AFRICAN MINORITIES IN THE NEW WORLD

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Af r i c A n St u d i e S

Hi S t o r y , PoliticS, ec o n o m i c S , A n d cu lt u r e

Edited by

Molefi Asante

Temple University

A r

o u t l e d g e Se r i e S

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Kw A m e nK r u m A H ’S co n t r i b u t i o n t o

A n -Af r i c A n i S m

An Afrocentric Analysis

D. Zizwe Poe

ny A n S A P o (tH e wi S d o m Kn o t )

Toward an African Philosophy of

Education

Kwadwo A. Okrah

H e At H e n S o f we S t Af r i c A

A History of International Education at

Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra

Leone

Daniel J. Paracka, Jr.

H e yo r ù b á tr A d i t i o n A l He A l e r S o f

igeriA

Mary Olufunmilayo Adekson

H e ‘civil So c i e t y ’ Pr o b l e m A t i q u e

Deconstructing Civility and Southern

Nigeria’s Ethnic Radicalization

Adedayo Oluwakayode Adekson

A A t , t H e mo r A l id e A l i n An c i e n t

g y P t

A Study in Classical African Ethics

Maulana Karenga

ig b o wo m e n A n d ec o n o m i c

r A n S f o r m A t i o n i n So u t H e A S t e r n

igeriA, 1900–1960

Gloria Chuku

Kw A m e nK r u m A H ’S Po litico-cu l t u r A l

H o u g H t A n d Po l i c i e S

An African-Centered Paradigm for the

Second Phase of the African Revolution

Kwame Botwe-Asamoah

o n -tr A d i t i o n A l oc c u P A t i o n S ,

m P o w e r m e n t A n d wo m e n

A Case of Togolese Women

Ayélé Léa Adubra

co n t e n d i n g PoliticAl PA r A d i g m S i n

f r i c A

Rationality and the Politics of

Democratization in Kenya and Zambia

Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o

A w , mo r A l i t y A n d in t e r n A t i o n A l

r m e d in t e r v e n t i o n

The United Nations and ECOWAS in

Liberia

Mourtada Déme

H e Hi d d e n de b At e

The Truth Revealed about the Battle

over Affirmative Action in South Africa

and the United States

Akil Kokayi Khalfani

ritA in, le f t i S t nA t i o n A l i S t S A n d

t H e tr A n S f e r o f Po w e r in nigeriA,

1945–1965

Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani

e S t e r n -ed u c A t e d el i t e S i n Ke n y A ,

1900–1963

The African American Factor

Jim C. Harper, II

f r i c A A n d imf co n d i t i o n A l i t y

The Unevenness of Compliance,

1983–2000

Kwame Akonor

f r i c A n cu l t u r A l vA l u e S

Igbo Political Leadership in Colonial

Nigeria, 1900–1966

Raphael Chijioke Njoku

Af r i c A n St u d i e S

Hi S t o r y , PoliticS , ec o n o m i c S , A n d cu l t u r e

mo l e f i AS A n t e , General Editor

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Af r i c A n minoritieS

in t H e ne w wo r l d

Edited by

Toyin Falola

Niyi Afolabi

Routledge

New York & London

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First published 2008

by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the UK

by Routledge

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

African minorities in the New World / edited by Toyin Falola and Niyi Afolabi.

p. cm. —(African studies : history, politics, economics, and culture)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-415-96092-4

1. Africans—America—Social conditions. 2. Blacks—America—Social conditions.

3. Immigrants—America—Social conditions. 4. Africans—America—Ethnic identity.

5. Citizenship—America. 6. Refugees—Government policy—America. 7. African

diaspora. 8. America—Emigration and immigration. 9. Africa—Emigration and

immigration. 10. America—Ethnic relations. I. Falola, Toyin. II. Afolabi, Niyi.

E29.N3A525 2007

970’.00496—dc22 2007018149

ISBN10: 0-415-96092-4 (hbk)

ISBN10: 0-203-93251-X (ebk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-96092-2 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-93251-3 (ebk)

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

ISBN 0-203-93251-X Master e-book ISBN

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For Professor Akin Ogundiran,

A successful symbol of migration and transnationalism

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vii

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Contents

Preface ix

Chapter One

Introduction: Voluntarily Singing the Lord’s Song . . . 1

Toyin Falola & Niyi Afolabi

PART I: NEGOTIATING CITIZENSHIP

AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES

Chapter Two

Nationalist Myth-Making, Cultural Identity and Nation Building:

African Minorities in the U.S. and Latin America 23

Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o

Chapter Three

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America:

Religion and the Construction of Social Identity in St. Louis 51

Attah Anthony Agbali

Chapter Four

Ethnography of Religion and Spirituality

among St. Louisan African Immigrants 105

Attah Anthony Agbali

Chapter Five

‘Born in the USA’: Dislocation, Disrupted Kinship Networks,

and the Transformative Power of Music and Dance

in African Immigrant Baby Naming Ceremonies 153

Sherri Canon

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Chapter Six

A Viagem da Minha Vida/The Voyage of My Life: Identity Formation

and Resettlement among Angolan Women of Color in Toronto 167

Robert A. Kenedy

PART II: AFRICAN REFUGEES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Chapter Seven

The Making of a Modern Diaspora: The Resettlement Process

of the Somali Bantu Refugees in the United States 197

Omar A. Eno and Mohamed Eno

Chapter Eight

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration: The Nigerians’ Attitudes

to the American Visa Lottery 221

Elizabeth Augustus and Preston Augustus

Chapter Nine

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers toward

the Transfer of Knowledge, Skill and Professionalism 233

Oladapo Augustus

Chapter Ten

African Immigrants’ Families and the American Educational System 247

Cecilia S. Obeng

Conclusion

The New African Diaspora Waves:

Shifting Diversity of American Culture 261

Appendix 265

Contributors 267

Index 271

viii Contents

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Preface

African Minorities in the New World is based upon a major international

conference held at the University of Texas-Austin (March 24–26, 2006), on

the subject of “Movements, Migrations, and Displacements in Africa.” The

book brings together twelve incisive chapters on the dynamics of migration

and policy-cum-developmental implications on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the last five decades (1950–2000), the subject of migration and immigra-

tion has shifted from the internal to the international frame due to the new

wave of African immigrants and issues concerning their integration into

American social, economic and political life. This “new” wave is both inter-

esting and challenging in the sense that it falls within what has been termed

“voluntary trans-Atlantic migration” as opposed to involuntary migration

during slavery. While the Civil Rights Movement in the United States con-

tributed to the attainment of independence by former African colonies, the

era of independence also served as a catalyst for professional training that

was becoming indispensable for élites in the new African states.

Yet, following the return of these Western-trained Africans to their

newly independent nations, the post-colonial African states suffered from

poor leadership, corruption, and economic mismanagement. Some of these

former students in the West, and even locally trained professionals such

as medical doctors, nurses, engineers, and professors, often facing redun-

dancy and frustration due to lack of facilities and opportunities in their

own countries, felt compelled to seek “greener pastures” in Europe and

America. This economically-motivated wave resulted in the debate between

“brain drain” and “brain gain”. The situation is further complicated by

cases of drought and civil war in some African countries, such as Somalia,

Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc., leading to cases of refugee and asylum-

seeking status. In essence, the question of migration has become so com-

plex and transnational that it deserves attention as an area of academic

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inquiry that is only being broached currently. Since it has been suggested

that “more Africans enter the U.S. than in the days of slavery” (50,000

annually since the ’90s), it is becoming even more urgent to address the

policy implications of this for both the U.S.A. and Africa, especially from

the viewpoints of labor economics’ exigency and charges of un-patriotism,

respectively. This book sets out to fill the gap in the literature on some of

these issues. While this book has focused primarily on new trans-Atlantic

African migration, its constructive-dialogic model also serves the compara-

tive interests of other “new migrant minorities” in the United States in the

era of globalization and transnational capitalism.

The contributors range in interdisciplinary backgrounds from medical

practitioners to professors, as well as ministers, pastors, case-workers, and

international development agents. They bring together a unique dynamism

that reflects dedication and commitment to change in attitudes, policies,

research focus, and dissemination. We expect that the book will become

an immediate success as a reader on migration, immigration, public policy

issues, African studies, African American studies, and New Diaspora studies.

It will equally appeal to scholars of history, international law, international

relations, health care, and social work. Its accessible language and illustra-

tive graphics make it suitable for the general reader interested in migration

patterns and the African contribution to global politics and economics.

We want to thank all the contributors who, despite security and finan-

cial concerns, traveled long distances to be with us in Texas. Presenters and

participants engaged in lively discussion throughout the three-day period.

Such an undertaking does not come without copious debts. We are grateful

to a host of graduate students (Roy Doron, Tyler Fleming, Matthew Heaton,

Ann Genova, Adam Paddock, and Saheed Aderinto); the technical person-

nel (Sam Saverance); and many staff of the University of Texas (Gail Davis,

Laura Flack and Martha Gail Moore). The organizations and departments

that supported us financially include the Departments of History, Govern-

ment, and English, the Center for African and African American Studies,

the Office of the Vice President, College of Liberal Arts, Office of the Dean

of Students, the Texas Cowboys Fund, The Louann and Larry Temple Fund,

The Frances Higgenbotham Nalle Fund, and Dedman College, Southern

Methodist University, Dallas. We are also grateful to Dr. Vik Bahl of Green

River Community College in Auburn, Ms. Ronke Obadina of Austin, and

Dr. Segun Fayemi of New York for their commitment to the conference.

Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

Niyi Afolabi, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

x Preface

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Chapter One

Introduction: Voluntarily Singing the

Lord’s Song . . .

Toyin Falola and Niyi Afolabi

OVERVIEW

This book confronts the reality that new African immigrants now repre-

sent a significant force in the configuration of American polity and iden-

tity, especially in the last forty years. Despite their minority status, African

immigrants are making their mark in various areas of human endeavor and

accomplishment—from the academy, to business, to scientific innovation.

The demographic shift is welcome news as well as a matter for concern,

given the consequences of displacement and the paradoxes of exile in the

new location. By its very connection to the “Old African Diaspora,” the

notion of a “New African Diaspora”

marks a clear indication of a histori-

cal progression reconnecting continental Africa with the New World with-

out the stigma of slavery. However, the notion of trans-Atlantic slavery is

never erased when the African diaspora is mentioned, whether in the old

world or the new. Within this paradoxical dispensation, the new African

diaspora must be conceived as the aftermath of a global migration crisis.

While studies

addressing new international migration patterns of ethnic

groups into the United States, such as the cases of Asian-Americans, Lati-

nos, Sino-Americans, etc. are on the rise, only a few

address African immi-

grants. This is the context in which this book is significant.

While a few studies have attempted to expose the emerging trans-

migrational trends in the 80s and 90s, such as John Arthur’s Invisible

Sojourners: African Immigrant Diaspora in the United States (2000), Toyin

Falola’s focus on African intellectuals in a changing world order—as in

Nationalism and African Intellectuals (2001)—and Lawrence Okafor’s

Recent African Immigrants to the USA (2003) in which he proposes reci-

pes for survival and success in the United States, no other study has come

close to the diversity and comprehensiveness African Minorities in the New

2 African Minorities in the New World

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World, especially in its intellectual scope, cogency, and interdisciplinary

orientation. Broadly framed as a dialogue between the implied antithesis of

the diaspora of slavery, the diaspora of colonialism, and the voluntary dias-

pora to the United States, Canada, and Latin America, the main arguments

of African Minorities in the New World may be summed up as follows:

i. That the exigency of migration has significant unintended

consequences.

ii. That any displacement from a ‘comfort zone’ triggers survival

mechanisms.

iii. That there is a correlation between economic gain and brain

drain.

iv. That voluntary migration implies hopes, dreams, and a sense of

peace among African immigrants.

v. That there is a subtle relationship between the dynamics of Atlan-

tic slavery and the unintended consequences faced by African

immigrants in terms of reverse patterns of postmodern migration

from Africa.

vi. That migrant African professionals in the United States see their

‘displacement’ more as an opportunity for professional develop-

ment than loss of patriotism.

vii. That the implications for US African policy can lead to an

improved partnership between the United States and Africa,

through productive dialogue between local and international

development agencies.

viii. That the processes of adaptation and integration for African

immigrants must be studied and analyzed from an interdisciplin-

ary perspective to highlight the journey to citizenship not neces-

sarily as the attainment of the ‘American dream’ alone, but also

as the possibility to contribute to an Africa that from which

the migrants voluntarily departed due to economic or political

exigency.

ix. That such a study must involve the entire African community,

located in major American cities (New York, Chicago, Washing-

ton, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc.) as well as in the

traditional American South.

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x. That the refugee situation as well as the economic and political

crises in Africa have a direct bearing on African immigration to

the USA, and must also be factored into the discussion of how

the first generation of “new African Americans” (“new minori-

ties”) will be received or is being received, such as the election of

Barack Obama (Kenya) to the US Senate in 2004.

The edited volume has been prepared as both a scholarly book and

as a reader in undergraduate and graduate courses. In its three-part divi-

sion, it groups under thematic clusters the main issues of African immigra-

tion in the New World, especially in the United States and Canada. The

first part brings together four chapters addressing “Negotiating Citizenship

and Cultural Identities.” Combining issues of nation-building, national-

ism, religion, dislocation, resettlement, and new identity formations, this

part emphasizes the imperative of negotiation in a new setting where family

and kinship networks are disrupted, re-defined, and re-imagined. The sec-

ond part, “African Refugees and Policy Implications,” brings together five

chapters that address policy issues regarding refugees, migrant health-care

workers, and the relationship between migrancy and the American educa-

tional system. In essence, this section raises issues of adaptation, human,

and economic costs of migration for the hosting communities, countries, as

well as African immigrants. The last part, “Paradoxes of (Im)migration and

Exile” highlights the tensions and contradictions faced by African immi-

grants in their process of integration within American society. The three

chapters passionately discuss how stereotypical images in the media, per-

ceived discrimination and a sense of being marooned in a shifting and float-

ing state of citizenship and alienation can be a matter of concern leading

to some forms of activism and discourses of self-recuperation. While this

book has focused primarily on new trans-Atlantic African migration, its

constructive-dialogic model also serves the comparative interests of other

“new migrant minorities” in the United States in the era of globalization

and transnational capitalism.

NEW AFRICAN MIGRATION:

HISTORY, PATTERNS, AND THEORY

A new cadre of African immigrants are finding themselves in the New

World—mostly well educated, high-income earning professionals, and

belonging to the category termed “African brain drain,” they constitute

the antinomy of those Africans who were forcibly removed from Africa

during slavery. Along with this sense of freedom and voluntary migration

4 African Minorities in the New World

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comes a paradox: that of living in two worlds and negotiating the pleasures

and agonies that come with living in exile. In order to understand fully

the nature of this complexity, we must draw from multidisciplinary frame-

works and variables. While there is no agreement on the best approach to

understand or explain migration and its consequences, a number of ques-

tions

and methodologies do facilitate the possibility of a theoretical fram-

ing. These questions are:

1. What is the impact of migration on cultural change and ethnic

identity?

2. What is the impact of migration on population change?

3. What explanation can be provided for the wish to migrate, and

its consequences?

4. What approaches are best to understand the experience of the

immigrant?

5. What is the impact of immigration laws on the immigrant?

6. Why is it difficult for the state to control immigration?

7. What is meant by immigrant incorporation?

While not exhaustive, these questions provide a starting point for theories

and hypotheses on the new African immigration. Some of the questions not

addressed here are the impact of education for children and women as part

of the decision to stay on, the role of perceived or real discrimination, the

push-pull dynamics that often compel some immigrants to consider return-

ing to Africa, and finally, the wave of implantation of religious entities and

communities as a form of coping strategies for those who have considered

the United States as a home in exile. These other questions, which are fully

addressed in this book, make for a more comprehensive analysis of the state

of new African migration.

Migration brings about the hyphenated self, that is, the old self ver-

sus the newly formed or emerging self. Such a state of flux and of trauma

brings about a psychological crisis of identity and of consciousness. On

the one hand, the immigrant is still clinging on to the old identity; in this

case, the African, while at the same time, he/she is obliged to assimilate

cultural values and social conditionings of the United States that make inte-

gration more feasible. Ultimately, the levels of flexibility, conformism, and

resistance determine whether assimilation will happen or if a compromise

will be reached. The impact of migration on cultural change and ethnic

Introduction 5

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identity may then be theorized as a permanent state of crisis, negotiation

if not confusion. In order to maintain some level of psychological balance,

the immigrant is obliged to immerse himself or herself in those African ritu-

als and ceremonies that help to maintain connections with Africa. On the

other hand, in order for the new African immigrant to function properly

in the United States, a coping strategy is necessitated—that is, an aware-

ness of American cultural values, an embrace of it when convenient, and

total indifference when immaterial to survival. A problematic example is

the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It is not impossible, for example, for

an African immigrant to attend a rally in honor of the Civil Rights leader

and later rush to an African naming ceremony or an African wedding event

the same day without any feeling of contradiction or betrayal. The holiday

is significant to all Americans, more so African Americans, and even to

the African immigrant. Yet, because “charity begins at home,” the African

immigrant will also ensure his or her rituals or ceremonies are maintained

even as a form of resistance and survival.

The impact of migration on population change is both a demographic

and historical question. Since the 1500s, Africans have been uprooted from

their homelands to the Americas to work on plantations as slaves. As James

Arthur points out in Invisible Sojourners, the slave trade brought “between

ten and twenty million Africans”. Between 1891 and 1900, there were

only three hundred and fifty, due to abolition of slavery. Between 1900 and

1950, over thirty one thousand African immigrants migrated. Arthur sur-

mises that regardless of the period when they came to the United States,

“Africans have contributed immensely to shaping America” (2). In the

new African immigration wave, thousands of Africans have migrated to

the United States in search of a better life. In recent migration patterns,

African immigrants are coming primarily from Nigeria, South Africa, Libe-

ria, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Cape Verde, and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia,

Somalia and Eritrea). According to April Gordon’s data (1998), Nigerians

alone constitute 17 percent of the African immigration population fol-

lowed by Ethiopia with 13 percent. Since most new African immigrants

settle in urban areas such as New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles,

Atlanta and Houston, they are driven to succeed and compete to the extent

that they may be said to have become more economically successful than

when they were in Africa. Numerically, the number of Africans living in

the United States has grown consistently and exponentially over the last

forty years. In 1970, there were about 61,463 African immigrants, in 1980,

there were 193,723, and by 1990 census, there were 363,819). In addition

to increasing the population and economic vibrancy of the major American

cities where they live, new African immigrants have also been considered

6 African Minorities in the New World

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of “negative impact” to the economic security of African Americans. As

Steven Shulman

observes:

The debate about the impact of immigration on African Americans

is fundamentally empirical, but it has broad political ramifications.

Immigration advocates often say that “we are a nation of immigrants.”

However, African Americans are descendants of slaves, not immi-

grants.” Immigration may increase ethnic diversity, but if it does so at

the expense African Americans it is hard to see how it can be justified

in terms of historical or social justice. (x)

Although Schulman has focused primarily on African Americans, the natu-

ral tension caused by population change and ethnic diversity may apply

across the board—that is, speaking equally for the Hispanic-Americans and

Asian-Americans.

For the new African immigrant, the primary factor motivating migra-

tion is the desire for a better life, whether fleeing political persecution,

economic disaster, refugee crisis, or a combination thereof. The overall

consequences include displacement, alienation, and the not so enchanting

reality of exile. In order to gain a better understanding of the migrant’s

experiences, opportunities for experiential narratives must be provided.

While interviewing victims of traumatic experiences is often difficult,

depending on the migrant’s comfort in narrating the tale, the level of trauma

caused by such experiences, and the question of whether the migrant has

ultimately “overcome” the memories of their past negative circumstances,

it is very useful to devise instruments of fact-gathering and analysis in order

to improve the conditions of future African immigrants. To the extent that

immigration laws continue to be a political issue, the fate of many prospec-

tive immigrants will continue to hang in the balance. The 1965 Immigra-

tion Act, the 1980 immigration changes pertaining to refugees, the 1986

Immigration Reform and Control Act, and the 1990 Immigration Act have

all facilitated African immigration. The recent introduction of the Diversity

Lottery Visa have also given many the opportunity to immigrate without

having to go through the pains and agonies of waiting for the national ori-

gins quota allocation or working their way up to citizenship. In this sense,

immigration laws have been a blessing and a curse depending on who they

benefit. Many lives have been twisted through bureaucratic or inadvertent

errors such as expiration, renewal, delays, missing documents, or omis-

sions. Furthermore, it has been difficult for the state to control immigration

due to constantly shifting laws and the readiness of the aspiring migrants to

take advantage of opportunities or loop holes. In the final analysis, when

Introduction 7

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every migrant can count on immigrant incorporation, that is, becoming

fully integrated as a citizen with all the benefits thereof, and without any

feeling of discrimination, alienation, or double standards, then the arduous

road to citizenship will have been worthwhile. The irony is that some new

African immigrants are yet to feel so well incorporated, hence the constant

echo of their “minority” status.

PART I: NEGOTIATING CITIZENSHIP

AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES

This section addresses issues of citizenship as they affect the shifting cul-

tural identities of the African immigrant. In providing broad contextual

parameters for the study of African minorities in the New World, the four

chapters share some commonalities: dislocation, identities, and coping strat-

egies. Distributing their geographical foci between the United States, Latin

America

and Canada, the experiences narrated and analyzed in this section

also present some divergences. While Latin America and the United States

differ on the issue of race (miscegenation versus one blood rule), there may

be some agreement on the issue of class, that the mythology of “equality”

and denial of racism often obscure realities, especially in Latin America.

In addition, the discussion of religion as a coping strategy among African

immigrants, naming ceremonies of an African immigrant baby as a forum

of preservation of African tradition and celebration of cultural values, as

well as the trauma of being “illegal” African refugee women in Canada

once their “refugee status” expires, provide cogent case-studies from which

to reach some hypothetical conclusions on the impact of the desire for citi-

zenship on the general well-being and on the cultural identities of African

immigrants.

