlement and integration. Since then, she has continued to explore immigration issues in New York from a comparative perspective, including her excellent book From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration(2000). This new book provides a valuable overview, update, and extension of her work to date.

As the comparisons all involve one city —New York —one could argue that the subtitle really should be A Comparative View of Immigration in New York. The first two parts represent, respectively, comparisons across time (four chapters on old and new immigration to New York), and comparisons between cities in different countries (three chapters on West Indians in London and New York). A third part contains a chapter with comparisons of New York to other US cities, and a concluding chapter sketching broader comparisons of the United States with Europe, and projecting a future agenda for comparative research. Rather than putting forward a specific substantive thesis, a main purpose of the book is to display the value of comparative analysis to a variety of topics. As she explains in her introduction, "This book is based on the premise that a comparative perspective can yield new insights into the nature and impact of the new wave of immigration to the United States" (p. 1).

What are these insights? There are many which might be listed in a longer review, but here I will mention only a few. One is the impact on immigrants of preexisting ethnic and racial relations in the host society, with particular interest in the impact of US black-white relations on West Indian black newcomers, and the "segmented assimilation" which results. In Foner's book, this theme arises in comparisons of old and new immigration, and in the comparison of New York with London. She concludes that, for most black Americans, a degree of assimilation into black America is "an inevitability for most second-generation West Indians in New York" (p. 125). The real question concerns the consequences of this assimilation. The comparison suggests that the consequences are not only related to identity or culture. Other possible effects include a markedly lower level of social exposure to whites (including, for example, less intermarriage), as well as certain opportunities arising from association with blacks.

Another set of insights arises in connection with "transnational" communities, more specifically from the realization that a form of transnationalism existed at the time of the "old" immigration, not just the new. As well, Foner notes that increased opportunities for continuing transnational social contacts have effects that are intertwined with other changes, such as rising educational levels, increased awareness of global economic opportunities, and changing gender relations, all of which affect the nature of ethnic community life in the present era.

Foner examines a number of other topics, such as the social construction of race, which is so much easier to see in comparative context, and the impact [End Page 421]of broader institutions, such as educational systems and the welfare state. But perhaps the most basic and useful insight is that any particular feature of a host society has effects along multiple dimensions. Achieving such insights is not automatic in comparative work, of course, and a key to Nancy Foner's success is her style, which is open to considering many diverse aspects of situations. Her anthropologist's emphasis is on qualitative observation and evidence, and some of her hypotheses clearly require quantitative research. Importantly, however, she recognizes the need to identify hypotheses, even if they cannot all be examined immediately. One item not on her agenda is the concept of New York as a "global city." The concept of global city is frequently mentioned in the context of contemporary...

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