In the first chapter, “Nationalist Myth-Making, Cultural Identity

and Nation Building: African Minorities in the U.S. and Latin America,”

Shadrack Nasong’o questions the national myth of miscegenation (race

mixture) in Latin America as well as the myth of equality in the United

States. Using the case of the Hurricane Katrina disaster that hit the U.S. Gulf

Coast in September 2005, she argues that this unfortunate event brought

America’s shocking poverty bubbling to the surface. This is because most

people in Mississippi and New Orleans who stayed back were too poor to

leave. Statistics from the 2000 census show that close to 40 per cent of the

New Orleans population, which is overwhelmingly black, lived in poverty,

with 27 percent having no access to a vehicle. For Nasong’o, not only does

this reality constitute a major contradiction of the nationalist construction

of the U.S. as an egalitarian society wherein virtually all citizens belong to

8 African Minorities in the New World

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the middle class and are afforded the opportunity to realize and live “the

American dream”. She contends that similarly in Latin America, through

the adoption of the nationalist myth of mestizaje, historians, philosophers,

writers, and anthropologists have consistently claimed that the issue of

race does not exist in Latin America; that all ethnic groups have blended

together in a harmonious and indistinguishable new entity called the Mes-

tizo. However, day-to-day realities challenge this nationalist myth. People

of African descent are so marginalized that in Colombia, for instance, they

are not counted in national censuses. This chapter critically examines the

process of nationalist myth making in the U.S. and Latin America from a

comparative perspective with a view to analyzing the impact and implica-

tions of this dominant-group elite project on ethnic and racial minorities,

with particular focus on people of African descent. The central argument

of the study lies in the author’s position that the conception of nations as

egalitarian communities, characterized by deep horizontal comradeship,

camouflages the reality of glaring inequalities and ruthless exploitation in

order to promote collective loyalty, especially of dominant groups, to the

nationalist project.

While Nasong’o’s incursions into the United States and Latin America

provide inter-continental and comparative perspectives of migration and

identity, the case-studies by Anthony Agbali are focused on urban America.

In the second chapter, “African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America:

Religion and the Construction of Social Identity in St. Louis,” Agbali pres-

ents a fascinating study of how Africans living in St. Louis, Missouri, create

religion-derived social identities as one of their coping strategies of integra-

tion and survival in their new locale. Agbali argues that African immigrants

are featuring significantly among the new immigrants to the United States

of America. According to the author, today’s African immigrants represent

a historical continuum with previous African immigrants who came to the

shores of the United States as slaves. In contrast, however, contemporary

African immigrants are constituted differently, as they came of their own

volition.

Thus, among the most recent immigrants to the United States are

those affected by interethnic civil wars, such as many Eritreans, Somalians,

Sudanese and Liberians, among others, as well as those affected by political

persecution and ethnic cleansing such as the Ogonis of Nigeria, members of

Nigeria’s democratic opposition, civil society, and intellectuals (mainly dur-

ing the Abacha dictatorship), the Somali Bantu, the Rwandan Tutsis and

their sympathizers, and many others. Others, especially skilled professionals,

are pushed by factors of economics and existential satisfaction to emigrate

to other social spaces and nations. Some of these immigrants’ destinations

Introduction 9

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occur within Africa, whereas others target the West, and specifically urban

America. The case-study of St. Louis, Missouri, is particularly illuminat-

ing, given the mix of immigrant populations from Somalis, to Bosnians, to

Nigerians. Although Agbali has focused generally on African immigrants

in St. Louis, it would be interesting to see how each nationality negotiates

cultural identities within the United States.

Beyond the collective social identity of Africans as examined in the

second chapter, in the third chapter, “Religion and Spirituality Among

St. Louisan African Immigrants,” Agbali probes further into the roles of

religion and spirituality not only in the formation of identities but in the

strategies deployed to cope with the challenges of migration. Agbali con-

tends that African religious values, identities, and institutions offer immi-

grants a vital source of social anchoring, emotional solace, and help with

social adjustments. Thus, religious centers are vital spaces of heightened

social interaction, mnemonic recall and reordering, thus also featuring as

spaces of interpenetrations in hybridizing the purely material (mundane)

and the purely spiritual. This chapter examines the nature of this phenom-

enon, focusing on St. Louis, Missouri, a major immigration destination in

the past (1880–1920). While immigration to the St. Louis area has less-

ened, immigrants and refugees have found a home in St. Louis. In addition,

the presence of African immigrants has helped St. Louis project a colorful

multicultural spatial contour. The religious values, norms, institutions, and

practices have also structured America differently. In sum, as African immi-

grants acculturate, they also offer to America an African “soul.” In this

sense, Agbali may be agreeing with John Arthur who states: “Acculturated

but not assimilated, the Africans engage the host society selectively, confin-

ing their activities to carefully constructed zones, mainly educational and

economic, that are vital for their survival in this country.”

African immi-

grants, in essence, have a sense of control of their own destinies even when

faced perhaps with the next worst of adversities after death: dislocation.

Moving beyond national mythologies and social identities, Sheri

Canon, in chapter four, “ ‘Born in the USA’: Dislocation, Disrupted Kinship

Networks, and the Transformative Power of Music and Dance in African

Immigration Baby Naming Ceremonies,” provides a stimulating case-study

of cultural retentions among Senegalese and Ghanaian immigrants in Los

Angeles. Through the specific case studies of naming ceremonies, identity

formations, and resistance among African women, the author succeeds in

theorizing that these rituals and ceremonies function as one of the effec-

tive modes of resistance that African immigrants adopt in order to negoti-

ate between their traditional African values (religion, spirituality, cultural

traditions) and American cultural values, especially in the specific instance

10 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

of a naming ceremony. In essence, Canon argues that African immigrants,

regardless of their religious orientation (Christians or Muslims) simultane-

ously retain their traditional values—seizing opportunities such as naming

ceremonies to celebrate, showcase, and revive their cultural values as they

pass them on to their children in the New World.

In her description of the ceremony, Canon observes that for most Afri-

can societies, the naming ceremony consists of two segments—a religious

ritual in the early morning one week after a baby’s birth, followed by a

cultural celebration featuring music, dance, food, and gift exchange. In Los

Angeles, immigrant families, who are restricted by long-distance travel, long

working hours, and noise ordinances, adapt their rituals to the limitations

of the host society. In the process of this adaptation, they also transform the

foreign surroundings to reproduce the naming ceremony in a style that will

ensure the newborn’s spiritual protection and introduction into the commu-

nity. Canon successfully compares two immigrant communities—Ghana-

ians and Senegalese—who have very different cultures, languages, religious

histories, and migration patterns, in a global city such as Los Angeles.

While their music and dance performance practices differ, they share many

aspects of ritual performance and cultural aims during baptisms. Canon’s

presentation, description of the ceremony, and analysis show how Ghana-

ian and Senegalese immigrants use music and dance at life-cycle rituals to

re-inscribe ethnic and national identities, reinforce social relationships, and

accentuate the kinship ties between extended families across the Atlantic.

Through the use of varying musical genres, song texts, dance styles, praise

singing performances and drumming, African immigrants articulate family

ties in which Africans at home and abroad are enmeshed.

While Canon’s chapter on the African naming ceremony provides a

cultural and celebratory interlude to the negotiation of citizenship and cul-

tural identities, chapter five is not as celebratory. In “A Viagem da Minha

Vida/The Voyage of My Life: Identity Formation and Resettlement among

Angolan Women of Color in Toronto,” Robert A. Kenedy presents a rather

melancholic portrayal of the situation of Angolan women of color they inter-

viewed. The chapter explores identity and resettlement issues among Ango-

lan women of color in Toronto. Adopting an ethnographic, anthropologic

and sociologic approach, it chronicles the various methodological realities

of interviewing eleven women in Portuguese and English. The variables that

were explored include identity, resettlement, gender, race, religiosity, and

other related aspects. Participants identified the process of immigration and

settlement as the “voyage of their lives” and reported having to confront

a variety of issues in the mainstream Canadian and Portuguese-Canadian

communities of Toronto, Canada. Racism was particularly noteworthy for

Introduction 11

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these women, who were coping with many other challenges of resettlement.

Generally, these women felt they experienced different treatment than other

Portuguese-speaking women (namely Portuguese and Brazilian women),

and coped with resettlement and identity issues in unique ways that chal-

lenged their Angolan and newly acquired Canadian identities. The reluc-

tance of the eleven Angolan women interviewed by a white Portuguese to

provide information of their experiences is well understood, given the fact

that these women are now considered illegal immigrants since they have

lost their refugee status. The argument of the Canadian authorities was

that the legal basis of their refugee status is no longer tenable as Angola

is now a peaceful country. As the authors note, “Many potential parti-

cipants on learning about the focus of the study suspected the researcher

to be employed by the Ministry of Immigration and therefore refused to

participate, as they were illegal refugees in Canada.” Such a hindrance to

information-gathering for the study may have affected the size of the pop-

ulation studies as well as the results, but it also offers pertinent insights

about African immigration issues in Canada.

PART II: AFRICAN REFUGEES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

This section discusses the state of African refugee problems and their global

policy implications. The five chapters focus on the situations, attitudes,

challenges, and adaptations of African immigrants, their families, women,

children, and overall strategies of integration. Given the fact that of the

world’s total refugees, about fifty percent come from Africa,

it is important

to examine the economic and political conditions that have brought about

refugees in the first place. In a seminal study, “Nigeria in the Global Con-

text of Refugees: Historical and Comparative Perspectives,”

Toyin Falola

provided cogent reflections on the future of refugees that are as relevant

now as they were a decade ago, in the African and global contexts:

Nigeria and the world can anticipate an increasing number of refu-

gees in the future. (. . .) the conditions to produce refugees are present.

Future trends can also be predicted along the following lines. Internal

displacement will continue as people seek solutions to economic and

environmental problems and respond to political instability and vio-

lence. External ones will take a variety of forms: the West will continue

to attract more and more people, partly because there are opportunities

to work, but largely because of the illusion in Nigeria that migrants

make fast money and succeed within a short time. The false image

in Nigeria about Nigerians in the United States, for instance, is that

12 African Minorities in the New World

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they are wealthy. People will move to those countries where they think

they can live a better life or make money that can be re-invested in

Nigeria. (14)

Other factors advanced by Falola include the fact that African countries

have not developed a functional manner to deal with their refugees inter-

nally. In the final prognosis, Falola predicts that, “As Western economies

decline, refugees become the first casualty, with new ones prevented from

entering. To those already within, successful integration is never easy. Those

with skills and experience are unable to use them in appropriate ways (15).

In view of Falola’s summation, we can only expect the worst from refugee

crisis in Africa and their implications globally.

In the sixth chapter, “The Making of a Modern Diapora: The Reset-

tlement Process of the Somali Bantu Refugees in the United States” Omar

Eno and Mohamed Eno expose one of the challenges of fitting into a new

diaspora after a displacement from a diaspora within the continent, as in

the case the resettlement processes of the Somali Bantu in the United States.

Eno and Eno’s thesis is at least double fold: Firstly, the authors succinctly

expose the atrocities committed against the Somali Bantu by the Somali

nomads and dominant rulers in a country projected to be egalitarian and

homogenous. The authors argue convincingly to the contrary, suggesting

that the consequences of domination, the subsequent rebellion, and what

he calls “regional versus civil war” are inevitable and may only be reconcil-

able in the new diaspora if at all—especially given the background history

of ethnic rivalry and resentment on both sides. Secondly, the authors theo-

rize on the resettlement process of both groups in the United States as well

as the efforts at reconciling the ambiguous relationship (given past history,

injustices, and conflict . . .) between the two groups. In the final analysis,

the authors hint at the possibility for reconciliation and perhaps for unspo-

ken reparations or remedy.

As Eno and Eno posit, the Bantu were actively seeking protection

through third-country resettlement from 1993. Roughly 20,000 Somali

Bantu refugees are scattered all over Africa and Yemen, some 5,000 found

refuge in Tanzania, their country of origin. In 1999, the United States gov-

ernment offered a resettlement opportunity to 14,000 Somali Bantu refu-

gees from Kenyan camps for protection. The first batch of settlers began

arriving in the United States in mid 2003, and their process continues today.

Eno and Eno analyze the underpinning causes of the Bantu movement from

Somalia to the refugee camps in Kenya, and the impact of being destitute in

a foreign country. In addition, Eno and Eno further argue that the resettle-

ment process of the Bantu people into the United States was not without its

Introduction 13

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difficulties in the process of assimilation, access to employment, housing,

and education. The authors conclude that despite the challenges of adjust-

ment and settlement, Somali Bantu refugees are better situated now than

before.

While refugees enjoy special privileges such as automatic settle-

ment and immediate benefits of permanent residency, most immigrants

go through a gradual process of attaining that status. Yet, African immi-

grants have something in common: the fact that they are seeking some kind

of “refuge” in the United States—whether it is economic or political. In

this regard, in the seventh chapter, “Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration:

Nigerians’ Attitudes to American Visa Lottery,” Elizabeth and Preston

Augustus provide a well-researched chapter on the attitudes of Nigerians

(case-study of Oyo state) towards the American Visa Lottery. In addition

to a quantitative research approach (one hundred surveys), the authors his-

toricize human migration while elaborating and analyzing the varying fac-

tors affecting voluntary trans-Atlantic migration, as well the implications

for the host and the originating country. The authors argue that migra-

tion is not a novel concept but an ancient one. Tracing different instances

of migration across the globe, they insist that current migration is only a

continuum of an age-old process. The study further traces the origin of the

America Visa Lottery and states the objectives of the host country. It also

identifies the implications of migration on the host society and its effects on

the country of origin. This chapter further identifies and explains different

factors responsible for Nigerians’ clamoring for the American Visa Lottery,

and concludes that the privilege should be used to benefit both the host and

originating country, that is, the United States and Nigeria respectively.

As the American Visa Lottery offers hope to many African immi-

grants, some of these highly trained professionals experience a sense of

stagnancy and nostalgia, and have to decide whether to remain or to leave.

Perhaps this captures the push-pull dynamics of wanting to stay and having

to go in some instances. Oladapo Augustus, in the eighth chapter, “Manag-

ing the Migration of Health-Care Workers: Toward the Transfer of Knowl-

edge, Skill and Professionalism,” discusses this dilemma quite extensively.

This chapter informs as well as provides first-hand insights from the view-

point of a passionate practitioner and experienced immigrant who has now

returned to Africa. As a case-study of an immigrant who actually returned,

the author is able to look critically at the benefits of returning after accom-

plishing one’s migration goals. Through objective and illuminating analysis,

the author strikes a balance between the advantages of migration for the

health worker as well as the constraints for the country of origin. Augustus

analyzes the challenges faced by both the source country and the destination

14 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

country especially in the specific cases of “highly skilled” health-care work-

force including physicians, dentists, pharmacists and nurses. On the one

hand, given the high demand in the West for such professionals in the Third

World, including Africa, Augustus argues that the destination country con-

sider such workforce as pertinent to the well being of their citizens.

On the other hand, the quest in many developing nations for strate-

gies to fully enjoy the impact of the currently experienced rapid innovation

and diffusion of health technologies from developed countries is equally

attractive. Such a situation brings about a win-win solution. The continu-

ing disparities in working conditions, management of health systems and

professional development between richer and poorer nations offers a great

deal of “pull” towards the more developed nations. This chapter further

examines the factors challenging the migration of health-care workers with

reference to both the giving and the receiving countries. Through the proper

management of the migration of healthcare workers on both sides, Augus-

tus argues that the exchange can be mutually beneficial to both the country

of origin and the country of destination. To this end, the chapter identifies

some strategies that can be adopted to ensure that migration contributes

to the development of a well-managed health system in the immigrants’

countries of origin. The role of international organizations, in delivering

adequate technical support to developing countries, in overseeing the man-

agement of international migration flows and in promoting intergovern-

mental cooperation to achieve the set goal, are highlighted. Conclusively,

the chapter draws attention to the proposition that International migration

of health professionals has a proven ability of facilitating the transfer of

knowledge, skill and professionalism for the enhancement of the quality of

health care delivery systems in the affected developing nations.

Of all the theoretical questions raised about migration and how

it affects African immigrants, one of the areas that does not usually get

adequate attention is that of the education of the children, as well as the

role of the immigrants’ families in the success of these children. In chapter

nine, “African Immigrants’ Families and the Educational System,” Cecilia

S. Obeng studies the impact of the American educational system on the

lives of African immigrant children and their families as a whole. In addi-

tion to providing excerpts of interviews conducted with these families, the

study goes on to analyze specific themes and topics such as the roles of

supervision, cultural alienation, cultural misunderstanding due to living in

two “worlds apart,” and the exigency of survival and integration despite

the challenges. Using qualitative and impressionistic methods, the chapter

demonstrates that African immigrants face considerable challenges relating

to adaptation into the school system and in the acquisition of the necessary

Introduction 15

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

professional competence needed to gain assess to high paying jobs. The

chapter concludes that cultural differences and the fact of being considered

“foreign” put the immigrants at risk and contribute to their suffering from

assimilation issues.

In its encompassing structure and multivalent perspectives, African

Minorities in the New World sets in motion the shifting theoretical and

pragmatic verity that the new African diaspora and transatlantic migra-

tions are paths laden with paradoxes that only time, negotiation, compro-

mise, and changing senses of identity can ultimately resolve. Regardless of

the euphemism used, exile, whether voluntary or involuntary, is an act of

separation from one’s comforting or discomforting zone, with tangible and

intangible consequences.

NOTES

1. Although this term is only gaining currency recently, it has been in use for

quite a while especially in the description of “new diasporas” as in the

description of migration crises in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe,

and Central America. For a more detailed study, see the seminal work of

Nicholas Van Hear, New Diasporas: The Mass Exodus, Dispersal and

Regrouping of Migrant Communities (Seattle: University of Washington

Press, 1998) and April Gordon, “The New Diaspora: African Immigration

to the United States,” Journal of Third World Studies 15 (1998): 79–110.

The notion of voluntary trans-Atlantic migration captures the same idea

more cogently as opposed to the all-encompassing “New diaspora” term

which inadvertently still invokes the reality of trans-Atlantic slavery.

2. See Myron Weiner, The Global Migration Crisis: Challenge to States and to

Human Rights (New York: Harper Collins, 1995) where the dialectics of

post-modern migrations are laid out, that is, the relationship between the

diaspora of slavery and the diaspora of colonialism and the aftermath.

3. See for example, Franklin D. Scott, ed., World Migration in Modern Times

(New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1968), Doris Meissner et al. eds., International

Migration: Challenges in a New Era (New York: The Trilateral Commis-

sion, 1993), Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, The Age of Migration:

International Population Movements in the Modern World (New York:

Guilford Press, 1993), Thomas Hammar et al. eds., International Migra-

tion, Immobility and Development: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, (New

York: Berg, 1997), and Gilbert H. Muller, New Strangers in Paradise (Lex-

ington KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), among others.

4. Indeed, in addition to the Conference on “Movements, Migrations, and

Displacements in Africa” organized by Professor Toyin Falola (University

of Texas-Austin, March, 2006), upon which this book is based, another

Conference on the theme of “The New African Diaspora: Assessing the

Pains and Gains of Exile” was convened by the Department of Africana

Studies at Binghamton University (April, 2006), suggesting that it is only

16 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

through such academic gatherings that the issue of new African immi-

grants can be addressed. For a detailed study of the few works on new

African immigrants, see for example, Kofi K. Akpraku, African Émigrés in

the United States: A Missing Link in Africa’s Social and Economic Devel-

opment (New York: Preager, 1991), John A. Arthur, Invisible Sojourn-

ers: African Immigrant Diaspora in the United States (Westport: Praeger,

2000), Lawrence A. Okafor, Recent African Immigrants to the USA: Their

Concerns and How Everyone Can Succeed in the USA (New York: Rose-

dog Press, 2003), Geneviève Fabre and Klaus Benesch, African Diasporas

in the New and Old Worlds: Consciousness and Imagination (Amsterdam/

New York: Rodopi, 2004) and David M. Reimers, Other Immigrants: The

Global Origins of the American People (New York: New York University

Press, 2005).

5. Caroline Brettell and James Hollifield provide a seven-point migration the-

ories across disciplines, namely from Anthropology, Demography, Econom-

ics, History, law, Political Science, and Sociology. See Brettell and Hollifield

eds., Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines (New York: Routledge,

2000).

6. See Steven Schulman, ed., The Impact of Immigration on African Ameri-

cans (New Brunswick: Transaction, 2005).

7. With the exception of Japanese migration (post WW II) and Euro-

pean migration (post emancipation of slavery) to Brazil which are well

documented and studied, migration to Latin America is not sufficiently

researched. Studies in this area are now being revitalized. See for example,

Jeffrey Lesser, Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), Jeffrey Lesser, Negotiat-

ing National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnic-

ity in Brazil (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999) and Samuel L. Bailey

and Eduardo José Míguez eds., Mass Migration to Modern Latin America

(Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003).

8. See Arthur, Invisible Sojourners 3.

9. Studies on African refugees are numerous but only a few propose the pos-

sibilities of return to their locations of displacement. See for example, Gaim

Kibreab, African Refugees: Reflections on the African Refugee Problem

(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1985), Tim Allen and Hubert Morsink

eds., When Refugees Go Home: African Experiences (Trenton, NJ: Africa

World Press, 1994) and Tim Allen, ed., In Search of a Cool Ground: War,

Flight & Homecoming in Northeast Africa (Trenton, NJ: Africa World

Press, 1996).

10. See Toyin Falola, “Nigeria in the Global Context of Refugees: Historical

and Comparative Perspectives,” Paul Lovejoy and Pat Williams, eds., Dis-

placement and The Politics of Violence in Nigeria (Leiden and New York:

Brill, 1997), pp. 5–21.

Two essays are quite relevant here in terms of their in-depth discussion

of the challenges of the African intellectual in exile and in Africa. See Paul

Tiyambe Zeleza, “The African Academic Diaspora in the United States and

Introduction 17

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Africa: The Challenges of Productive Engagement,” Comparative Studies

of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 24.1 (2004): 261–275 and Paul

Tiyambe Zeleza, “The Politics and Poetics of Exile: Edward Said in Africa,”

Research in African Literatures 36.3 (2005): 1–22. See also Toyin Falola,

“Intellectuals and Africa in a Changing World Order” (Chapter 7), Nation-

alism and African Intellectuals (New York: University of Rochester Press,

2001), pp. 262–293.

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Zegeye, Abebe. Forced Labour and Migration: Patterns of Movement within Africa.

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Part I

Negotiating Citizenship

and Cultural Identities

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Chapter Two

Nationalist Myth-Making, Cultural

Identity and Nation Building: African

Minorities in the U.S. and Latin

America

Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o

INTRODUCTION

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the American gulf coast

in September 2005, the shock among most Americans, and the world gen-

erally, was not the devastation, the amount of human and property loss,

or the economic cost of the destruction. The most shocking thing, as John

Mwendwa rightly notes, was that Katrina brought America’s shocking pov-

erty bubbling to the surface.

This is because most people in Mississippi

and New Orleans who stayed back were too poor to leave. Statistics from

the 2000 census show that close to 40 per cent of New Orleans’ population

lived in poverty, with 27 percent having no access to a vehicle. A victim only

identified as J.R. in an Associated Press story presented it more accurately:

“Let me tell you about abandoned people. Those people who were aban-

doned in New Orleans, they were abandoned long before that hurricane

hit. We all were,” (Mwendwa, 2005). Another American noted that unlike

in Africa, poverty was hidden. “You don’t see our poor because we don’t

let them sleep on park benches or homeless shelters. We just squeeze in, and

everyone is overcrowded and underfed,” (Mwendwa, 2005). This reality

constitutes a major contradiction of the nationalist construction of the U.S.

as an egalitarian society wherein virtually all citizens belong to the middle

class and are afforded the opportunity to realize and live “the American

dream.” It calls for a reexamination of the American nationalist myth in

the nation-building process and the role of minority groups therein. This

essay critically examines the process of nationalist myth making in the U.S.

and Latin America from a comparative perspective with a view to analyz-

ing the impact and implications of this dominant-group elite project on eth-

nic and racial minorities. The main thesis of the essay is that, in conceiving

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of nations as egalitarian communities characterized by deep horizontal

comradeship, nationalist myths camouflage the realities of glaring inequali-

ties and ruthless exploitation in order to promote collective loyalty to the

nationalist project. It is this reality that Hurricane Katrina brought home

in regard to the U.S. As one individual argued, “[p]overty didn’t happen

overnight, but now it’s as if someone lifted up a rock and wow, there they

are, all those poor people!”

NATIONS AS ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCTS:

A CONCEPTUALIZATION

According to Walker Connor, the essence of a nation is intangible. It is a

psychological bond that joins a national group and differentiates it, in the

subconscious conviction of its members, from all other groups in a most

vital way.

Connor argues that when analyzing socio-political situations,

what ultimately matters is not what is, but what people believe. As such, a

subconscious belief in the group’s separate origin and evolution is an impor-

tant ingredient of national psychology. He argues that since the nation is

a self-defined rather than an “other-defined” grouping, the broadly held

conviction concerning the group’s singular origin needs not and seldom

will accord with factual data. Benedict Anderson goes so far as to argue

that nations are, in fact, imagined political communities, imagined as both

inherently limited and sovereign.

To him, a nation is imagined because the

members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-

members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the

image of their communion. To Anderson, the nation is imagined as limited

because even the largest of them has finite albeit elastic boundaries beyond

which lay other nations. No nation imagines itself to be coterminous with

mankind. A nation is imagined as sovereign in the sense that each one

of them imagines itself to be free from all the others. Finally, a nation is

imagined as a community because, regardless of the actual inequality and

exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a

deep, horizontal comradeship.

The contention that modern nations are artificially crafted and are

largely populated by disparate peoples raises the question as to how nation-

alist identities are created and sustained. According to nationalist scholar-

ship, national identities are as artificial as the nations to which they cement

people’s loyalties and convictions. The basic argument is that national iden-

tities are cultural artifacts borne of deliberate social engineering on the part

of the dominant classes including the political, economic, and intellectual

elite. Arguably, however, one of the most important attributes that inform

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loyalty to an assumed nation is a natural phenomenon, the medium of com-

munication called language. Nonetheless, though language in itself is natu-

ral, its artificial aspects include standardization and its printed form. As

Benedict Anderson points out, print-languages laid the basis for national

consciousness in three ways. First, they created unified fields of exchange

and communication, making people gradually aware of the hundreds of

thousands of people in their particular language field and at the same time

informing them that only those hundreds of thousands so belonged. In this

way, Anderson posits, the embryo of the nationally imagined community

was formed. Second, print-capitalism gave a new fixity to language, helping

to build the image of antiquity so central to the subjective idea of a nation.

And third, print-capitalism created languages of power with certain dialects

closer to each print-language dominating their final forms and their related

cousins being assimilated, (Anderson, 2003). Language is thus central to

national identity and there is no nation that does not have a standardized

national language understood by all its constituent groups. It is the central-

ity of language in this regard that leads Hugh Trevor-Roper to argue that

from the start, the nation was conceived in language, not in blood.

The second method for the crafting of nationalist identities is the

invention of national traditions. Eric Hobsbawm defines tradition as a set

of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules that are

of a ritual or symbolic nature. Invented traditions, according to Hobsbawm,

fall into three overlapping categories. In the first category are those tradi-

tions establishing or symbolizing social cohesion or membership of groups,

real or artificial communities. Second are those establishing or legitimiz-

ing institutions, status, or relations of authority. Third are those traditions

whose main purpose is socialization, the inculcation of beliefs, value sys-

tems, and conventions of behavior perceived to be of imperative signifi-

cance to the continuity of a nation. Traditions, according to Hobsbawm,

seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behavior by repetition, which

automatically implies formalization and ritualization of continuity with the

past.

For example, traditional folksongs supplemented by new songs in

the same idiom whose content is patriotic serve to promote and sustain a

people’s patriotism and sense of national belonging. Such songs are passed

on from generation to generation through the medium of education. Bene-

dict Anderson further reinforces the importance of traditions in creating

national identities. He says that there is a special kind of contemporaneous

community which language alone suggests, above all in the form of poetry

and songs. He provides the example of national anthems sung on national

holidays, and posits that no matter how banal the words and mediocre the

tunes, there is in this singing an experience of simultaneity. At precisely

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such moments, people wholly unknown to each other utter the same verses

to the same melody creating an image of unison, which, according to him,

constitutes the echoed physical realization of the imagined community,

(Anderson, 1983).

Third, and concomitant with the invention of traditions is the inven-

tion of symbols such as the national flag, national anthem, and national

emblem. These three sets of national paraphernalia are the three symbols

through which an independent country proclaims its identity and sover-

eignty, and as such they command spontaneous respect and loyalty among

members of that sovereign country. In themselves, they reflect the entire

background, thought, and culture of a nation. Hobsbawm argues that the

times when people become conscious of citizenship remain mostly associ-

ated with symbols and semi-ritual practices such as elections, most of which

are historically novel and largely invented. So far as possible, he says, these

inventions use history as a legitimator of action and cement for group cohe-

sion and national communion, (Hobsbawm, 1983). The idea of invented

traditions is central to Hobsbawm’s postulation. He argues that the history

that normally becomes part of the fund of knowledge or the ideology of

a nation, state, or movement is not actually what has been preserved in

popular memory. It usually is what has been selected, written, pictured,

popularized and institutionalized by those whose function it is to do so,

(Hobsbawm, 1983).

This argument dovetails with the fourth way in which national identi-

ties are created. This is the invention of a national ideology and its prop-

agation through the mass media, educational system, and administrative

regulations. Apart from the ideology of shared ancestry and shared reli-

gion, there usually is also a national ideology that reflects the specificity and

centrality of a national people’s fundamental beliefs. The idea of ideology

denotes an inflexible image of political life that serves as a specific explana-

tion and code of political conduct for most situations. It is national ideol-

ogy for instance, that creates the national myth depicting the emergence

and development of a nation and its place and mission in the community of

other nations in ways that coincide with the self-image of its founders and

leaders. By logically inter-linking the origins, development, and destiny of

a nation, a national ideology serves as an effective axiomatic grip on the

minds of national groups in ways that galvanize their loyalty and commit-

ment to, as well as identity with, the national collectivity.

Deliberate public policy is the fifth way in which nationalist identities

are created. Trevor-Roper provides a succinct example of this method with

regard to the Highland tradition of Scotland. Herein, after the defeat of the

rebellion of 1745, various acts of parliament were passed through which

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the Highlanders were disarmed, their chiefs deprived of their hereditary

jurisdictions and, most importantly, the wearing of the Highland costume

was banned throughout Scotland. This eventuality led to the crumbling of

the entire Highland way of life. This was done ostensibly for purposes of

integrating the “barbaric” and “backward” Highlanders into the “civi-

lized” Scottish national way of life. As Trevor-Roper points out, in terms

of dress, the Celtic peasantry (Highlanders) now permanently took to the

Saxon trousers, (Trevor-Roper, 1983).

Sixth, nationalist identities are also created simply by copying and

adapting what already exists elsewhere. Anderson refers to this notion of

copying national referents as pirating. He writes that out of the experience

of the establishment of the American republic emerged the imagined realities

of nation-state, republican institutions, common citizenship, popular sover-

eignty, national flags and anthems. By the second decade of the nineteenth

century therefore, a “model” of the independent nation-state was available

for pirating and precisely because it was by then a known model, it imposed

certain “standards” from which too marked deviations were impermissible,

(Anderson, 1983). Anderson illustrates his concept of pirated nation-states

by referring to the anti-colonial nationalism of post-colonial African states.

Arguably, however, the modular form of the nation-state did not travel

very well in time and space, especially with regard to the former colonies

in Africa and elsewhere, where political independence created “nation-

states” the essence of whose integrity remains precarious. The arbitrariness

of boundaries and the use of borrowed language as the medium of national

communication, as Anderson argues, make these nations more into projects

the realization of which is still in progress, (Anderson, 1983). Indeed, the

ideology of nation-building so central to the national life of these countries

is intended to deflect loyalty to the ethnic group towards enlarged empathy

with the state as a way of creating nationhood out of the existing state-

hood. It reflects a basic acknowledgment of the tenuous nature of loyalty to

and identity with the state in these newly emergent countries.

Nonetheless, central to the differentiation of national groups once

they have been created in whatever form, is the notion of group boundar-

ies. Thomas Eriksen discusses this issue and points out that the first fact of

a national group, or ethnicity as he calls it, is the application of systematic

distinctions between insiders and outsiders; between “us and them.” If no

such principle exists, he asserts, there can be no ethnicity, since ethnicity

presupposes an institutionalized relationship between delineated categories

whose members consider each other to be culturally distinctive.

It is to this

reality that Michelle Lee refers to as the dialectical language of national-

ism that commences fundamentally with the dichotomization of “us” and

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“them,” “we” and “they,” continually positioning and privileging the loca-

tion of one in terms of the abstract “other.”

For his part, Frederick Barth

(1969) contends that when defined as an inscriptive and exclusive group,

the nature of continuity of an ethnic unit or national group is clear. It

depends on the maintenance of a social boundary, which may at times have

a territorial counterpart. The cultural features that signal such a boundary

may change, and the cultural characteristics of the members as well as the

group’s organizational form may likewise be transformed. But the fact of

continuing dichotomization between members and outsiders remains a per-

manent feature.

It is this fact of perpetuity of dichotomization, in Barth’s

view, that allows us to specify a national group’s nature of continuity, and

to investigate its changing cultural form and content. Barth writes that if a

group maintains its identity when members interact with others, this entails

criteria for determining membership and ways of signaling membership

and exclusion. According to him, ethnic groups are not merely or necessar-

ily based on the occupation of exclusive territories, but also the different

ways in which they are maintained, not only by a once-and-for-all recruit-

ment, but also by continual expression and validation. He posits that ethnic

boundary canalizes social life as it entails complex organization of behavior

and social relations, (Frederick Barth, 1969).

Barth elaborates further that the identification of a person as a fellow

member of an ethnic group implies a sharing of criteria for evaluation and

judgment. It entails the assumption that the two are fundamentally “play-

ing the same game,” and this means that there is between them a potential

for diversification and expansion of their social relationships to cover even-

tually all sectors and domains of activity. On the other hand, a dichoto-

mization of others as strangers, as members of another ethnic or national

group, implies the recognition of limitations on shared understandings, dif-

ferences in criteria for judgment of value and performance, and restriction

of interaction to sectors of assumed common understanding and mutual

interest, (Frederick Barth, 1969). Entailed in ethnic boundary maintenance

according to Barth, are also situations of social contact between persons of

different cultures. In this regard, ethnic groups only persist as significant

units if they imply marked difference in behavior and persisting cultural

differences. Group differentiation is also attained by application of social

sanctions against errant members in order to keep them in line with what

is expected of them as national group members. There thus exist sanctions

within national groups for producing adherence to group-specific values. It

is argued that where social identities are organized and allocated by such

principles, there will consequently be a tendency toward canalization and

standardization of interaction, and the emergence of boundaries which

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maintain and generate ethnic diversity even within multiethnic social sys-

tems, (Frederick Barth, 1969). For instance, the boundaries of an Indian

caste system are defined by such effective criteria that individual failures in

performance lead to out-casting rather than down-casting.

Eriksen identifies another effective mechanism by which national

groups are differentiated. This involves use of stereotyping. He defines ste-

reotyping as the creation and consistent application of standardized notions

of the cultural distinctiveness of a given group, (Eriksen, 1993). The essen-

tial role of this process is that it makes it possible to divide the social world

into kinds of people, and provides simple criteria for such a classification.

It gives the individual the impression that she or he understands society.

Stereotypes also justify privileges and differences in access to society’s

resources. They are crucial in defining the boundaries of one’s group as they

inform the individual of the virtues of his own group and the vices of other

groups. It is important to note that self-applied stereotyping always empha-

sizes the superiority of one’s group vis-à-vis the others. Group stereotyping,

and the articulation of competition or conflict, according to Eriksen, con-

firm and strengthen group membership. Stereotyping is a manifestation of

the subjective form of nationalism, (Eriksen, 1993). Whereas the objective

form of nationalism merely stops at the practice, defense and promotion of

national values and beliefs, this subjective form aims at denigrating other

national groups as a way of boosting the loyalty of members to their own

“superior” group.

It is largely attitudinal in form and perceptual in con-

tent but quite effective in galvanizing people’s loyalties to their own groups

by creating social boundaries between them and others.

NATIONAL MYTH-MAKING AND CULTURAL

IDENTITY IN THE U.S.

The modern nations of Europe and North America were created towards

the end of the eighteenth century through a process of spontaneous distil-

lation of a complex “crossing” of discrete historical forces. Once created,

Anderson (1983) posits, they became modular, that is, capable of being

transplanted, with varying degrees of self-consciousness, to a great variety

of social terrains, to merge, and be merged with a correspondingly wide

variety of political and ideological constellations, (Anderson, 1983). Hence

Eriksen’s argument to the effect that every society is a more or less suc-

cessful melting pot where diverse populations are merged, acculturated and

eventually assimilated at different rates and in different ways, depending

on their place in the economic and political hierarchy, (Eriksen’s, 1993).

However, unlike the Canadian, British, German, and French societies,

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among others, which are rooted in history as a basis of legitimacy, Ameri-

can society is said to be defined by ideology. According to Seymour Martin

Lipset (1990), in Europe and Canada, nationality is related to community

but being an American is an ideological commitment rather than a matter

of birth.

In this regard, the American society is objectified as one that is

organized around an ideology, embracing a set of dogmas about the nature

of a good society. The American creed is summed up in four words: anti-

statism, individualism, populism, and egalitarianism. Lipset thus writes that

Americanism is regarded as a highly attenuated, conceptualized, platonic,

impersonal attraction toward a system of ideas. It is a solemn assent to

a handful of final notions including democracy, liberty, and opportunity;

to all of which the American is said to adhere rationalistically much as a

socialist adheres to socialism, (Lipset, 1990).

Anti-statism is the first key value objectified as representing Ameri-

canism. It is argued herein, that the American Revolution weakened the

social values of an organic community and strengthened individualistic and

anti-statist ones. The country is thus said to be dominated by pure bour-

geois, individualistic values. America, Lipset asserts, is essentially a middle-

class, which has become a community and so its essential problems are the

problems of a modern individualistic society, stark and clear. The U.S. is

posited as having been born in the spirit of revolution against a govern-

ment perceived to be tyrannical. Its anti-tyrannical bias was written into its

constitution as the separation of powers to ensure that no executive would

ever again become too powerful. The weakness of the state and emphasis

on constitutionally mandated division of powers give lawyers a uniquely

powerful role in America and make its people exceptionally litigious.

Meritocracy or egalitarianism is the second value that is said to define

Americanism. American egalitarianism is defined in terms of equality of

respect and equality of opportunity. Equality of respect is defined as empha-

sis on egalitarian social relations and absence of a demand that those lower

in the social order give overt deference to their betters. Equality of opportu-

nity on the other hand is defined as stress on meritocracy, on equal oppor-

tunity for all to rise economically and socially. Thirdly, Americanism is also

said to be based on individualism. Lipset argues here that even the Ameri-

can radical is more sympathetic to anarchism, libertarianism, and syndical-

ism, than to state collectivism. Fourth and finally, populism as an American

value is elaborated as the belief that the will of the people should dominate

elites, that the public choice is superior to professionalism. This is said to

be institutionally reflected in the early extension of the suffrage to all white

males. Subsequently, it was reflected in the passage of the sixteenth amend-

ment providing for the popular election of senators, in the direct election

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of judges in state and local jurisdictions, in the emergence of the primary

system of nominating candidates for public office, and in the diffusion of

the use of referendum and public opinion surveys. Overall, Lipset (1990)

argues that the U.S. is still more religious, more patriotic, more populist

and anti-elitist, more committed to higher education for the majority and

hence to meritocracy, and more socially egalitarian than Canada and other

developed countries. It remains the least statist Western nation in terms of

public effort, benefits and employment, (Lipset, 1990).

However, this objectification of the American society as one based

on the ideology of equality of opportunity, democracy, populism and egali-

tarianism, and that the society is one large middle class can be said to be a

grand exercise in nationalist myth-making given the realities on the ground

as laid bare to the world by the ravages of Hurricane Katrina in the fall

of 2005. In the first place, the emergence of the Workingmen’s party in

the nineteenth century debunks the myth that the entire American society

is a middle class founded on egalitarianism. The party’s New York wing,

for instance, proposed to “nationalize children.” It suggested that children

of the rich and poor alike should be required by law, from age six on, to

attend state-supported boarding schools, so that regardless of family back-

ground, all would have a common environment for twenty-four hours a

day. The workingmen felt that this was the only way to guarantee equal-

ity of opportunity in the race for success. This, in itself, is a pointer to the

inherently inegalitarian nature of American society. Although the Work-

ingmen’s Party’s suggestions were never adopted, the fact that the party

received 15 percent of the vote in New York indicates the seriousness of the

problem of inequality of opportunity.

Furthermore, Lipset’s objectification of the American society glosses

over the role that ethnicity and race have played in American society and the

tensions and conflicts that have been wrought therefrom. As Stephen Stein-

berg notes, ethnic pluralism in America has its first origins in conquest, in

the case of native Americans who were systematically uprooted, decimated,

and finally banished to reservation wastelands, and in the case of Mexi-

cans in the Southwest who were conquered and annexed by an expansion-

ist nation.

The second source of ethnic pluralism was slavery, embodied

by the millions of Africans who were abducted from their homelands and

forced into perpetual servitude on another continent. The third source was

exploitation of foreign labor, in the form of tens of millions of immigrants

who were initially imported to populate the American landmass, and later

to provide cheap labor for industrial development. Steinberg observes that

the history of race and ethnicity has been fraught with tension, rivalry, and

conflict, (Steinberg, 1989). The peopling of the continent with colonials

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began with the English. However, they did not come as immigrants enter-

ing an alien society that would be forced to acquire a new national identity.

Instead, the English immigrants arrived as a colonial vanguard that would

create a New England in the image of the one they had left behind. This

meant that they were numerically predominant. They enjoyed a political

and cultural hegemony over the life of the fledgling nation. Non-English

colonials were regarded as aliens who were obliged to adapt to English rule

in terms of both politics and culture. Hence the argument that the establish-

ment of the English language as the lingua franca was a critical first step in

the gradual assimilation of the various ethnic stocks of the colonial period.

The warfare against the American Indians, broken treaties, expropria-

tion of their land, rebellion, and ultimate defeat was based on the stereo-

type of Indians as nomadic hunters and “uncivilized savages.” As one early

seventeenth century document put it: “savages have no particular propertie

in any part or parcell of that country, but only a general residencie there,

as wild beasts have in the forests (sic),” (Steinberg, 14–15). Their land was

thus taken and they were herded to reservations, which were equivalents

of concentration camps according to some scholars. From this perspective

stems the argument that, if the Indian was the nation’s first minority, his

treatment did not bode well for the many minorities to come. Even as of

now, Steinberg notes, “we are still killing the Indians. Not with bullets but

with more shameful and crippling weapons of destruction—poverty, hun-

ger, disease, and neglect,” (Steinberg, 14–15). It is in regard to this trend

that Lipset’s portrayal of an egalitarian society does not hold. Similar to

the White view of the Indians, Mexicans were also seen as a degenerate

and backward people who wasted land and resources. On the eve of the

Mexican-American war in 1848, Sam Houston reasoned that since Ameri-

cans had always cheated Indians, and since Mexicans were no better than

Indians, “I see no reason why we should not go on the same course now

and take their land,” (Steinberg, 14–15). Mexicans were further seen as

Aboriginal Indians who did not possess the elements of an independent

national existence. The Aborigines of the continent, it was reasoned, had

not attempted and could not attempt to exist independently alongside

Whites. White nationalists saw this as the ordination of providence and

that it was folly not to recognize the fact. As Aboriginal Indians, it was

inevitable that Mexicans share the destiny of their race.

In addition to the conquest of American Indians and Mexicans is the

question of slavery. Long before chattel slavery was introduced, southern

planters had experimented with a system of white servitude by import-

ing indentured servants from Europe. These were, however, both scarce

and expensive. Furthermore, as contract laborers, they could bargain for

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acceptable terms, and once their contracts expired, they entered the ranks

of free labor. In the end, a system of chattel slavery, which reduced Afri-

cans to perpetual servitude, was more expedient and more profitable. For

whereas the indentured servant expected land at the end of his contract,

the African slave, in a strange environment, conspicuous by his color, and

ignorant of the White man’s language and ways, could be kept permanently

divorced from the land. As Steinberg posits, racial differences made it easier

to justify and rationalize African slavery, to exact the mechanical obedi-

ence of a plough-ox or a cart-horse, to demand that resignation and that

complete moral and intellectual subjugation which alone make slave labor

possible. Hence the forced importation and enslavement of over half a mil-

lion Africans.

The very existence of slavery as an economic institution was an

abomination of American ideals. Yet its economic necessity led to its

rationalization, first on the basis of religion, later on the foundations of a

pseudoscience. The economic necessity of slavery lay in the importance of

cotton production. Cotton was the sine qua non of early industrial devel-

opment both in the United States and Britain. Karl Marx summed up the

relationship between slavery, cotton, and industrial development in a single

epigrammatic sentence, thus: “Without slavery there is no cotton; without

cotton there is no modern industry,” (Steinberg, 29). The enslavement of

the African, like the earlier conquest of the Indian, required a rationalizing

ideology. In this regard, Africans were enslaved not because they were seen

as inferior, but they were defined as inferior so that they could be enslaved.

Thereafter, racist allegations functioned as an ideological smoke screen

designed to give moral legitimacy to a brutal and inhumane system of labor

exploitation. The importance of slavery to the economic development of

the U.S. is exemplified in the long period that it was practiced. As Stein-

berg points out, if the benefits of slavery had been limited to a small class

of slave-holders, or even to the regional economy of the south, it is hardly

conceivable that the peculiar institution would have persisted for so long.

The benefits ramified to the nation as a whole, which helps to explain why

Africans were kept in quasi-servitude even after slavery itself was abolished.

In these various forms of racial domination and exploitation, the United

States, under the guise of a racist mythology, had established a precedent

not only for tolerating extremes of inequality, but for imparting them with

political and moral legitimacy as well.

Similar to European overseas colonialism, therefore, America has used

African, Asian, Mexican, and, to a lesser extent, Indian workers for the

cheapest labor, concentrating so-called people of color in the most unskilled

jobs, the least advanced sectors of the economy, and the most industrially

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backward regions of the nation. “People of color” provided much of the

hard labor and technical skills that built up the agricultural base and the

mineral-transport-communication infrastructure necessary for industrial-

ization and modernization, whereas the European worked primarily within

the industrialized, modern sectors. The initial position of the European eth-

nics, while low, was strategic for movement up the economic and social

ladder. The placement of non-white groups, however, imposed barrier after

barrier on such mobility, freezing them for long periods of time in the least

favorable segments of the economy. Overall, immigrants were disparaged

for their cultural peculiarities, and the implied message, as Steinberg puts it,

was, “You will become like us whether you want to or not.” When it came

to racial minorities, however, the unspoken dictum was, “No matter how

like us you are, you will remain apart,” (Steinberg, 29). Thus at the same

time that the nation pursued a policy aimed at the rapid assimilation of

recent arrivals from Europe, it segregated racial minorities who, by virtue

of their much longer history in American society, had already come to share

much of the dominant culture.

It is for the above reasons that Eric Kaufmann (2000) argues against

the conventional view held in the annals of ethnicity and nationalism stud-

ies by the likes of Lipset and Tocqueville that the U.S. is exceptional in the

sense that it never had an ethnic component to its national identity. He

posits that in fact, an American ethnie (ethnicity) based on an Anglo-Saxon

myth of descent whose boundaries were symbolically guarded by several

key cultural markers, had crystallized by 1820.

The Anglo-Americans

sought to incorporate new immigrants into their ethnic group, and when the

inflow appeared to pose a challenge to the congruence of the American eth-

nie and its nation, a defensive response occurred. According to Kaufmann,

American ethnicity emerged out of ethnic fission from an English Protes-

tant parent stock, and, like most ethnies, followed the Barthian model and

employed methods of dominant-conformity to accrete diverse immigrant

populations to its ethnic core while maintaining its ethnic boundaries.

What complicates this otherwise simple picture, according to Kaufmann,

is the reflexivity of American society, represented by its high standard of

record keeping, and the nature of American liberalism, which occasion-

ally presented itself in the form of cosmopolitan rhetoric. He argues that

this does not mean that Americans presented themselves as liberal cosmo-

politans. On the contrary, for Americans, liberalism was a symbolic bor-

der guard that actually reinforced their sense of particularity, (Kaufmann,

2000). In this sense, the American ethnie’s liberalism was a universalist idea

that distinguished it from the illiberal ethnies to its southern and northern

borders and in Europe. Arguably therefore, American liberalism, at least at

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this point in time, was a mere claim by American whites to distinguish their

emerging nation-state from England, Canada, and the Mexicans, but had

nothing to do with its practice vis-à-vis the numerous ethnicities present in

the United States.

Indeed, the segregation of races and ethnic groups in the U.S. has

spawned conditions under which whites can pick and choose their ethnic

groups while non-whites are denied such opportunity. As Mary Waters

argues, the degree of intermarriage and geographic and social mobility

among whites of European extraction in the U.S. means that they enjoy a

great deal of choice and numerous options when it comes to ethnic iden-

tification. This population can increasingly choose how much and which

parts of their ethnic identity to make a part of their lives. On the other

hand, until mid-twentieth century and even much later, many state gov-

ernments had specific laws defining one as black if one quarter or more

of one’s ancestry was black, or if one out of four of one’s grandparents

was!

This is an exemplification of the fact that some groups are socially

constrained to accept an ethnic identity, even as others pick and choose.

Omi and Winant’s example of Louisiana’s Susie Guillory Phipps’ loss of

a 1982–83 petition to be re-designated white further elaborates this issue.

Susie was defined as black on the basis of a state law declaring anyone with

at least 1/32nd “Negro blood” to be black. This was upheld by the court

even in the face of unequivocal evidence that most Louisiana whites have at

least 1/20th Negro ancestry.

Given the realities of the Susie case, one is wont to concur with Omi

and Winant that efforts must be made to understand race as an unstable

and decentered complex of social meanings constantly being transformed

by political struggle. As Anthony Marx contends, race is not found, but

“made” and used. Being so, Marx argues that we must therefore shift from

describing race “as a tool of analysis” to considering it “as the object of

analysis.”

For their part, Omi and Winant argue that race is a concept,

which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to

different types of human bodies. Although the concept of race invokes bio-

logically based human characteristics (so-called phenotypes), selection of

these particular human features for purposes of racial signification, they

contend, is always and necessarily a social and historical process. They sub-

mit that in contrast to the other major distinction of this type, that of gender,

there is no biological basis for distinguishing among human groups along

lines of race, (Omi and Winant, 1994). Indeed, the categories employed

to differentiate among human groups along racial lines reveal themselves,

upon serious examination, to be at best imprecise and at worst completely

arbitrary as the Susie case mentioned above illustrates.

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Despite its uncertainties and contradictions, the concept of race con-

tinues to play a fundamental role in cultural identity in the U.S. Its chief

function lies in structuring and representing the social world. Omi and

Winant define racial formation as the socio-historical process by which

racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed. It is a

process of historically situated projects in which human bodies and social

structures are represented and organized. The two scholars link racial for-

mation to the evolution of hegemony, the way in which society is organized

and ruled, (Omi and Winant, 1994). From a racial formation perspective

therefore, race is a matter of both social structure and cultural representa-

tion. It is in this regard that they argue that racial formation processes occur

through a linkage between structure and representation. Racial projects do

the ideological work of making these links. A racial project is simultane-

ously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial dynam-

ics, and an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along particular

racial lines. For instance, “New Right” projects in the U.S. claim to hold

“color-blind” views, but covertly manipulate racial fears in order to achieve

political gains. On the left, “Radical Democratic” projects invoke notions

of racial difference in combination with egalitarian politics and policy,

(Omi and Winant, 1994). Overall, the expectation is that differences in skin

color or other racially coded characteristics explain social differences. Tem-

perament, sexuality, intelligence, athletic ability, and aesthetic preferences,

among others are presumed to be fixed and discernible from the palpable

mark of race. Such diverse questions as people’s confidence and trust in

others, their sexual preferences and romantic images, their tastes in music,

films, dance, or sports, and people’s very ways of talking, walking, eating,

and dreaming become racially coded simply because they happen to live in

a society where racial awareness is so pervasive.

In many respects, therefore, racial dictatorship is the norm against

which all U.S. politics must be measured. First, the centuries of racial dic-

tatorship defined American identity as white, as the negation of racialized

“otherness”—at first largely African and indigenous, later Latin American

and Asian as well. This negation took shape in both law and custom, in

public institutions and in forms of cultural representation. It became the

archetype of hegemonic rule in the U.S. and successor to the conquest as

the master racial project. Second, racial dictatorship organized the “color

line” rendering it the fundamental division in U.S. society. The dictatorship

elaborated, articulated, and drove racial divisions not only through institu-

tions, but also through psyches. Thirdly, racial dictatorship consolidated

the oppositional racial consciousness and organization, (Omi and Winant,

1994). Just as the conquest created the “native” where once there had been

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Pequot, Iroquois, or Tutelo, in the same vein, it created the “black” where

once there had been Asante or Ovimbundu, Tachoni or Bakongo.

Against the foregoing, Omi and Winant argue that prejudice was an

almost unavoidable outcome of patterns of socialization which were “bred

in the bone” affecting not only whites but even minorities themselves,

(Omi and Winant, 1994). Discrimination, far from manifesting itself only

through individual actions or conscious policies, was a structural feature of

American society, the result of centuries of systematic exclusion, exploita-

tion, and disregard of racially defined minorities. It was this combination

of relationships—prejudice, discrimination, and institutional inequality—

which defined the concept of racism at the end of the 1960s, and that

largely explains the consignment of the black minority to the fringes of

the U.S. political economy. It took minority ethnic groups, especially Afro-

Americans’ possession of the oppressor’s tools—religion and philosophy—

and their deployment against the oppressor to emancipate themselves. This

conflictual and bloody process in the U.S. culminated in the attainment of

hegemony, what Omi and Winant refer to as movement from dictatorship

to democracy, from domination to hegemony, (Omi and Winant, 1994).

Nevertheless, the realities of economic marginalization for the majority

of the minority populations remain in place, albeit submerged under the

nationalist rhetoric of American “cosmopolitanism,” “egalitarianism,” and

“equality of opportunity” in the pursuit of the “American dream.”

“DISAPPEARING BLACKS”: THE CASE OF LATIN AMERICA

Blacks in Latin America comprise an estimated African minority of 90 mil-

lion and an additional 60 million of mixed African ancestry. They consti-

tute one third of Latin America’s population of 450 million. Significant

African groupings are found in Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Para-

guay, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Nica-

ragua, Argentina, and Mexico. Black populations range in size from one

percent in Mexico to as high as 30 percent in Colombia and 46 percent

in Brazil.

Afro-Descendants have extremely limited political power and

lack cohesive organizations to represent their interests. Their situation also

receives far less international attention and academic research. In Brazil,

illiteracy rates are 2.5 times higher among Afro-Descendants than among

other racial groups and the White population is 2.5 times wealthier than

the black population. In Colombia, 80 percent of Afro-Descendants live

in extreme poverty, (Cevallos, 2005). Elbio Trentini observes that cities in

Brazil resemble the South Africa of apartheid fame: White elite areas pro-

tected by buffer poor zones of brown working class from huge black and

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“colored” shantytowns, the “cities of the negroes” as they are called in

Brazil. Trentini argues that Latin American countries are some of the most

racist and racially divided societies in the world. They are organized in a

divided totality reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid era.

“Racism fes-

ters throughout Latin America, where discussion of racial issues is taboo . . .

all the more virulent because governments refuse to deal with it,” (Trentini,

2). The apartheid system is insidious and pervasive all throughout the con-

tinent, with segregated neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, public services

and amenities, and more so in the private realm. “It is more intractable

because, unlike the Afrikaner-designed model, it is not framed by a legal

code but imposed as a de facto reality . . . Latin America’s permanent norm

of illegitimacy,” (Trentini, 2).

The most significant thing about African minorities in some Latin

American countries is their “disappearing acts.” For instance, according to

Hisham Aidi, Argentina is considered Latin America’s whitest nation yet

African slaves and their mulatto descendants once outnumbered whites five

to one and were, for 250 years, an important element in the total pop-

ulation, which is now 97 percent white.

Similarly, in Mexico, at least

200,000 slaves were imported into the country by the end of the 18th cen-

tury. Indeed, Mexican music has deep roots in West Africa. For example,

“La Bamba,” the famous Mexican folk song has been traced to the Bamba

district of Angola. By 1810, Afro-descendants in Mexico numbered roughly

500,000, slightly over 10 percent of the population, yet by 1895 they had

more or less vanished from Mexico. As of now, no more than one percent of

the Mexican population is said to be identifiably African.

Trentini (2005)

notes further that walking the streets of major Latin American cities you

cannot escape the billboards, the ads, newspapers and magazines portraying

a surreal continent that is strangely white, middle class, North American,

and European, (Trentini, 2005). This raises the question as to whether the

Afro-Argentine and Afro-Mexican communities were annihilated by dis-

ease, war, or absorbed into the larger white population. An explanation to

this conjuncture lies in the dynamics of the conquest of Latin America and

the subsequent nationalist crafting of contemporary Latin American states

and the nationalist myth that has attended this course of nation-building.

Trentini writes that following the conquest by Spain and Portugal,

Indians, not considered full human beings by the conquistadores, were bru-

tally exploited and massacred in an unprecedented genocidal frenzy. Native

American populations fell by almost 95 percent within years following

European arrival, (Trentini, 2005). To continue the economic exploitation

of the continent, millions of African slaves were imported. Even after the

official abolition of slavery in 1813, many blacks remained slaves and were

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granted manumission only by fighting in Latin America’s wars of indepen-

dence against Spain and Portugal, as well as serving disproportionately in

border wars, for instance between Argentina and Paraguay. To get their

freedom, Africans were required to join the army. Once in the army, they

were deliberately placed on the frontline and used as cannon fodder. As

many of them as possible were placed in dangerous military service and

were sent into battle where they got killed in the process of fighting Indi-

ans—another race that was earmarked for extermination. Accordingly, as

Gino Germani rightly notes, there was a deliberate policy on the part of

Latin American countries, especially Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela, to

modify the composition of the population, to Europeanize the population,

to produce a regeneration of races.

Marvin Lewis concurs that there was

an official, concerted effort to eliminate blacks from Argentine society. This

was achieved not only by extermination as discussed above, but also via a

deliberate policy of racial miscegenation under the rubric of the “Spanish

Experiment.”

After “discovery” and conquest, Latin America was conceived from

racist apartheid and theories of racist supremacy—the inquisition—estab-

lished the concept of “purity of blood” and racial exploitation when for the

first time, religion and racism fused into one. Accordingly, as Pianke Nubi-

yang notes, the application of racial integration and miscegenation with the

objective of blending out the Black is part of the system of Latin Ameri-

can/Spanish genocidal racism called “the Spanish experiment,” (Nubiyang,

2002). It was applied to destroy the cultural and racial identity of Blacks,

Arabs, and Jews in Spain after the takeover by the Spanish Crown. This

system is now applied in Latin America where the nationalist mythology

of “racial harmony” and “integration” is promoted. According to Car-

los Moore (2003), there existed in Latin America “a racial philosophy of

eugenics” that encourages “unilateral . . . sexual commingling between

white [or light skinned] males and the females of the physically conquered

and socially inferior race . . . the sexual enslavement of black women by

the conquering white males.” Whereas the mixed race children from white

fathers and dark [African/Indian] mothers were totally accepted in society,

the possibility of a black or American Indian man having sex with a white

woman would have been destabilizing to the state because “. . . the black

or American Indian penetrating the [white] female would have been viewed

as flipping the established racial hierarchy on its head.”

It is from this racial philosophy of eugenics that is derived the offi-

cial ideology in Mexico, for instance, that Mexicans are simply a Mestizo

people—a mixture of Spaniards and Indians—officially referred to as “La

Raza” (The Race). On October 12 1946, Mexican leader José Vasconcelos

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famously declared Mestizo to be the cosmic race. Since then, October 12 is

celebrated in Mexico as “The day of the Race.” Issues of race in Mexico

have been so colored by Mexico’s preoccupation with “the Indian question”

that the Afro-Mexican experience tends to blend almost invisibly into the

background, even to Afro-Mexicans themselves, according to Steve Sailer

(2002). Mexico’s official nationalist narratives leave Afro-Mexicans out of

the national consciousness. This is a consequence of Mexico’s nationalist

myth that centers on the belief that contemporary Mexico is a sort of “per-

fect blend” of Spanish and Indian heritages; and that this synthesis is at

the heart of what it means to be Mexican. The ironic twist to this racial

amnesia is that in the first century of Mexico’s independence, quite a few

of its political leaders were visibly part black. For instance, Emilio Zapata,

arguably the noblest figure of 20th century Mexican politics, a peasant rev-

olutionary still revered as a martyred man of the people, had clear African

features including hair. His village was home to many descendants of freed

African slaves. Secondly, Vicente Guerrero, a leading general in the Mexican

war of independence, and the new nation’s second president (1829–1830),

appears from his portraits and his nickname—El Negro Guerrero—to have

been part black, (Sailer, 2002).

Mexico’s racial amnesia is replicated in Venezuela where offi-

cial nationalist ideology engages in a resolute denial of any color at all.

In what David Guss calls the myth of mestizaje

, Venezuelan historians,

philosophers, writers, and anthropologists have consistently claimed that

in Venezuela the issue of race does not exist. That all ethnic groups have

blended together in a harmonious and indistinguishable new entity called

the Mestizo.

Nationalist anthropologists posit that racial differences were

absorbed in the “cruel” process of Venezuela’s national formation, and that

today there is no “black problem” as there is in the United States, with

its unforgivable discrimination. What exists in Venezuela, according to this

line of reasoning, is a class problem, just as there is everywhere, (Guss,

2000). Guss argues, however, that if blacks were able to emerge from both

racial and economic oppression in Venezuela, they were able to do so not

through acceptance but through miscegenation. The myth of racial democ-

racy’s basic premise was that blacks achieved great things in Venezuela only

as they whitened themselves and their offspring. Racial democracy then,

was not the absence of prejudice, but was simply the license to transform

one’s ethnic identity.

The mestizaje myth, the privileging of the Spanish and Indian heri-

tages in Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina among other Latin American

countries has forced Afro-Latinos to reinvent their own identities in order

to find a footing in these nations. Consequently, cultural identity on the

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part of African minorities has taken the form of selective uses of the past.

As David Guss (2000) argues, the acknowledgment of history, or its denial,

is not about the accuracy of memory, it is about the relationship to power.

Accordingly, Afro-Venezuelans of Curiepe, near Caracas have appropriated

the San Juan (Saint John) festival and Africanized the Saint. This appro-

priation has a historic relation to the experience of slavery and liberation.

The performance of the festival, according to Guss, is a sacred recreation

of a past, not of docile submission, but rather, of proud, resolute resistance:

it is a magical return to a moment of origin. In the process, the locus of

power is transferred from that of a Catholic Saint’s day to one of historical

remembrance. Guss notes that San Juan, though celebrated as black, was

not black. The blackness represented was one of poverty and oppression.

Hence, the argument that, like all dominant symbols, the color of San Juan

is loaded with contradiction and ambiguity.

The reinvention of Afro-Latino identity is taken to an even a higher

level in Mexico. Laura Lewis notes that in Mexico, just like in Venezuela,

Brazil, and elsewhere in Latin America, national ideologies, anthropolo-

gies, and histories have traditionally worked to exclude or ignore black-

ness. Instead, the Spanish and Indian Mestizo has been constituted as the

quintessential Mexican, even as the Mexican past is tied to a romanticized

and ideologically powerful Indian foundation.

Focusing her analysis on a

community in Mexico’s San Nicolás village described by outsiders as black,

Lewis finds ethnographic evidence that San Nicolás’ “black” residents in

fact see themselves as Morenos,

a term that signifies their common descent

with Indians, whom they consider to be central to Mexicanness. Lewis

shows that as Morenos interweave their cultural identities, experiences, and

descent with Indians, they also anchor themselves through Indians to the

nation. They thus adopt a strategy that forces them to become Indians in

order to nationalize themselves as this is the only possible route to gaining

identity as Mexicans and status as citizens. This began after independence

when the terms mulatto and black disappeared from the official record as

post-independence legal and administrative codes largely ceased identify-

ing people by ancestry. Whatever the genealogical facts, Lewis argues that

claims to common descent with Indians clearly have cultural and ideologi-

cal importance. Just like possession of the oppressor’s tools of religion and

philosophy and their deployment for emancipatory purposes led to the

hegemonic incorporation of blacks into the American nation-state, Moreno

claims to being black Indians lead to kinship discourses replicated on

another level in the stories about San Nicolás (Saint Nicholas), the patron

saint of the village, through whom Blacks and Indians are also linked and

the former find their national footing, (Lewis, 2000).

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Overall, if the official position in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela

is to be believed prima facie, people of African descent “disappeared” by

mingling into the wave of thousands of European immigrants. Aidi cites

Argentine historian Mariano Bosch who wrote in 1941 that Italian men

had “perhaps an atavistic preference for black women: body odor led them

to matrimony and the blacks accepted them as whites . . . or rather almost

whites, because the Italian has much African in him, and his color is a

dull pale.”

Blacks in Latin America who know better do not accept this

genocidal utopia that is pushed by Latino whites in these nations. It sim-

ply amounts to a nationalist myth on the part of the dominant classes to

white wash and gloss over the racist pyramid of white, brown, and black—

European, Mestizo, Indian, and African—in Latin America. Consequently,

Blacks, Indians, and people of color, over one third of the Latin American

population, are almost invisible and do not exist in that world, except for

the soccer player and sports figure, the odd musician and token political

star. They are a servant class, marginal and invisible, that provides almost

slave labor as a subsidy for the middle class and elites of European descent.

THE U.S. LATIN AMERICA SIMILARITIES

AND DIFFERENCES

A number of contrasts and similarities obtain in regard to race and nation

building in the U.S. and Latin America. In the first place, as Anthony Marx

(1996) notes, racial discrimination was pervasive in the early history of the

U.S. and Latin America but post-abolition state policies encoded very dif-

ferent racial orders in the two regions. Both regions faced extended periods

of relative indeterminacy and an unhappy repertoire of possible racial con-

figurations in the aftermath of slavery at the time of emerging state con-

solidation. The U.S. went so far as to toy with the possibility of deporting

Blacks, which proved impractical. The result in the U.S. was official racial

ideology, imposed categories of segregation and conflict, and only recent

dismantling of legal discrimination. In contrast, post-abolition Brazil, Ven-

ezuela, and to some extent, Mexico, avoided legal distinctions based on

race and instead projected an image of “racial democracy.” Despite the

commonality of early racism and continued inequality, Brazil and Venezu-

ela for instance, did not enact anything equivalent to apartheid in South

Africa or Jim Crow in the U.S. Some scholars posit that legacies of differ-

ences, of slavery, culture, colonialism, miscegenation, and economic devel-

opment account for the difference between the U.S. and Latin America with

regard to the issue of race and nation building. Arguably, however, these

historical legacies did not preordain a more tolerant racial order in much

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of Latin America as is commonly held. As Marx (1996) asserts, Brazilians,

and Venezuelans for that matter, retrospectively interpreted their past to

reinforce an image of racial tolerance, but in fact racism was evident early

on in Brazil as it was in the U.S. and the inequality in Brazil continued. By

contrast, in the U.S., past discrimination was embraced and used to justify

segregation and exclusion.

Second, whereas a civil war threatened the process of nation-building

in the U.S., in Latin America in general, and Brazil and Mexico in particular,

there was no violent ethnic or regional conflict that impeded nation-state

consolidation. Unity did not require a racial crutch of formal discrimina-

tion. Rather, “racial democracy” emerged there as an ideological project

of a state anxious to unify popular support without formal exclusion. As

a result, explicit categories of racial domination were not officially con-

structed and images of past tolerance were encouraged. Indeed, as David

Guss (2000) shows in the case of Venezuela, reference to Mulatto and Black

as categories of ancestry was stopped after independence. In the U.S. on the

other hand, racial domination unifying whites proved double edged, having

the unintended consequence of inciting black protest. Efforts to resolve one

conflict exacerbated another. Jim Crow was thus ended as black protest

replaced intra-white conflict as the most pressing threat to the nation-state.

In Brazil and Venezuela, with no clear target of state ideology and segrega-

tion to organize against, no apartheid or Jim Crow, little Afro-Brazilian

protest emerged, and racial conflict was largely avoided despite consider-

able socio-economic inequality.

The third point of comparison and contrast is the role of the Church

in the nation-building process in the two regions. The absence of ethnic and

racial conflict in the nation-building process in Latin America is attributed

to the Catholic doctrine of the equality of all men before God. This doc-

trine, it is argued, produced better treatment of slaves in the region and

generally greater racial tolerance than did the more exclusive British Prot-

estantism in the U.S. It is held further that the hierarchy of the Catholic

Church also militated against an exclusively biracial divide. Marx (1996)

concurs with the argument that the peaceful nature of the nation-building

process in Latin America was a consequence of the fact that the Portuguese

colonialists did establish a somewhat less strict divide between slaves and

free men than was enforced in the U.S. He is, however, skeptical about this

argument given the rapacious nature of Spanish and Portuguese colonial-

ism and the support of the Church; as well as the fact that the Church also

enacted its own internal policies of racial discrimination in Brazil. Indeed,

the fact of greater racial tolerance in Latin America in no way suggests a

more benign form of slavery. Both the Portuguese and Spaniards in this

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region established a particularly deadly form of bondage; hence the image

of a Brazilian “benign master” is a nationalist myth. Marx points to the

fact that Brazil remained longer and more fully dependent on continued

importation of new slaves because the harsh conditions under which slaves

lived did not allow for reproduction of their numbers. To Marx, therefore,

though slavery took different forms in Brazil and the U.S., in both cases it

fostered attitudes of a primordial black inferiority and established patterns

of domination and inequality.

Marx thus argues that Brazil’s early racism was distinctive but still

comparable to that of the U.S. While the latter justified its explicit racial

domination on the basis of early beliefs and patterns of slavery and dis-

crimination, after abolition, Brazil abandoned the official discourse of

racism, and embraced historical interpretations consistent with “racial

democracy.” The historical legacy of inequality in much of Latin America

was thus largely camouflaged and acquiescence among African minorities

in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela thereby encouraged. In this event, ear-

lier racism was not wiped away as images of inferiority were beneficial to

whites. But unlike in the U.S., the past was re-conceptualized into a benign

image, one that did not reflect historical fact. Instead, varying interpreta-

tions and outcomes were shaped by subsequent processes building upon the

past, in what Marx calls a conjunctural process, (Marx, 1996). In essence,

this was a retrospective interpretation of historical realities.

Miscegenation is the fourth point of difference in the nation building

project of the U.S. and Latin America. Because of the high level of mixing

between races, Brazil for example, could not develop a biracial ideology

or formalize rigid racial classification and domination, as did the U.S. In

any case, it is argued, Portuguese colonists came to Brazil more for trade

than to settle, compared to the British who came to the U.S. Furthermore,

Portuguese colonists included few women. As a result, there were signifi-

cantly high levels of miscegenation engaged in by Portuguese men. By 1872

for instance, the Brazilian census registered 42 percent of the population

as Mulatto. Whereas miscegenation was celebrated and Mulattoes assimi-

lated into Brazilian society, in the U.S., social mobility for non-whites was

officially blocked provoking non-white unity and resistance. Authorities

in the U.S. resolved physical ambiguities by drawing strict racial bound-

aries, limiting mobility, and stirring up antagonism in the process. Marx

points out that Brazil’s higher level of miscegenation made it more difficult

to impose strict categories of domination over Mulattoes and without such

domination conflict was avoided. Marx gives an economic explanation of

racial discrimination in the U.S., according to which the principal function

of segregationist ideology was to soften class and ethnic antagonism among

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whites, subordinating internal conflicts to the unifying conception of race.

Capital benefited from this segregation, employing cheap black labor to

increase profits and to break strikes by white workers. In this way, racial

domination encouraged cross-class white unity, rather than exclusive loy-

alty to one’s class interests. Intra-white conflict was thus diminished, and

growth proceeded. It is in this sense that it is pointed out, with regard to

the U.S., that the Negro paid a heavy price so that whites could be reunited

in a common nationality.

Fifth, and a corollary to the fourth point, the long history of extensive

miscegenation among Iberians (Portuguese and Spaniards), Indians, and

Africans in Latin America has resulted in a far more elastic definition of

“White” in this region than is the case in the U.S. For centuries, Whites in

the U.S. defined anyone with visible black ancestry as Black and ineligible

to marry a White. This remained the case until 1967 when the Supreme

Court overturned the “anti-miscegenation” laws that were still in exis-

tence in 19 states, (Sailer, 2002). Consequently, extensive mixture between

Caucasians and Africans in the U.S. is just beginning to blossom and has

not been a significant factor in the life of whites in the U.S. In contrast to

the sharp-edged racial categories in the U.S. that categorize one with “one

drop” of African blood as Black, in much of Latin America, what exists is a

color continuum rather than a color line. For instance, the Dominican dic-

tator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (Assassinated in 1961) was African

on both sides of his family. However, because of the elastic definition of

white, he was considered white in the Dominican Republic, though listed as

Mulatto in many U.S. historical accounts. In this regard, the case of a U.S.

judge ruling that a woman who was 63/64 European was black, would be

unheard of in Latin America, especially in Brazil. Many Brazilians, Mexi-

cans, and Venezuelans who call themselves white have African or near Afri-

can grandparents. Indeed, when some of these individuals enter the U.S.,

they find out, to their horror, that they are regarded as Latinos, Hispanics,

or vaguely Spanish, not white!

It should be noted, nevertheless, that in spite of the color continuum

and the lack of sharp-edged racial categories in much of Latin America, the

rule for social prestige and mobility is “the whiter the better.” For example,

stars of Mexican television are almost completely European. Actresses on

Mexican telenovelas tend to be blonder than the ones on American soap

operas. Similarly, Mexico’s elites are much whiter than its working class.

Conversely, there remain in dire poverty in Mexico millions of purebred

Indian peasants who speak the same Indian languages as their ancestors

did before 1492. So much for Mexico’s political orthodoxy of White-Indian

racial blending, (Sailer, 2002).

46 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Sixth, and finally, it may be observed that whereas racism exists in

both the U.S. and Latin America, in the latter case, racism entails far greater

hypocrisy than in the former. William Nelson (1996) argues that Brazilians,

as well as Mexicans, Argentines, and Venezuelans for that matter, are far

more dishonest about race than Americans.

The whites who are racial

villains in Brazil, he argues, are the first cousins, grandparents, grandsons,

brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles of these blacks. The Anglo-American

racist, though he has no love for blacks, has implemented a civil rights pro-

gram which has resulted in a great deal of progress for black Americans.

Although the Anglo racist’s behavior is inexcusable, he at least is not dis-

criminating against his cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and brothers.

Objectionable as it is, the U.S. model of dealing with race, Moore rightly

notes, enables groups to make demands on society to work for change,

(Moore, 2003). In contrast, the Latin American denial of race as an issue

creates a false sense of color blindness that makes it socially disreputable to

raise demands for change in Latin America around issues of race.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the contested Black presence around the world represents a distinct

phase in the historical process of globalization—in this case, globalization of

labor in which Africa was forced to export, not primary products, but pri-

mary producers. In the final analysis, there seems to be greater acceptance

of black belonging to Latin America than there is of black belonging to the

U.S. As one resident of San Nicolás in Mexico observes, the people there

refer to blacks as Mexicans. It is outsiders who talk of “Afro-Mexicans.”

According to this resident, though whites in Mexico do not call themselves

Spaniards but say they are Mexicans, some of them keep pointing out that

blacks are not from Mexico. “Well,” he realistically avers, “they are not

from here either,” (Laura A. Lewis, 2000, 914). This reality speaks not only

to the whites of Latin America, but, even more so, to those of the U.S. From

the foregoing analysis, it may be posited that the process of objectification

and the corollary invention of hegemonic beliefs constitute a national story

as told by the dominant classes in society. Although this story is invaluable

in shaping and cementing the loyalties of members to the national collectiv-

ity, it is devoid of input from the majority of the dominated members of

society. At best, stories from below are obfuscated, peripheralized, and ren-

dered meaningless. At worst, they simply remain untold. This is an interest-

ing exemplification of an African saying, to the effect that until lions have

their own historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter.

Nationalist Myth-Making, Cultural Identity and Nation Building 47

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Nonetheless, Trentini (2005) observes that in the midst of the vio-

lence, poverty, and corruption in Latin America, there are signs of hope and

small but significant victories. New democratically elected governments in

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, together with the first non-white

presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, are being

forced to try to organize together in a common front against poverty and

social exclusion and, at least tangentially, racism. Most importantly, the

persistent and ridiculous propaganda myth of color blind “racial democra-

cies” so ingrained in Latin America and so advantageous to the local elite,

is being denounced and challenged effectively by indigenista organizations

in Bolivia, Central America, Ecuador, and Peru; and by Mexican Zapatis-

tas and African rights coalitions in Colombia and Brazil. Brazil now has a

number of black government ministers and high court magistrates, (Ceval-

los, 2005). Remarkably, Colombia has begun electing to congress politi-

cians who emphasize their African heritage rather than deny it.

NOTES

1. John Mwendwa, “What Hit Americans Most Was Not the Devastation by

Hurricane Katrina, But Its Exposure of Poverty,” Standard Online, Nai-

robi, October 3, 2005. available at http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/

hm_news/news.php?articleid=29857&date=3/10/2005

2. Mwendwa, 2005; see also John Maxwell, “So Poor, So Black!” Chicken

Bones: A Journal for Literary and Artistic African-American Themes,

2005; accessed November 28, 2005 at: www.nathanielturner.com/so poor so

black maxwell.htm.

3. Walker Connor, Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding, (Prince-

ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994).

4. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and

Spread of Nationalism, (New York: Verso, 1983).

5. Hugh Trevor-Roper, “The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition

of Scotland,” in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention

of Tradition, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993); 15–41.

6. Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” in Eric Hobsbawm

and Terence Ranger, eds. The Invention of Tradition, (Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press, 1983):1–14.

7. Thomas H. Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspec-

tives, (London: Pluto Press, 1993).

8. Michelle Anne Lee, “Multiculturalism as Nationalism: A Discussion of

Nationalism in Pluralistic Nations,” in Canadian Review of Studies in

Nationalism, XXX, 1–2 (2003), 103–123.

9. Frederick Barth, “Introduction,” in Frederick Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups

and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference, (Boston:

Little, Brown and Co., 1969).

48 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

10. Shadrack W. Nasong’o, “Ethnonationalism and State Integrity in Africa:

Cultural Objectification and the Rwandan Genocide,” Canadian Review of

Studies in Nationalism, XXX, 1–2 (2003), 53–63.

11. Seymour Martin Lipset, Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of

the United States and Canada, (London: Routledge, 1990).

12. Stephen Steinberg, The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America,

(Boston: Beacon Press, 1989).

13. Eric Kaufmann, “Ethnic or Civic Nation?: Theorizing the American Case,”

Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism, 27 (2000), 133–154.

14. Mary Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America, (Berkeley:

University of California Press, 1990).

15. Michael Omi, and Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States:

From the 1960s to the 1990s, (New York: Routledge, 1994).

16. Anthony W. Marx, “Race-Making and the Nation-State,” World Politics,

48, 2 (1996); 180–208.

17. Diego Cevallos, “Afro-Descendants Marginalized and Ignored,” Inter Press

Service News Agency, May 19, 2005; archived at: http://www.ipsnews.net/

africa/interna.asp?idnews=28752. Accessed November 28, 2005; Pianke

Nubiyang, “Blacks Attacked in Colombia: Racism in Latin America,”

2002. www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forrum. Accessed November 28,

2005.

18. Elbio G. Trentini, “Latin American Apartheid,” in The Republic, No. 126,

Vancouver, November 2005, 10–23.

19. Hisham Aidi, “Blacks in Argentina: Disappearing Acts,” 2002; available

at http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/argentina.htm. Accessed November 28,

2005.

20. Steve Sailer, “Not so Black or White,” UPI, May 8, 2002: http://www.

isteve.com/2002_Not_So_Black_and_White.htm. Accessed November 28,

2005.

21. Gino Germani, The Sociology of Modernization: Studies on its Historical

and Theoretical Aspects with Special Regard to the Latin American Case,

(Somerset, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1981).

22. Marvin A. Lewis, Afro-Argentine Discourse: Another Dimension of Black

Diaspora, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1995).

23. Carlos Moore, “The Subtle Racism of Latin America,” Public Lecture at

the African Studies Center, UCLA, May 19, 2003.

24. Mestizo is a term in Latin America used to refer to a person of mixed ances-

try, especially mixed European and Native American (Indian) parentage.

25. Mestizaje is the official ideology that socially constructs Mexican and Ven-

ezuelan national identity in terms of the “creative” mixing of Indians and

Europeans.

26. David M. Guss, Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism as Cultural Performance,

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000).

27. Laura A. Lewis, “Blacks, Black Indians, Afromexicans: The Dynamics of

Race, Nation, and Identity in a Mexican Moreno Community (Guerrero),”

American Ethnnologist 27 (2000); 898–926.

Nationalist Myth-Making, Cultural Identity and Nation Building 49

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

28. Moreno is the name of an ethnic group in Mexico believed to be “dark-

skinned” Native Indians.

29. Mariano Bosch, 1941 as cited in Hisham Aidi, 2002 available at http://

www.cwo.com/~lucumi/argentina.htm

30. William J. Nelson, “The bad White is also Black in Brazil,” 1996 in Brazil

archived at: http://www.brazzil.com/p22dec96.htm. Accessed November

28, 2005.

REFERENCES

Aidi, Hisham. “Blacks in Argentina: Disappearing Acts,” 2002; available at http://

www.cwo.com/~lucumi/argentina.htm. Accessed November 28, 2005.

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread

of Nationalism. New York: Verso, 1983.

Barreto, Amilcar A. “Constructing Identities: Ethnic Boundaries and Elite Prefer-

ences in Puerto Rico,” Nationalism & Ethnic Politics, 7 (2001): 21–40.

Barth, Frederick. “Introduction,” in Frederick Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and

Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference. Boston: Little,

Brown and Co., 1969.

Cevallos, Diego. “Afro-Descendants Marginalized and Ignored,” Inter Press Ser-

vice News Agency, May 19, 2005; archived at: http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/

interna.asp?idnews=28752. Accessed November 28, 2005.

Connor, Walker. Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding. Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press, 1994.

Eriksen, Thomas H. Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives. Lon-

don: Pluto Press, 1993.

Germani, Gino. The Sociology of Modernization: Studies on its Historical and The-

oretical Aspects with Special Regard to the Latin American Case. Somerset,

NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1981.

Guss, David M. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism as Cultural Performance. Berke-

ley: University of California Press, 2000.

Hobsbawm, Eric. “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” in Eric Hobsbawm and

Terence Ranger, eds. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press, 1983: 1–14.

Kaufmann, Eric. “Ethnic or Civic Nation?: Theorizing the American Case,” Cana-

dian Review of Studies in Nationalism, 27 (2000), 133–154.

Lee, Michelle Anne. “Multiculturalism as Nationalism: A Discussion of National-

ism in Pluralistic Nations,” in Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism,

XXX, 1–2 (2003), 103–123.

Lewis, Laura A. “Blacks, Black Indians, Afromexicans: The Dynamics of Race,

Nation, and Identity in a Mexican Moreno Community (Guerrero),” Ameri-

can Ethnnologist 27 (2000); 898–926.

Lewis, Marvin A. Afro-Argentine Discourse: Another Dimension of Black Dias-

pora. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1995.

Lipset, Seymour Martin. Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the

United States and Canada. London: Routledge, 1990.

50 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Marx, Anthony W. “Race-Making and the Nation-State,” World Politics, 48, 2

(1996); 180–208.

Maxwell, John. “So Poor, So Black!” Chicken Bones: A Journal for Literary and

Artistic African-American Themes, 2005; accessed November 28, 2005 at:

www.nathanielturner.com/sopoorsoblackmaxwell.htm.

Minority Rights Group (ed.). Afro-Central America: Rediscovering the African

Heritage. London: Minority Rights Group publishers, 1996.

Minority Rights Group (ed.). No Longer Invisible: Afro-Latin Americans Today.

London: Minority Rights Group publishers, 1995.

Moore, Carlos. “The Subtle Racism of Latin America,” Public Lecture at the Afri-

can Studies Center, UCLA, May 19, 2003.

Moore, Carlos, Shawna Moore, and Tanya Sanders (eds.). African Presence in the

Americas. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1996.

Mwendwa, John. “What Hit Americans Most Was Not the Devastation by Hurri-

cane Katrina, But Its Exposure of Poverty,” Standard Online, Nairobi, Octo-

ber 3, 2005.

Nasong’o, Shadrack W. “Ethnonationalism and State Integrity in Africa: Cultural

Objectification and the Rwandan Genocide,” Canadian Review of Studies in

Nationalism, XXX, 1–2 (2003), 53–63.

Nelson, William J. “The bad White is also Black in Brazil,” 1996 in Brazil archived

at: http://www.brazzil.com/p22dec96.htm. Accessed November 28, 2005.

Nubiyang, Pianke. “Blacks Attacked in Colombia: Racism in Latin America,” 2002.

www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forrum. Accessed November 28, 2005.

Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States: From

the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Rout, Leslie B. Jr. The African Experience in Spanish America. Princeton, NJ:

Markus Wiener Publishers, 2003.

Sailer, Steve. “Not so Black or White,” UPI, May 8, 2002: http://www.isteve.

com/2002_Not_So_Black_and_White.htm. Accessed November 28, 2005.

Sertima, Ivan V. They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient

America. New York: Random House, 2003.

Steinberg, Stephen. The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Bos-

ton: Beacon Press, 1989.

Trentini, Elbio G. “Latin American Apartheid,” in The Republic, No. 126, Vancou-

ver, November 2005, 10–23.

Trevor-Roper, Hugh. “The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scot-

land,” in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradi-

tion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993; 15–41.

Waters, Mary. Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America. Berkeley: University

of California Press, 1990.

Whitten, Norman E. and Arlene Torres (eds.). Blackness in Latin America and the

Caribbean: Social Dynamics and Cultural Transformations. Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 1998.

Young, Crawford, “The Dialects of Cultural Pluralism: Concept and Reality,” in

Crawford Young (ed.), The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-

State at Bay? Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1993, 3–35.

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Chapter Three

African Immigrants’

Experiences in Urban America:

Religion and the Construction

of Social Identity in St. Louis

Attah Anthony Agbali

African Immigration is not a novel phenomenon. African ancestors had in

the past thousands of years moved into different global spaces. Contem-

porary African immigration to the West is not novel and neither is it an

isolated phenomenon. African immigration to Great Britain has been well

documented,

as well as to France, and other colonial metropolis. The Afri-

can presence in Arabia, the Indian Ocean, and the former Soviet spaces are

well documented, precluding the African diaspora to Europe, Caribbean,

and the Americas due to the transatlantic slave trades since the 1500s.

Certain accounts bespeak of the presence of Africans in pre-Colom-

bian North America, specifically within the vicissitude of modern Mexico,

speculated as imagined designation of African mariners from the area of

Mali, West Africa.

Such views remain inconclusive as their veracity has

yet to be adequately authenticated. Nonetheless, people of African descent

were with Columbus on his voyages. An example is the Pinzons broth-

ers (one is Martin Alonzo Pinzon), known more frequently as the “Negro

Pinzons” of Afro-Spanish descent, and possibly middle class status, who

were with Columbus’ on the voyage of August 3, 1492. Other blacks at

different times were fervently involved in the affairs that shaped the early

period of the Spanish intrusion into the New World, such as Estevan the

Soldier, whose March 1539 frontier exploration from Culiacan, Mexico

brought him and his cohorts into the area now New Mexico, where he was

killed by the Hawikuh Indians, (Carew, 51–65).

The first recorded immigration of Africans into the United States

occurred in August 1619, in Jamestown, Virginia, when a Dutch Man O’

War ship exchanged for food their cargo of twenty Africans for service as

indentured servants, (Bennett, Jr., 29). Therefore, these blacks were not

52 African Minorities in the New World

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slaves but immigrants to America in the real sense of the term, (Bennett, Jr.,

34). Some of these Africans, after their indentured servitude, later accumu-

lated property and owned both whites and black servants. These Africans

integrated within their society enjoyed social respectability and great eco-

nomic prosperity. During this period, these blacks, also known as Blacka-

moors were never enslaved and seemingly enjoyed the same social prestige

and advantages whites once they ended the terms of their indenture ser-

vices, (Bennett, Jr., 37–40).

The precursors of American Blacks, both enslaved and latter immi-

grants from the Caribbean and Africa came to the America as immigrants

who enjoyed considerable freedom and the opportunities present here.

Racial discrimination and subjugated chattel slavery developed later. Within

the evolution of the slave trade many Africans were forcefully uprooted

from their aboriginal African homelands and transplanted on the Ameri-

can shores, especially enslaved within the plantation estates of the south-

ern United States, a situation that would continue until emancipation and

arduous movements against slavery by the Abolitionists and black frantic

resistances.

Urban America presents a fascinating but also complex phenome-

non interweaving varying trajectories that modulate social and economic

dynamics and processes. Therefore, engaging in urban anthropology and

ethnographic research within the vast domain of the urban complex can be

tasking and demanding.

NOMADS IN NEW FRONTIERS:

AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS AND URBAN AMERICA

The phenomenon of African immigration to the West, and specifically to

urban America, represents an expanding frontier outside of Africa in elon-

gating and disabling the lineal purview of the African spatial sphere and

temporal consciousness. Within such imaginations, African immigrants

represents nomads of fortunes who have left home in search of better exis-

tential, material, and even spiritual opportunities. Therefore, the realities

of the African immigration experiences have shown the salience of African

immigrations following the political and economic crises that besets many

African nations, in recent years.

The politics of the belly,

failed democratization, national eruptions of

wars and genocides, among other realities have led to the outflow of Afri-

cans from their aboriginal countries. Therefore, while most contemporary

African immigrants quest for economic opportunities, a significant popula-

tion of these immigrants are displaced due to the realities of war, ethnic

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 53

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

persecution, genocide, and other humanitarian crises that led to their being

admitted as refugees and asylum seekers. The various political eruptions led

to vast humanitarian refugee crises that affected and displaced citizens of

Ethiopian, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somali, and Liberia. Many among

these displaced persons eventually were resettled in significant numbers in

American urban domains than had obtained in the past.

America has offered so many Africans haven to escape from direct

political and religious persecutions. Many examples abound. Katherine

Sawaki, a Tanzanian woman and a former diplomat, who worked at vari-

ous times with the Tanzania High Commission and with the United Nation’s

Children and Educational Fund (UNICEF) now lives in Austin, Texas, after

being incarcerated on April 7, 1983, by the Marxist government of the late

President Julius Nyerere. Though influential, and was a friend of the late

President Nyerere, she was arrested and clamped into detention for two

years, eleven days, and five hours without trials, without anyone being

aware of whether she was alive or dead. Her social status as a rich business,

Christian and educated was responsible for her fate, as she was accused of

being a spy for the American Central Intelligence Agency (C.I. A). Upon her

miraculous release three days after an epiphany event, which she noted as

Jesus’ visit to her in prison, she surreptitiously escaped her country on the

advise of family and friends en route Kenya, London, and eventually set-

tling in Austin, where her daughter was then in college.

Getu (pseudonym) a female Ethiopian refugee residing in the Detroit

Freedom House, escaped to the United States in 1998, while seeking asylum

in Canada. In her sad sordid tale of religious bigotry and violence, she nar-

rated her ordeal of imprisonment and severe bestial torture at age 15, after

her village Church was burnt down, and in spite of restriction regarding her

faith practice, she was caught engaging in bible study, an event that led to

the death of her religious instructor, who was shot by government troops

while attempting to escape. While she still in jail, her family who were then

also in hiding, painfully secured traveling papers to enable her escape.

Others claim cultural practices, considered as noxious, such as forced

genital sexual mutilation practices (GSM), as their reasons for seeking asy-

lum. A Nigerian woman, Mrs. Oluroro in a 1994 Immigrations hearing

claimed as her reasons for avoiding deportation as the forced gendered sex-

ual mutilations that her two teenage daughters would be forced to undergo

in Nigeria, should she be deported.

Her claims were upheld. However,

her case drew consternation from among Nigerians resident in the United

States.

A Ghanaian woman, Regina Norman Danson, who advanced fears

of genital mutilation as her pretext over her inability to return to her

54 African Minorities in the New World

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native country, Ghana, was arrested in New York on charges that she

lied under oath and entered the United States with a fraudulent passport

in 1997. Though the then Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS)

had opposed her initial requests, the appeals court granted her request in

1999.

Apart from these sad political circumstances, different levels of eco-

nomic underdevelopment manifested in various degrees in different nations,

often reflected within the wasted economic opportunities given the prepon-

derance of bad governance is among the core and influential drivers enhanc-

ing emigration of skilled and talented professional, especially the flight of

the Middle Class flight from the African continent, diffusing into different

spatial polities and national spaces, with developed countries of the west as

prime destinations.

To buttress this sad tale depicting Africa as a continent of wasted

opportunities was the western media pronounced case. In 1999, two friends,

fourteen year olds Guinean stowaways, Yaguine Koita and Fode Tounkara

died in the womb of a plane en route to Brussels, Belgium from Conakry,

Guinea in their desperate attempt to reach Europe. A letter found in their

pockets was addressed to the European and western leaders drawing atten-

tion to the abysmal plight of poverty on the African continent. In this mail,

they imprinted upon the western conscience with a plea toward positive

and urgent interventional resolution of the African problem of extensive

poverty. Military dictatorship and political maladministration in many

African countries conspires to drain opportunities in many nations creating

a meaningless mirage regarding the future. As a result many African youths

are fleeing the continent for the West often times through enduring travails

and en route dangerous paths.

The consequences of the “politics of the belly.”

” breeds misman-

agement and bleeds economic resources. Stunted economic contexts

equally affect the vital projects of spatial and social developments of many

nations. Economic failures subsequently affects the existential search for

social and personal relevance among the Middle Class thus inducing the

pull-push dynamics, in which professionals from these poor nations are

drawn to the more lucrative markets and economies, especially in the

west.

Massive and uncontrolled emigration from such nations further

affects their economies at two levels; one positive and the other negative.

On the positive side, income remittances to families in immigrants’ home-

land can help boost wealth accumulation and economic development. On

the other hand, the effect of massive out-migration of the middle class can

have dire consequences for economic development given the vacuum such

migrations create. Such loss of manpower and economic role models can

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 55

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

exacerbate economic productions and social conditions in some countries,

as a result.

The non-competitive milieu coupled with the deliberate destruction

of the middle class by past despotic regimes jettisoned many members of

this class. The ecology of despotic terrorism and hegemonic violence stag-

nate the economies of most African nations, hence, pro-actively vilifying

merit, intelligent and professional productions, thus in the process under-

utilizing and undervaluing their skills and talents. The loss of relevance and

lack of resourcefulness often create conditions of anxiety and frustrations

that induces the ripe prospects of immigration. Economic dispossession of

the elites, especially the middle class, often invokes feelings of resentment

and antagonism that decreases national loyalty, validating the thoughts

of personal survival. Under such siege, many educated Africans fled their

aboriginal homelands to nations in the west, seeking better occupational

opportunities for the optimal utilization of their attained skills and educa-

tional competence, toward constructing their existential dreams of fulfilling

existence, unlike in their aboriginal homelands. The present condition of

globalization enables such processes more easily.

The widening intersects between the local and global since the 1965

immigration reforms have helped in making the demand for the United

States as a choice of destination of many immigrants radically increased.

The dismantling of the quota system and the installation of new prefer-

ences that emphases family reunion and employment based immigration

has helped to increase the diversity of America’s immigrants. First, the1965

immigration reform was less restrictive and more liberal in orientation.

Signed into law, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, this immigration reform

eliminated the quota system that previously allocated certain numbers of

countries to citizens of different nations, especially within the western hemi-

sphere, thus granting more access to immigrants pouring into the United

States from other regions of the world, than hitherto experienced.

This post-1965 immigration reform granted diversified cohorts of

non-European immigrants’ greater incentives toward immigrating, mainly

for family reunifications and employment purposes. As a result, together

with subsequent later immigration changes, such as those relating to the

Diversity Visa Lottery in 1990, it is now assumed that there are more Afri-

can immigrants now flocking into the United States than during the periods

of the transatlantic triangular trade (slavery).

Also, while the US liber-

alized its immigrations laws, the European immigration policies became

more restrictive, through the tightening of existing laws, and introduc-

tion of more exclusionary policies, that aimed to streamline the flooding

of unwarranted immigrants into most European nations. Thus, while, as

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the result of the civil rights movement, the US was becoming more multi-

cultural in terms of the diversity of that affected its cultural mosaic many

European nations were afraid of the long-term implications of diversity

and multiculturalism toward the shaping of discrete cultural and national

identities, with foreseen dire consequences for their societal racial composi-

tions. Thus, many European nations implicitly upheld certain racial tenets

that privileges whiteness as the normative canon for citizenship.

Within such veiled articulations of racial privileging that endorses

whiteness, immigrants deriving from Asia, Africa, and Latin America are

considered as polluting and diluting American cultural values and cherished

norms. However, such views however, fails to connect the dots in establish-

ing that the ancestors of such groups, like the Irish, Italians, Southern and

Eastern Europeans, and to an extent certain groups of Germans, that now

lay claim to whiteness, were despised by claimants to “whiteness”

when

their ancestors first arrived in the United States, perceived as agents of cul-

tural dilution and mutilation.

This 1965 immigration reforms gave birth to the notion of the “New

immigration.” This designation was intended to contrasts the recent post-

1965 immigrants from the earlier massive stream of immigrants that

arrived on the shores of the US between the 1880 and 1924. Most African

immigrants to the United States belong to this new stream. Specifically, the

demographic increase in the number of African immigrants in the United

States accreted exponentially between the late 1980s and current times.

The year rate of African immigration and the totals of African immigrants

in America remain insignificant, when weighted against other immigrant

cohorts from Asia and Latin America. However, growth rate of African

immigrants to America is phenomenal. Further, the 1996 Immigration

Reforms also have helped toward the demographic increase in the number

of African immigrants that have arrived in the United States in the last ten

years. The annual diversity visa lottery has become, alongside family reuni-

fication, the greatest source of African immigration to the United States.

African immigrants residing in the United States according to the U.S.

Census 2000, are estimated at 881, 300, representing about 3 per cent of

the total foreign born population.

Yet some estimates the African foreign-

born population to be around 2.5 million. Thus, one report stated that

in the eight years between 1991 and 1999, the African immigrant demo-

graphic profile increased from 1.7 million to about 2.4 million, marking

this population as the fastest growing segment of the United States’ immi-

grant population.

This discrepancy could be the result of the difference

in the official census data that dichotomizes between immigrants and non-

immigrants and the population assumption that does not discriminate

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 57

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

between these two distinctive categories. Further, the incidences of illegal

immigrants, who might avoid the census for fear of reprisal might equally

be responsible for this discrepancy. At best, this is as a result of pure erro-

neous imagination.

In spite of this, there is still an enormous gap toward explaining the

divergence between the official census and immigration figures. One funda-

mental reason could be that African immigrants who might have outstayed

their visas, and have become illegal aliens, are less likely to be represented

within the official demographic data for fear of recrimination and depor-

tation. On the other hand, inflated demographic data, especially from the

immigrants’ perspectives enhances certain myths that offer certain social

and political advantages, especially with regards to distribution of material

resources and benefits, and political clout. Whatever the nature of such incon-

sistency is, the African immigrants in America are clearly over a million.

Comparatively, African immigrants like others past immigrants and

other waves among the contemporary stream of African immigrants reside

predominantly within American urban areas.

Therefore, African immi-

grants are found within different spaces of Metro-areas. Significantly,

unlike other new immigrants groups are African immigrants are often

more mobile and dispersed across and between diverse spaces nationwide,

regionally, and within metro-areas.

African immigrants to America are

also noted, according to Census data to possess the highest level of educa-

tional attainment of any group, including Asians and Native-born whites.

The African immigrants’ arriving in the United States represents the best

and brightest from the continent.

















       

Chart 3-1. Numbers of African Immigrants Yearly Entry to the United States 1989–

2003 (Source: INS [USCIS])

58 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

However, it is instructive to note that, in spite of such level of educa-

tional attainments, many highly educated and qualified African immigrants

continue to dominate in low paying income jobs as cab drivers, waiters,

and similar other jobs. However, engagement in such jobs does fully indi-

cate the full picture. First, some of the African immigrants that occupy such

occupational niches do so, predicating it as transient. They perceive it as

temporary and are ambitious in their upward mobile aspirations. Secondly,

such jobs are sometimes second ones, to help with the bills, transnational

remittances, mortgage, and may not be the primary source of incomes for

some of the immigrants. Thirdly, the flexibility that some of these kinds of

jobs offer, allows these immigrants to engage in other spheres of function-

ing, without the constriction of the eight-hours a day job. Therefore, such

jobs offer certain latitude for other personal operations.

In spite of certain seeming cognitive perspectives that allocate a low

paying niche to African immigrants many among this population are found

across diverse occupations as professionals, small business entrepreneurs,

university professors, physicians, nurses, lawyers, clergy, newspapers pub-

lishers, and other areas. African immigrants desire to be relevant and be-

somebody, therefore, they are driven to be dynamic and upwardly mobile to

some extent. Equally, they desire the successes of their children, and so invest

enormously in their education. African immigrants’ children are among the

successful black graduates of various Ivory league and excellent private

colleges, sometimes disproportionately more in numbers than native-born

African Americans at such institutions.

In spite of such considerations

African immigrants’ income has transcended those of native-born African-

Americans. Since 1980, the income of African immigrants has been noted to

be incrementing, though still unequal to those of native-born whites.

African immigrants and their children have also featured prominently

in sports. Akeem Olajuwon, the Nigerian-born retired basketball star and

Houston Rockets player until his retirement from sporting. Other promi-

nent African sports personalities are the Congo-born Dikembe Motumbo;

Second generation African immigrant descents like Kenechi Udeze, Emeka

Okafor, and others are also excellent iconic representatives of the resilience

and contributions of African immigrants in America. A second genera-

tion American-born, Nigerian-American, Rick Famuyiwa, has also left his

imprints in Hollywood, as the co-writer and producer of the movie, “The

Wood.”

Many African immigrants and their children are also making ver-

itable contribution to the development of America, and their various home

polities.

Africans are enlarging the business purview of many cities and

are excelling as entrepreneurs.

A Nigerian entrepreneur, Anthony E.

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 59

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Onianwah, the proprietor of the Largo, Maryland based, Apex Petroleum

was noted as one of the fastest growing businesses in the state of Maryland,

posting a 41.4 per cent growth rate over a three year period among diverse

businesses within the private and public sectors in the state. Apex Petroleum

in its 11 years of existence has an accumulated business volume of over $17

million. As a result, of his acumen and business success, Onianwah was

honored with an award by the Governor of the State of Maryland, together

with other ten other area business leaders. Onianwah has received various

business and recognition awards, among which is the National Leadership

Award of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Additionally,

his firm represents the only privately owned black business listed among

the top and fastest growing businesses within the tri-cycle area of Washing-

ton, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

African immigrants are also very transnational in their operations.

Many send remittances home and make considerable investments in their

aboriginal countries of origin.

For instance, following the Nigerian gov-

ernment drive toward heightened investments, and the participation of

Nigerians resident abroad in the development of their homeland, a private

oil refinery construction license was issued on December 19th, 2000 to the

first private crude oil refinery company, in Nigeria, Amakpe International

Refineries Nigeria Limited. The $65 million venture is a brain child of the

two Nigerian-Americans and California based entrepreneurs, namely Chief

Usua Amanam, President and Chief Executive and Dr. Nsidibe Ikpe, Vice

President and Chief Operating Officer.

In spite of such recorded successes such efforts are not always trou-

ble free or painless. African immigrants experience all kinds of difficulties

on their way, some of which are easy to overcome, while others are not

too easy. Some of these difficulties are rooted within historical and sys-

temic conditioning that define social relations, prejudices, stereotypes, and

aggressively privilege opportunities along racial and class lines. Institutional

red-linings by financial institutions, validation of intellectual acumens, and

other structural devices, attempt to undermine the creativity and deter-

mined aspirations of many African immigrants to succeed.

African immigrants in Houston, especially those in the medical sup-

ply business, were reported to be experiencing different levels of hostility

from financial houses, the media, and visits from agents of the secret service

that targets and profiles them, questioning the sources of their income and

denouncing them as either fraudulent and as national security risks. Such

hostility, it was reported stemmed from the efficiency and competitive of

these African immigrants’ owned businesses.

In every sphere many of

these African immigrants are found in American society, and in spite of the

60 African Minorities in the New World

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vagaries of life in the United States many are excelling while others con-

tinue to struggle with the aspirations toward achieving material and exis-

tential holistic successes.

African immigrants have also made jump-started their political careers,

as participants within the American political arena, running for elected

offices. In some cases, Africans have been elected as Mayors of certain

inner-city, and predominantly black and poor cities. The first African-born

to have won an election into public office in America is the Nigerian-born,

Rev. Emmanuel Onunwor, elected Mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio in 1997,

under the platform of the Democratic Party, and later re-elected in 2000,

but shortly afterward he switched alliances, joining the Republican Party

(GOP). Unfortunately he was found guilty of administrative mismanage-

ment, corruption, and racketeering by a Federal Court and convicted in

2004.

Another Nigerian, Babatunde Deinbo, became the second African to

become a Mayor. He was elected in 1999 as the Mayor of Berkeley, Mis-

souri, a city, within the Metro-St. Louis area. He narrowly lost reelection

on a very slim margin in 2004. He too was at a time a subject of Federal

Investigations.

In Houston, a Nigerian, Amadi, ran unsuccessfully for a

council seat. He also tried his hands as a Democratic Party’s Candidates

for the Texas Legislature represented Texas State District 133, but equally

failed, unable to raise enough fund to sustain his campaigns.

Different

Africans have been honored by the various political organizations. The

Republican Party awarded some of their Africans members their annual

advisory awards from year to year.

A newspaper report has also observed the tendency of affluent Afri-

can immigrants, especially Nigerians, to join the Republican Party (GOP),

the longer they are resident in America.

In fact, the Nigerian-born former,

Mayor Emmanuel Onunwor who was elected on the platform of the Dem-

ocratic Party in 1997, denounced the party shortly after his reelection in

2002 switching to the Republicans Party.

In fact, some observers alleged

this switch as a political miscalculation that contributed to his later fram-

ing, ordeals, and eventual disgrace from the office of Mayor following a

Federal conviction on charges of racketeering. While, the empirical veracity

of this observation remains vague, the reality is that African immigrants

are no longer opaque within the American democratic and partisan pro-

cesses. Another, assumption out there is that most African immigrants have

democratic sympathies. Given the numerical demographic marginality of

the African immigrants’ population in the United States, and their recent

immigration history, that also defines the level of their participation within

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the political process such conjectural assumptions cannot be taken at their

face value.

As African immigration continues to forge their social identity in

America and grow toward becoming American citizens, their political evo-

lutionary tendencies would soon become evident and would delineate the

nature of their political participations within the established American polit-

ical institutions and electoral process. Then, their relative voting behaviors

and identity as a political bloc could be lucidly verified. Such manifestations

would offer vital data as to their political proclivities and voting behavioral

inclinations, as well as the valuable interests and concerns pertinent to this

group, especially within large urban area like Houston, Texas, Washington

D.C. area, St. Paul, Minnesota, and others where African immigrants clus-

ters in significant numbers. It would then be seen whether there would be

variations or uniformity within their political behaviors. Until then given

the sprinkling easily ascertained given the vastness and plurality of the Afri-

can immigrants’ populations, across the continental United States, it rep-

resents the salient entrance of African immigrants into the mainstream of

American society.

African immigrants in America also have had to deal with negative

images associated mainly with criminal activities. African immigrants have

been fingered in different criminal activities and violence acts, with some

convicted. Nigerian Immigrants have been figured as prominent among

cases of criminal acts involving African immigrants.

The incessant fea-

turing of Nigerian involvement in crimes might be presumably due to the

incidence of their large population among African immigrants. Nigerian

immigrants react angrily to such embarrassing insinuations, especially

given that a few persons are involved. Thus, in 1994 Nigerian immigrants,

including prominent personalities, like Professor Chinua Achebe reacted

sharply with consternation regarding the U.S. State Department report

labeling Nigeria as the heartland from which heroin is trafficked into the

United States.

Likewise, Ghanaian immigrants have also been similarly

pinpointed as criminals.

Prominent Nigerian immigrants or Nigerian-Americans have also had

problems with the law. The ugly conviction of Rev. Emmanuel Onunwor,

the mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio on charges of racketeering and corrup-

tion, marks a celebrated case. His removal from office and disgraceful con-

viction was bitter and injurious to the psyche of many African immigrants.

His election few years before engendered elation among African immi-

grants, as he made history as the first African-born elected to be mayor of

any American city, and into any major elected political office in the United

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States.

Another case given intense media coverage was that of Peter

Odighizuwa, a Nigerian-American Law Student, at a Virginia Law school

who went on a shooting rampage in 2002 killing the dean of the school,

a law professor, and a student,, and injuring others. He was later subse-

quently sentenced to life imprisonment.

Also, Ikenna Iffih, a Nigerian-

born student at the Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, made

headlines when he, was charged and later sentenced in 2000 for hacking

into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Pen-

tagon computers.

Other incidences involving Africans in the United States in crimes

abound. In March 2003, a young American-Nigerian, 13 year old, Prince

Nnadozie Umegbolu, convicted in December 2002, for possession of con-

trolled substance was sentenced to a minimum one year at a boy’s ranch in

Georgia. He arrived in New York from Nigeria with eighty-seven packets

of heroin embedded in his stomach in April 2002.

. In 2004, a Nigerian

immigrant Tampa, Florida police officer was indicted with threatening to

shoot President George W. Bush, Jr.

Many Africans have entered into troubles accused of child slavery,

for bringing their fellow citizens here and subjecting them to forced labors

without remunerations. This was the case of Joseph and Evelyn Djoumesi,

who were charged on nine counts of kidnapping, conspiring to kidnap, rap-

ing, and child abuse of Pridine Fru whom they brought from Cameroon. A

Nigerian young woman, Ejine Franscisca Uzonwanne resident in Roches-

ter, Minnesota claimed that a physician and distant cousin, Dr. Julie Berny

Akabogu George, enslaved her immensely subjecting her to physical and

emotional hardship, and curtailment of her freedom. Parishioners of an

area Catholic Church she attended helped her away from her predicament

granting her temporary refuge.

Even, some African immigrant religious establishments and leaders

have also found themselves in trouble against the law. In 1986, a New

York Celestial Church of Christ was alleged to be the center of Nigerian

immigrants’ fraudulent and criminal activities.

In 2002, in the face of

mounting accusations against the Archdiocese of Detroit, especially by

two brothers, who alleged that a priest of the aforesaid Archdiocese of

Detroit, sexually abused them as minors, an African priest, Rev. Komlan

Dem Houndjame a political refugee from Togo, then serving in a Assump-

tion Grotto Parish in the Detroit area was served up, to stem the nega-

tive publicity and detract from the seriousness regarding the mounting and

debilitating accusations of cover-up and reckless irresponsibility against the

Detroit Catholic hierarchy. Rev. Houndjame was allegedly accused of rap-

ing a parishioner at her home. Rev. Houndjame was denounced and left

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 63

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to his device, however, luckily for him an area business man, Mr. Joseph

Maher, offered his support and provided legal services that led to his even-

tual acquittal.

Incidentally, this case gave birth of a tax exempt charitable

organization, Opus Bono Sacerdoti (Work for the Good of the Priesthood)

Foundations, directed by Mr. Maher, to support in offering legal services to

accused priests. Fr. Felicien, in spite of the court’s verdict remained inter-

dicted by the Detroit archdiocese; hindered from being reabsorbed into

priestly duties. A Catholic missionary priest, Rev. Peter Kiare a Kenyan was

arrested in 2002, while serving in a New York parish as a guest preacher

over charges of sexually abusing a 12 year old boy, facing charges of forc-

ible touching and endangering the welfare of a child while on an excursion

to an area beach.

In 2002, a Nigerian priest from Ihioma-Orlu, Fr. Cyriacus Udeg-

bulem, was arrested in Laredo, Texas in connection with an alleged rape

of a female parishioner in a Brooklyn, New York church rectory, which

occurred two years earlier. Though ordered out of the United States by the

New York archdiocese he left for Laredo, Texas, where he was employed

at a hospital chaplain and was attending graduate school. Following his

arrest, he was repatriated to New York, indicted by a grand jury, and was

promptly charged.

Again, his case is instructive. Though this was a serious case, and was

not in fact related to the central issue of the sexual abuse scandal as per-

taining mainly to minors, until the media and popular frenzy that incensed

reactions against the Catholic hierarchy, the New York archdiocese did not

on its own initiative report such a serious crime for prosecution. Another,

Nigerian Catholic priest, Rev. Basil Onyia, originally from Aba diocese

in Nigeria was alleged of sexually abusing a mentally retarded girl, and

emotionally disturbed incest victim from Pharr Texas while serving in the

Brownsville diocese in Texas. After series of allegations of sexual molesta-

tions and possibilities of scandal emerged he eloped to sanctuary in Nige-

ria.

A Nigerian-born former priest and hospital chaplain, Paschal Atomori

was sentenced in a Chicago court on charges relating to forgery of a bogus

letter written in 2003 that misrepresents him as a priest of the Archdiocese

of Chicago.

Some of these incidences also raise vital concerns regarding the scape-

goat treatment selectively melted to African immigrant church personnel

within the American Catholic ecclesiastical structure by church officials,

in comparisons with Anglo-Americans clergy similarly accused often tradi-

tionally shielded and sheltered, even with the unfolding of the recent cases

of priests’ sex abuse scandals, the issue of parity remains saliently signifi-

cant. The American Catholic Church would easily attempt to circumvent

64 African Minorities in the New World

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the law by covering-up and protecting native-born, and especially criminal

white Catholic priests, while ironically too eager to denounce and criminal-

ize their foreign counterparts.

Such facts, though not intended toward minimizing the impact of the

purported criminal acts associated with these priests, or be overtly criti-

cal of the Catholic establishment, however, portend as a troubling trend.

Therefore, the fact that these priests’ assumed criminal acts are introduced

within the timing of intense heat of pejorative media publicity and pub-

lic criticisms of church officials seems to indicate a recurrent and noxious

pattern that conveniently attempts to circumvent the core issues, critically

aimed at detracting attentions by attempting to mitigate the effect of the

intense popular and media sentiments. Within such context, we can assume

the emergent mode that credence the temptation toward making scapegoats

of foreign priests and other church personnel.

Recently an African physician, Dr. Charles Momah, who ran the Fed-

eral Way and Burien Clinics in the Seattle area was convicted on charges of

sexually assaulting and raping his vulnerable female patients. Such charges

also amount to a fundamental violation of medical ethics bothering upon

issues of abuse of power and trust and inappropriate boundary behav-

iors.

Various Nigerians have been charged and convicted with regards to

mail, credit card, and wire frauds.

The spate of domestic violence against

spouses of African immigrants around the United States is also noted to be

on the increase.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: IMMIGRATION AND DIVERSITY

IN THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST

St. Louis, in the past (1880–1924) was a major immigration destination for

the diverse immigration streams of Irish, German, Italian, Magyars (Hun-

garian), and even Czechs immigrants, that also spectacularly nuanced the

ethnic area’s diversity within the area. Such salience realizations also pos-

sess resilient comparative advantages within the opportunities availed by

such settings. Such advantages vitally permit perspectives that examine the

comparative views and contrasts between the earlier and novel waves of

immigrants into the area. Since the phenomenon of the post-1965 immi-

gration waves, tagged as the “New Immigration,” into the area is not as

demographically intense as previous waves, comparisons would help us to

understand the nature of social integration, building of institutional capacity,

and modes of acculturation and assimilation between these dual streams.

St. Louis has often been an immigrant destination especially in the

period between 1880 and 1920s when the earlier immigrants’ waves from

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Germany, Ireland, Italy, and other Southern and Eastern Europeans coun-

tries made their ways into the area, hence ensuring its ethnic diversity.

Blacks have also being among the early settlers of Missouri and St. Louis.

While, some were presumably born in Africa prior to their enslavements,

the history of St. Louis blacks is more associated with those who accom-

panied the French explorers and officials from Haiti to find settlement in

Missouri.

Of recent, St. Louis has also become an immigrant destination and

residence for some African immigrants, who now consider here as their

adopted home. St. Louis’ African immigrants, are few in comparison with

those of other urban domains such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas,

Houston, Chicago, Washington, DC, St. Paul, Minnesota, and others with

an affluent African immigrants’ population. Though subdued numerically,

St. Louis and its metropolitan area is a site of a growing African immi-

grants’ population. Their population is assumed to be growing at an expo-

nential rate. African immigrants in this area are also positively contributing,

in different ways toward the growth and development of their host through

taxes, economic, and social activities. Nonetheless, the economic and pro-

fessional impact of these African immigrants has yet to be fully evaluated.

Though the US Census 2000 data counted, less than 5,000 African

immigrants within the St. Louis metro-area, a number not likely to consid-

ered as remarkably significant, census statistics indicate African immigrants

into the area are growing at a exponential growth rate having increased by

about 270.4 per cent between 1990 and 2000. Such growth rate, though

St. Louis African immigrants are widely diffused within the metro-area,

they are still notably shaping the structural contours of their host commu-

nity. Such facts are at the heart of my motivated seminal attempt toward

researching this population, with the intention of delineating the scope and

nature of this specific phenomenon.

In the light of such observations, this chapter seeks to validate the

ontological role of religious, spiritual values, and existential institutions as

creative resources for the teleological framing of group and personal identi-

ties and spiritualities within the texture of their influence upon group exis-

tential realities, especially regarding the consolidation of pre-immigration

identities, and efforts at constructing novel, integrative networks, and

adaptable institutions among African immigrants in the United States, and

specifically within St. Louis.

The use of religion and especially its spaces and institutions, are noted

as elongation of former immigrant niches but transcending that as cogent

arena for the entrenchment of new roots, as well as validation of certain

spiritual values that are rooted within religious and spiritual ecologies and

66 African Minorities in the New World

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cosmologies that are familiar and grounded within certain cultural con-

sciousness and spiritual spatial frameworks. Therefore, religion and their

allied spiritualities as relevant signifiers and idioms act toward ensuring

offering anchors necessary within the immigrants’ adaptation process, espe-

cially toward accessing the available resource. Earlier immigrant religious

institutions also offered a channel for immigrants to pool their resources

and as a community in communion avail themselves of different oppor-

tunities within the wider secular domain.

Further, such spaces are also

relevant for the building of community and network that have rooted this-

worldly values, even more so than has hitherto been ascribed to certain

religious orders.

African immigrants’ religious communities have been noted as

saliently active in structuring the adjustment processes of immigrants. Con-

trolling for how religion helps the adjustment process, I intend to see what

essentials variables are involved within the construction of social identity

by African immigrants in urban America, specifically within St. Louis.

Predicated upon such scholarly interest, this chapter attempts to examine

the different modalities that shape the African immigrants’ experiences,

given the realities of urban American location and daily living, in fathom-

ing the role of religion plays within the construction of their social identity,

specifically St. Louis. It seeks to explore the different symbiotic modalities

and levels of dialectic interactions within the conditions of urbanity and

its relative influence in shaping the African immigrant’s conception of self

and society. Further, it also ascribes toward exploring the modes in which

African immigrants contribute toward American transformation relative to

economic variables and transcend to it, in terms of cognitive consciousness,

understanding of culture, and society.

Methodologically, this research is predicated upon the experiences of

participant observation, archival research, and ethnographic embedding

within two Christian churches, and individual African immigrants encoun-

tered in diverse contexts, in St. Louis. Additionally, following different inter-

actions formal and informal that arises from talking about my research and

observations of African immigrants in St. Louis, Missouri, to add interjec-

tory interventions and insights derived from such discursive contexts with

African immigrants and Americans related to African immigrants through

inter-marriages, friendship, and other forms of associations.

The ethnographic materials contained in this chapter relatively is a

derived outcome of the preliminary research work I carried out in St. Louis,

between September, 2003 to January, 2006, relative to my dissertation

interests in the field of Cultural Anthropology. These materials, partially

is related to the overall dissertation research and possess crass implications

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for the eventual product. As preparatory work, I take full responsibility for

my work, interpretations and analyses. I have the verbal and mutual agree-

ment of those involved to conduct research at the sites noted here, as well

as the individuals whose views I shall present.

In this chapter, I attempted utilizing a diverse array of research tools

such as census data, selective participant observation within multi-sited

and predominantly African immigrants’ frequented religious spaces, mainly

Churches and spiritual activities for participant observation and ethno-

graphic research study, informal and formal face-to-face and at times phone

conversations with African immigrants in the St. Louis area, employ archi-

val, media (especially printed features), ethnic literatures like events bro-

chures, and internet resources. Overall, and expectedly, historical grounding

within the different events that structures the perceptive urban, social, cul-

tural, religious, and economic realities of St. Louis entailed immersion into

different layers of historical trajectories and literatures.

FORAGERS OF FORTUNE: AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS

IN URBAN ST. LOUIS

The deficiency of the political economy of most African nations is at the

root of African immigration to the West, and to the United States specifi-

cally. The increasing salient of the African immigration became nuanced

following the political crises and economic downturn of many countries

on the continent. Likewise, global events also affect the flow and direction

of African immigration. Thus, while in the past most African immigrants

that came to the United States came, with the exception of Cape Verdeans,

mainly came from formerly colonized English speaking countries. However,

the restriction in immigration policies in European countries redirected,

non-English speakers, to seek their fortunes in America. The stream of Afri-

can foragers of fortune helped to diversify the African immigration wave

into America. Another diversifying element is the refugee resettlement pro-

grams that found home for displaced refugees and asylum seekers in certain

urban areas.

The origin of the phenomenon of African immigration into urban

St. Louis cannot be accurately dated. However, by 1970 there were some

African immigrants already resident and working here, forming a nuclei

of a small African immigrants’ community, most of then were Nigerians.

Details of such early pioneers remain fragmentary and sketchy. Put dif-

ferently, the historical imagination is unable to reference the first African

immigrant or group to have arrived in St. Louis. Nonetheless, there are

vague references to some Africans in St. Louis as far back as the late 1800s.

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In 1891, a “Zulu Prince,” actually an African-American from South Caro-

lina, under false pretences preached in a St. Louis Church, claiming to be an

African and solicited funds and material aids for African Christian missions.

In his preaching he falsely described Africans as cannibals who ate infants

and worshipped crocodiles. Unfortunately, he was later discovered to be a

fake and a native of South Carolina rather than African as claimed.

Men-

tioned is made regarding Mark Christian Hayfold, a Christian minister, and

member of the influential Cassey Hayfold family, as having obtained his

Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Divinity from the University of Mis-

souri, St. Louis (UMSL), at least prior to 1893 when he became a minis-

ter.

Details of Hayfold’s time in St. Louis remain fuzzy.

Culturally, the St. Louis area was home to many enterprising groups

of Native Americans, whose rich Indian cultural legacy is represented by

the still subsisting pyramidal mounds within the region around Cahokia,

across the Mississippi River, on the Illinois side, not far from St. Louis.

European traders and missionaries interacted with some of these Indian

groups, setting missionary residences and churches within the vicinity, and

proselytized the Native Americans since 1675 when Fr. Marquette estab-

lished the Immaculate Conception mission, as the first in the Mississippi

Valley. Later missionaries, and specifically the Jesuits, would nurture the

faith community of the Indians. In fact, the activities of the priests within

St. Louis attracted a group of Indians to venture into St. Louis by 1831

seeking a priest for their spiritual welfare.

The area of St. Louis was the most distinguished sites from which

the Lewis and Clark expeditions began, helping in opening up the west-

ern frontiers of the United States following the 1804 purchase from France

of the Louisiana territories by the United States during the presidency of

Thomas Jefferson. In the aftermath of the 1804 Louisiana purchase, Lewis

and Clark were mandated to use their expeditions on the Mississippi river

to gather cogent ethnographic data and cultural intelligence toward the

consolidation of these newly territories by the United States Government.

Instructively, the territory of St. Louis was prior to becoming a territory of

the United States, at different times was under the suzerainty of both the

French, who transferred to the Spaniards following a secret treaty between

both powers in 1762. However, following its purchase by the United States

the territory was symbolically reverted first to France, by Spain, and then

later to the United States, the new territorial owner.

This symbolic event regarding the transference of the territory took

place in St. Louis. Three flags of three different nations were hoisted fly-

ing elegantly over St. Louis. The Spaniards whom the French entrusted the

governance of St. Louis returned the territory to the France’s sovereignty;

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hoisting the French flag. Then France formally transferred the deed of

owner of the territory to the United States, the new owners, whose flags

had since flown over the area. Within three days, the flags of three dif-

ferent nations have being hoisted and flown over St. Louis, hence, the

reference to the “day of the three flags.” Such measures underline the

transnational processes and global dynamics that since have played; and

continues to define the historical directions and transnational processes

that has formed the unique identity of St. Louis and enriched her historical

development.

Salient dynamics, such as this continues to act a mnemonic referential

reminder in shaping the cultural landscape and global consciousness that

has engaged St. Louis since then. While, in the past, the Mississippi river

was the route through which America asserted her economic vitality and

commercial prowess, using St. Louis as a gateway to European markets

through New Orleans, today, the monumental architectural edifice of the

Arch (The Jefferson National Expansion Project) continues to remind St.

Louisan of their openness to the world as the gateway to the West. “The

gateway to the west the Arch honors was eighteenth and early nineteenth-

century St. Louis, a town located exactly where you now see the pleas-

ant greensward of the Jefferson National Expansion memorial. Here stood

the venerable buildings where explorers, missionaries, voyageurs, trappers,

traders, and pioneers outfitted to go west.” In this sense, symbolically, “the

Arch is where everything comes together. The improbable stainless steel

flourish unites not only earth and sky, land and water, east and west, but

also St. Louis’ past and present, its challenges and responses. Here is where

the city begins. . . .”

St. Louis is known as the “Gateway to the West,” given its strategic

prominence on the Mississippi river, within the westward expansion that

saw many Americans migrating West to places like in search of greater

commercial activities and quest for fortune, especially the Californian gold

rush of the 19th century. Such reminders also point to acutely to St. Louis,

not merely as the gateway to the American western frontiers, but as the

gateway of still a greater outreach to the world.

More, fundamentally, St. Louis, the “city of flight,”

featured promi-

nently, when through the creative imagination and goodwill of some enlight-

ened business men, they invested and instrumentally sponsored Charles

Lindbergh’s feat of transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, “the City

of Light,” aboard the “Spirit of St. Louis;” a plane that attests to St. Louis’

spirit of innovative nobility, courageous openness to the world, exploratory

outreach, and support for human pursuits. St. Louis, in this sense was fun-

damentally involved in shaping the global processes that would open wider

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the gates of the West to the world. This feat ushered the world into an

enhanced global interconnectivity and network by connecting the “City of

Flight” not only to the “City of Light” but would elongate and connect the

gateway to the west identity of St. Louis to other global realities.

Unbeknown to these businessmen, their action would mark the auton-

omous widening of the gateway to the West, broadly inflated within the

help of aviation, making the west easily accessible to non-westerners, and

diverse people across the globe. St. Louis too would be impacted by such

developments. In this way, St. Louis’ significance in opening its gateway

more globally has also autonomously have ramifications for the present

state of global immigration to the west, especially the United States. The

faith of these St. Louis businessmen pointed to the promise and possibilities

aviation held, not only for human travels, but also in impacting the differ-

ent processes that would transform global and discrete spaces and epochs.

Through such activities, St. Louis’ identity became synonymous with novel

progress and autonomously aligned with enhanced global interconnectivity.

Similar faith would be part of the conscious repertoire of future African

immigrants to St. Louis, a fact that would become spectacularly evident

beginning from the late 1980s, through 1990s to the present.

Almost forty years later, aviation, the efforts of St. Louisans would

adopt some autonomous character of its own. The transcontinental and

global connections they helped initiate would also affect dynamics like

immigration to the United States. Unlike previous immigrants, airlines and

airports rather than steam boats and seaports would become the most pro-

nounced channels through which diverse pools of immigrants would enter

into the American national space. Among these diverse immigrants would

be African immigrants who with ease who find their way to reside in St.

Louis, after passing through airports as their gateway to the global West;

and specifically into the United States.

As a result of such processes, global events mark St. Louis’ conscious-

ness in significant ways. St. Louis has also helped to reconfigure the global

landscape by decisions and events that occur within its space. The defeat

of Napoleon by the Haitian revolting slave forces was instrumental in

the eventual purchase of the entire Upper Louisiana by the United States

from France. Global critical events and schemes have impacted St. Louis

also in other different ways as was the case of the historical wave of 19th

century immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and Germany into the area. To a

lesser degree, some of the 20th century contemporary crises in places like

Somali, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, and even the Ogoni of Nigeria, that led to

displacement have influenced the resettlement of refugees and asylum seek-

ers within the area, with the salient effect of affecting the spatial ecology

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and demographics. Thus, today with the large concentration of Bosnians

and Somalis the area Islamic population and visibility has increased.

African-Americans had also resided in the Missouri area since 1719,

when they were first brought to the region to work on the lead mines.

Though they were encamped in the Illinois area, they foraged into Missouri

for their explorations.

St. Louis, Missouri is also an important historical

site relative to race relations, and Black social identity in American history.

It was here that the Missouri Supreme Court in 1852 first denied Dred

Scott of freedom from slavery, in spite of having reached free territory in

Illinois. Later, this judgment would be upheld in 1857 in the famous U. S.

Supreme Court ruling on the Dred Scott case with dire consequences for

the definition of the status of African-Americans (then Negro), whether free

or enslaved. This judgment denied American Blacks the rights of citizen-

ship considered as aliens. This defined the citizenship status of Black people

against the criteria of racial taxonomy. Citizenship was notably aligned

with race. Therefore, only whites were allotted the rights, benefits, and sig-

nifications associated with citizenship.

Inexorably blacks were denied and excluded blacks from enjoying the

rights and privileges associated with citizenship, in a society that their labor

was significant in establishing the foundations of its capitalist tenements.

Therefore, St. Louis is synonymous with the space where US citizenship was

ruled to be underlined by membership within a privileged and hegemonic

dominant racial group. In spite of this monumental rulings and privations,

St. Louis blacks struggled through various past ordeals to become relevant

and attain racial self-recognition.

Many St. Louisan blacks were very enterprising and dynamic. St.

Louisan blacks were reckoned among successful business entrepreneurs,

owners of property, and members of society. Therefore, some blacks within

the St. Louis area advanced to economic and social prominence, with some

even owning large estates and black slaves, (Greene, 57). In an era when

blacks were deprived of education, Rev. Meachum adopted creative ways

to educate black children on the Mississippi river, where he housed his

school on a ship to avoid prosecution.

St. Louis also played a vital part

in the events that led to the civil war between the Union and Confederates,

and the question of slavery played a significant role in shaping the events.

In fact, within its strategic location as a Midwestern city and cultural rela-

tionship and spatial interception with the South, St. Louisan’s ambivalent

attitude toward the freedom of slaves, played a vital part on which side of

the crises Missourians, especially St. Louisans found themselves. This issue

was highly divisive affecting the texture of social relations among St. Loui-

sans, (Greene, 17–19).

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St. Louis survived the civil and became a part of the Union. Immi-

grants swelled the ranks of St. Louis in the 1800s through around 1924.

Irish, Germans, Italians, and different European immigrants found their

ways into St. Louis in search of lucrative economic opportunities. As they

relocated they also came with different vestiges of their material and spiri-

tual cultures, including their religious faith, and its various practices. These

immigrants, like those before them and those after them, would struggle to

put down roots within the area. Iconic urban landmarks such as neighbor-

hood communities like Carondolet, The Hill, South St. Louis, schools, area

Churches, statues, and street names of these immigrants evidently marks

the identity of St. Louis, as these extant iconic idioms also dot it spatial

landscape all illustratively asserting the varied historical and cultural imagi-

nations that shaped, and even continues to significantly map the destiny of

St. Louis, and its outlying metro areas.

In spite of the cultural plurality and diversities these various groups

putting their ethnic animosities and antagonisms aside were able to forge

common ground, fundamentally invested in creating the crucible that has

forged St. Louis into a modern city. Different immigrant modalities trea-

sures contributed by different immigrant groups and streams have pre-

ciously helped to construct the realities of St. Louis. For instance, in South

St. Louis, there are in places like Carondolet, whose street names and cul-

tural historic landmarks such as churches continue to attest to the legacy of

its earliest settlers, especially the French, and mostly the “Scrubby Dutch;”

the Germans. Street names still reflect the memories and enormous contri-

butions of these St. Louis immigrant groups toward constructing the struc-

tural features of St. Louis.

Other aspects still visible are different neighborhoods like South St.

Louis, a formerly German stronghold; The Hills, an Italian neighborhood,

arrayed with its exquisite restaurants and delicious cuisines, and other

architectural landmarks that bore the stamp of the ethnic identities and

national origins of different immigrant groups. By so doing these immi-

grants actively stamped their cultural legacy upon the existential contours

that represents the area’s spatial and social configurations. St. Louis is one

of the areas affected by urban decadence and blight as a result of the decline

in manufacturing industries, incorporating her into the Rust Belt, much in

tandem with other Midwestern manufacturing towns since the 1960s, as a

result of economic and social restructurings.

Geopolitically, St. Louis-Illinois metro-area (STL-IL MSA) consists on

the independent City of St. Louis and four counties on the Missouri side,

and of three counties on the Illinois (Southern). The City of St. Louis is

referenced as the concentric hub and core central area with the counties

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mainly constituted with outlying suburbs. Within its bi-State structure the

southern Illinois cities like Belleville, East St. Louis, Swansea, and Edwards-

ville and other adjoining areas are part of the entire metro-area. In short,

the metro-area consists on the Missouri side of the St. Louis City, St. Louis

County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, and Franklin County, and on

the Illinois side three counties namely, St. Clair, Madison, and Monroe.

These area used to prosperous and sometimes in the past contested

vigorously with the city of Chicago for relevance. At one time St. Louis was

the fourth largest city in the United States, and was a promising center of

commerce and manufacturing. Today, the area has undergone some radi-

cal changes continually struggling to rebound through new revitalizing and

creative economic initiatives. The central city has since the 1950s steadily

declined in population, mainly losing her inhabitants to the outlying subur-

ban areas. Additionally, unlike in the past the area has not maintained its

position as a major immigration gateway since the immigration downturn

in the 1920s, a phenomenon that once contributed in the past to her stellar

national economic and social stature.

In spite of these economic scenarios some immigrants continue to

tickle into St. Louis with a few initial immigrants coming directly from

abroad, while a majority are likely to have made St. Louis their second-

ary destination. Our research integrates a regional approach, panorami-

cally integrating a cross-spatial view of St. Louis within the perspective of a

unified metropolitan area, as our unit of analysis, especially relative to the

phenomenon of African immigrants within its Metro-area. Such approach

is consistent with certain trends within American urban studies that prefer-

ences a metro-regional perspective favoring the unification of the inner city

with their surrounding inner and outer suburban territories into a concen-

tric analytic field.

However, in spite of this pro-regional approach, the core of African

immigrants and other immigrants within the region are located more within

the regional center of St. Louis City and it immediate suburbs in St. Louis

County. Though, St. Louis might not be the first destination of many immi-

grants, some immigrants still desire the area for its affordability. African

immigrants are no exception to this trend. During the course of my par-

ticipation at the Jesus House of all Nations (RCCG) church and the United

African Presbyterian Church, I have met some Africans who had resided

within other metro-areas prior to relocating to St. Louis. Often the reason

they give relates to the affordability of the cost of living in St. Louis that is

low compared to the advantages the area offers.

One example is a Nigerian entrepreneur, Zukky, who first arrived in

the United States around 1980 to pursue high School and college education

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in California. Zukky, claims to possess three academic degrees including a

Master’s degree in Business Administration, and the others in Engineering.

He has been living in the St. Louis area since about 1990 having relocated

to St. Louis from California. A vivacious and effacing personally, Zukky

related his personal story, especially about his relocation to St. Louis. Spe-

cifically, he was enthused by the relative low cost of living here and the

business opportunities available within the St. Louis area.

During a trip to St. Louis, while browsing through a local area news-

paper he spotted an advertisement for a Laundry business that priced for

only about $160,000, which compared to his California experience seemed

as a give-away price and seemed more to him as a scam. Dazed, out of

curiosity he called the buyer to ascertain the veracity of the adverts’ claim.

Nostalgic shock made him drove to this advertised business site, and was

further surprised to observe a thriving business. Next, captivated by the

low housing rent rates, a stark contrast in comparison to California he

decided to relocate to St. Louis. Comparatively, at the time, the cost of a

one bedroom apartment in St. Louis ranged between $395–480, whereas

the cheapest in California cost anywhere from $1,000 and above.

Given this realization, after returning to California he resigned from

his employment at the car rental company. Almost immediately, a month

afterwards, he headed for St. Louis to mine its potential opportunities.

Ironically, Zukky was returning to a city that played a leading role in shap-

ing the development of the United States’ western frontiers, which includes

California. Unlike, the migrants of that era, in a new era, Zukky was head-

ing in the opposite direction. For immigrants, like Zukky, St. Louis marks a

gateway city to the West, in another but valid sense. St. Louisans initiative

that helped to propel the success of Charles Lindberg’s flight had opened

wide the gateway to the West for many non-western immigrants. St. Louis,

too would continue to hold as a gateway to the prospective aspirations of

immigrants for success and survival during their peregrinations and stay. It

is therefore, no accidents of history that the arch which represents a com-

memorative monument to Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana purchase,

is located at the precise site where explorers and trappers took off on their

voyage to the western frontiers, and similarly that its architectural designer,

Eero Saarinen, was a Finnish immigrant to the United States.

St. Louis area used to be distinguished as been among the most segre-

gated Metro-areas in the United States. However, since the 1970s through

the 2000 census, the index measuring segregation has been consistently

noted to be declining.

The phenomenon of the new immigration seems

to offer positive salience for accessing the significance of such declines, as

well as helping toward to enrich the declining population of the City of St.

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Louis, especially its core areas, and also toward ensuring that demographic

growth within the area offers economic opportunities and outcomes in

areas such as housing, wages, and other services.

Certain regional (Metro-area) development efforts are also putting

the area back into economic relevance. Major capital development efforts,

like the Jefferson National Project referenced by its towering and glittering

arch architectural masterpiece, the Edward Center, the new Busch Cardinal

Baseball Stadium represents the renewed imageries of St. Louis as an epicen-

ter of urban tourism and a resurgent global business heartland.

Another

major tourist attraction in St. Louis, apart from the Arch is the exquisite

Missouri Botanical Gardens, with its different global plants and floral col-

lections. The Missouri Museum of Arts, Missouri History Museums, the

Old Missouri Supreme Court House, all resonates as tourist sites and cul-

tural resource centers. Other traditional tourist attractions in the area are

the Old Cathedral building by the Arch at the Riverfront, the Cathedral

Basilica, the Cahokia Mounds, among several other attractions in this area.

Business such as Boeings, the Edwards Investments, American Airlines, and

other big area businesses also positions her economically.

Educationally, the St. Louis area possesses highly renowned and qual-

itative tertiary and research institutions, such as the Washington Univer-

sity in St. Louis and the Jesuit’s St. Louis University, and several others.

The Washington University Medical School continues to be rated by the US

World and News as the Second best after the Harvard’s Medical School.

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Chart 3-2. Total Foreign-Born Population St. Louis-Il MSA Centennial Data-1960

Through 2000 (U.S Census Bureau, 2000)

76 African Minorities in the New World

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The Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Teaching Hospital of the Washington Uni-

versity Medical School, is also highly rated by the US World and News as

the seventh best medical center and research institutions nationally.

New American immigrants’ are filtering into St. Louis, including

Africans, changing its demographic compositions.

The different refu-

gee resettlement programs have brought in new immigrants from differ-

ent parts of the world into St. Louis, notably, Bosnians, from the Balkans

region, and from Africa, Somali, Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, and the Nige-

rian Ogoni refugees due to different simmering political crises in the 1990s.

The Bosnians refugees have shown resilience in their business acumen and

determination to achieve the American dream.

Next to the Bosnians, are

the Somali who were resettled here in some significant numbers, since the

outbreak and disintegration of the Somali nation beginning from the early

1990s.

Among the Somali group resettled here are some Bantu Somali, who

were granted political asylum and refugee status following the war and

their history of hitherto state discrimination. The first of this group were

airlifted to the United States on humanitarian grounds.

A significant num-

ber of these Bantu Somali were resettled in the St. Louis area, especially in

South St. Louis, due to the efforts of the International Institutes of Met-

ropolitan St. Louis; an organization nationally recognized for its excellent

refugee resettlement programs. These two groups formed the highest num-

bers of refugees to the area. The refugees of the 1990s were Sierra Leoneans

fleeing from the onslaught of a brutal civil war, and the Ogoni refugees

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Chart 3-3. Spatial Distribution of African Immigrants (Foreign-Born) St. Louis-Il

MSA (US Census Bureau 2000)

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 77

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from Nigeria, who fled from despotic persecution under the military dic-

tatorship of General Sani Abacha following the 1995 “judicial murder”

of eight Ogoni pro-environmental activists together with Ken Saro-Wiwa,

a writer and leader of the ecological movement: Movement for the Sur-

vival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). As a result, St. Louis was among the

hotbed of pro-democratic activism against the Nigerian Abacha military

dictatorship.

The New Immigrants into St. Louis are considered as an “invisible

population,” nonetheless these immigrants are considered to be creative

agents in shaping the area’s ethnic, religious, and social diversity. Further,

it seems that apart from the refugees that are resettled here as they come

directly from overseas, other immigrants come to St. Louis, after settling

in another urban area or region mainly in search of better educational and

greater career opportunities.

African immigrants to the St. Louis area

are considered to be attaining success and possess positive community

values.

RELIGION AND AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS’ CONSTRUCTION

OF SOCIAL IDENTITY IN AMERICA

Africans have been noted to possess a heightened consciousness of their

religiosity and its effects upon their existential situations and coping. There-

fore, many scholars of African religious have noted the central role of reli-

gion in shaping the African existential imagination and self-awareness. This

religious consciousness also defines the nature of African social relations,

identity, consciousness, and the ordering of their institutional paradigms.

This centrality of religion in framing social identity and spiritual conscious-

ness among most Africans, is embedded in Professor John Mbiti’s statement

that. “Africans are notoriously religious.”

This religiosity is also given a

vent and allowed to nourish within the American social ambient that has

been noted as equally religious, in spite of the separation of Church and

State, a fact that Alexis De Tocqueville notes as significant for this trait of

American religiosity.

This environment is also one that is plural allowing

for freedom of diverse religious and spiritual forms of expressions.

AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS RELIGION AND

THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY

Social identity is defined through social distinctions that construct existen-

tial schemes of differentiations.

Further more, such modality of differenti-

ation resolves around the self who engaging in reflexive monitoring focally

78 African Minorities in the New World

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become an object that can categorize, classify, and compare itself against

other social categories and relational idioms. Therefore, social identity for-

mation is contained within the process of nominalization of reality, and it is

fundamentally embedded within this process of self-categorization or iden-

tification emerges the formation of identity. Therefore, “having a particular

social identity means being at one with a certain group, being like others in

the group, and seeing things from the group’s perspective.”

Hence, the group of our principal concern reflects the foreign-born

Africans sharing a common experience of post-slavery immigration, espe-

cially the post-1965 cohort of the African “new” immigration streams who

validates certain forms of identifiable religiosity, faith orientations and

varying expressive spiritualities, especially those that privilege religion as a

relevant tool in defining their sense of self, framing, and transformation of

their unique social identities within the United States. Thus, while formally,

they are often absorbed into the category of African-American, with whom

they share some common genetic and historical traits of aborigine they are

still culturally differentiated as a result of the diverse and ambivalent his-

torical trajectories that condition their experiences.

Sometimes this had

led to the development of palpable ambivalence and tenuous relationship

between both groups.

Today, some Africans are casting away the mimetic label of “African-

American,” as a term of distinction based upon their differential values.

Some African-Americans consider the term “African” within their racial or

ethnic representation as offensive, demarcating themselves from Africa.

Further, it is not all African immigrants that are blacks, since there are white

and Asian Africans mainly from some Eastern and Southern African coun-

tries, due to the colonial and imperial histories that engendered the estab-

lishment of European and Asian settlements in different countries of these

regions. There are also people of Arab heritage who are Africans mainly

from countries of North Africa, many of which do not subscribe nor define

themselves racially as blacks. Therefore, while the basic idea since to cor-

relates especially sub-Saharan Africans with the racial notion of blackness,

as a matter of fact, the term “African” while vehemently denoting the racial

typology of blackness, actually transcends the idiom of blackness, and is

therefore racially inclusive. In fact, it is noted that among all the African

immigrants to the United States, Whites Africans constitute a majority of

about 46 per cent in contrast to the 41 per cent for blacks.

However, it is not certain whether this figure is accurate or skewed,

in delineating the level of its racial inclusiveness. What the term “white”

versus “black” remains unclear. It is questionable what layers constitutes

the reality of African whiteness, since in some circles North Africans with

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a fairer skin are integrated under the racial term of white, in figures that

attempts bifurcating the continents into bi-racial paradigms that are often

contestable. Further, like the North Africans, especially those of Arab ori-

gin considered as whites, Asians from such countries as Kenya, Uganda,

South Africa who like whites were descendants of immigrant are also at

times incorporated into the referential frame that designates racial white-

ness. There is also the case of the settler descendants of white colonialists

originating in Eastern and Southern Africa. Hence, it is not also clear what

specifically constitutes whiteness and blackness among African immigrants

to the United States.

Thus, the renowned African immigrant scholar, Professor Ali A. Maz-

rui in attempting to distinguish between the earlier enslaved Black Diaspora

as the “Diaspora of Enslavement” and the voluntary African immigrants to

the West as “Diaspora of Colonialism” proffered a distinctive neologism

of casting members of the later “Diaspora of Colonialism” as “American-

Africans” in contrast to their confreres of the “Diaspora of Enslavement”

who have retained the defining designation of “African-American.” In real-

ity, as Mazrui, himself delineated even such dichotomized labels intended to

achieve bifurcations are fraught with analytical inconsistencies and existen-

tial problems. In spite of these differing approaches in defining the African

immigrants within the American experience, it is instructive to note that the

reality of the immigration space and context constitutes the framework that

thrust the universalistic referent of “Africa” and “African” as a necessary

identity upon the African immigrants,

and also in most cases the term of

“blackness.”

In spite of the fervent attempt to cast a differing label still leaves the

issue unresolved as it pertained to the in-between identity of the second gen-

eration American-born offspring of African immigrants’ parentage, whose

birthright grants them American citizenship, while also simultaneously

dually acquiring the citizenship of such countries like Nigeria or Ghana,

given the benefits conferred upon them as a result of their African immi-

grants’ parentage and national affinities.

Nonetheless, given the recent

origins of the contemporary African immigrants to America, they indulge

in frantic efforts to differentiate themselves, by creating their own cultural

arenas.

Within this arena they transpose and reproduce certain of their cul-

tural habitus, in the cogent attempts to ascribe their social and cultural dif-

ferences from the native-born, whether whites or blacks. Among the many

ways this is achieved is through the innovative religious trajectories that

they implant from their homelands, recreate or totally invent within their

new adopted immigrant destinations. It is within the salience in which

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religion functions at the private level of specific cultivation and sustenance

of certain forms of spiritualities and practices, and at the public level of

religious and rituals practices that we focus our attention, attempting to

delineate the nature of such processes and their transformations.

As Africans journey and diffuses outside of their aboriginal continent,

mainly as a result of immigration, either forced or voluntary, they carry

with them their religious heritages and spiritualities, including rituals, sym-

bols, and other material accoutrements transmitting these, and elongating

these historically and spatially. Past African immigrants, in spite of the cir-

cumstances of their dislocations, have stamped the Americas and Carib-

bean with different configurations and hybrid forms of religious identities

and imaginations with historic and ritual roots in Africa. In Brazil, Cuba,

Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Southern United States (New Orleans Voodoo

and South Carolina Gullah, Yoruba Villages in Oyotunji, South Carolina

and South Florida), and other spaces in the Caribbean and America.

addition to purely religious purposes contemporary African immigrants

also utilize the religious arena toward engaging in transnational politics

and identity formation in American society.

African Immigrants also engender immigrant Churches in different

Western metropolises. The salience of African immigrants’ churches in

the West, especially in Europe has been given prominent attentions. Thus,

Aladura Churches, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), the

Matthew Ashimolowo’s founded and led, Kingsway International Church

in London, Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches in the Netherlands, and other

religious entities are prominently noted as providing a significant niche and

space of cultural and faith expressions to African immigrants. Further, these

religious establishments like the London-based Kingsway International are

tremendously shaping the religious ambience of their urban cline, providing

relevant spiritual and social services, thus enormously affirming the spiri-

tual identity, existential relevance, and social renown.

Social science research and observations indicate the centrality of reli-

gion within the African consciousness, especially as it helps as a signifi-

cant aspect of their existences and source of adjustment and coping within

American societies.

Further, religion also holds a vital place within the

social and self-consciousness of Americans as it constructs social identity

and community.

Therefore, the American social space offers African immi-

grants the optimal space and advantage for expressing their religious faith

and spirituality while resident here. Additionally, the democratic heritage

expressed in the notion of the separation of church and state also functions

to grant freedom toward the free exercise of different forms of religions

and spiritualities, and this has been noted to be at the source of its popular

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 81

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attraction, durable power and influence of religion in American society, (De

Tocqueville, 294–301).

The immigration processes can be enormously stressful, creating trau-

matic stressors due to rapid somatic and psychical changes experienced by

individuals. In fact, immigrants in America, including adolescents are noted

to experience bodily changes, becoming more obese within ten years of

immigration. The same prevalent obesity trend has been noted to be height-

ened among second-born children of immigrants, specifically those who

are native-born, than those in sending countries, especially among Hispan-

ics and Asian-Americans.

In spite of the variations between immigrant

groups such changes adversely impact negatively upon the self-perception

of most immigrants and offspring, especially within a society that values

bodily appearances, and specifically slim body type.

In fact, an analysis by the Federal Research Bank of St. Louis sug-

gests that good looks, often defined relatively cultural aesthetics that is sig-

nificantly racially predicated upon such notions as race and ethnicity has

been linked to better income. According to the examination of surveys by

Research Analyst, Kristie Engermann and economist, Michael Owyang cer-

tain stereotypes regarding employees such as being tall, slender, and attrac-

tive possess significant positive effect on income earnings.

Perceived thus,

such considerations can negatively affect the earning chances of many non-

whites and those persons that fall outside the stereotypical parameters that

define such bodily aesthetics. Given that the body type of many Africans do

not often fit into such stereotypical categories and favored aesthetics

such

canons can potentially hamper and minimizes the employment changes and

high earning potentials of many African immigrants, disadvantageously

deprived and eclipsed in competing fairly within the labor markets.

Such situation further exacerbates the conditions of African immi-

grants within the labor market. Black African immigrants are observed as

disadvantaged in terms of earning returns in comparison to their high level

of education attainment within the United States. Further in comparison

with their black African-Americans and Caribbean immigrants’ peers they

earn the least when controlled for level of educational attainment.

Pre-

vious studies regarding income earnings also show that the within group

category relative to African immigrants show the disadvantageous income

earning handicap of black-African immigrants, in comparison to their fel-

low white-African immigrants, even when controlled relative to same gen-

der membership.

This earning disparity also reveals a further gulf within this in-group’s

level of educational attainment. Kollehon and Eule, argues that whites,

especially South African immigrants are more likely to have higher and

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comparably American favored educational attainments than their continen-

tal black immigrant peers. This viewpoint attempts to saliently locate the

structuring predictors for such disparity as a factor of racial and ethnicity

variables, (Kollehon and Eule, 1163–1190). Therefore, against such back-

drops the further introduction of stereotypical taxonomic differences rela-

tive to body-types and differences is likely to negatively impact on African

immigrants, whose body types differs essentially from the preferred nor-

mative standards of bodily aesthetics from the socially constructed Ameri-

can criteria, specifically those privileged by white and corporate America.

Such stressors, especially those provoked by racism and discrimination can

negatively affect the health and overall wellbeing of African immigrants,

described as having the best health in a self-rated study measuring Black

and white health disparity.

Powerlessness has been inextricably tied to the black experience, so

much that “the closer one is to Africa, the more like one would be victim

of racism.”

Thus, racial discrimination functions to attribute social defi-

ciency to African immigrants on many levels, among which is their foreign

accents and presumed lower English language skills, which has been used

to affects their earnings and promotions,

contributing to their market

value diminishment and capable to crassly affect their physical and men-

tal health statuses. Their emotional wellbeing can be seriously endangered

especially given their ardent efforts and determination to succeed within the

labor place. As a result, many African immigrants appeal and subscribe to

religion and various forms of spiritualities toward satisfying and nurturing

their emotional, spiritual, and social wellbeing in the midst of such existen-

tial challenges.

Within such contexts, appeal to spirituality and higher transcenden-

tal powers prescribed by religion can become an attractive option. Reli-

gious entities and spiritual values can become a helpful resource in dealing

with stress issues. It can also offer a convenient milieu where immigrants

can enhance their self-identity, achieve feeling of self-worth, engender com-

munity, and offer positive space for the affirmation of cultural identities

and expressions that are meaningfully congruent with immigrants’ social

identities and sense of selves. Religious arena can also provide enriched

ways toward which immigrants form and expand their social networks in

improving their wellbeing qualitatively. Religious spaces, especially Chris-

tian churches, have been observed to be helpful in this sense among Samoan

immigrants in urban California.

A study of Samoan immigrants in San Francisco reveals the mode of

such stresses and its effects on healthcare.

In fact, among African immi-

grants, it has been noted that relatively young Nigerian immigrants between

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the ages of 40 and 55 are dying, mainly due to factors of stress, (Ndubuike,

91). These processes of transplantations of religious consciousness and ritu-

als helps to bridge the dynamics of hiatus dislocating, that contiguously

shreds the linearity of their spatial and historical experiences. Therefore,

they attempt to recreate the broken linearity of their existential, spatial,

and temporal trajectories toward creative re-creation of new modalities of

survival. Engaged in the processes that engenders the realignment of their

hiatus conditions, contemporary African immigrants, like their past and

forcefully enslaved forebears in the Americans, attempt toward refram-

ing the broken sheds of their past historicity and existential experiences

through the processes of revitalization and disjointed copulation of the past

orders and novel formations into certain cognitive and coping trajectories.

Such creative attempts critically credence their intelligent and perforce

constructive ways of shaping identities, toward ensuring social integrations

into their new ecological and social niches. Thus, the diverse modalities

they engage and institutions that they found become positive channels for

coping, navigating, and negotiating the parameters of their novel territorial

and past mnemonic spaces. These dynamics act to reproduce and reconfig-

ure old and new formations. It also functions toward as a coalescing tool

nurturing the transformation of such formations into hybridized transla-

tions and idioms of transcendental intersections between the purely spiri-

tual and the purely material spheres of the existential order. In this mode,

therefore, African immigrants’ religious communities, especially institu-

tions, constitute an arena of spiritual exchange, spatial interstices as the

crossroad between the purely divine and the mundane human affairs of the

African immigrants.

In this manner, African immigrants’ religious spaces, are arena of

meta-economic exchanges and form a unique ecology, where within the

cybernetic exchange between the spiritual and material, certain resolute

outcomes are produced. Therefore, essentially like all religions, the Afri-

can immigrants’ religious spaces are embedded within the reciprocity of

social exchanges and spiritual productions help individuals to maintain

certain equilibrium within the recurrent reproductive and sometimes

unstable features of the social order. African immigrants’ religious forma-

tions are to a certain level resilient constituted as positive structures and

systems that perforce the creation of social homeostasis within the social

order that affects their adherents. Therefore, African immigrants’ reli-

gious establishment attempt to maintain close links with their members,

and cogently partaking in the diurnally stressful anxieties, vicissitudes, and

even celebratory joys of in the lives of their members. It is in this way that

the sermons and rituals performed by many of such establishment become

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relevant, not just as abstract theological constructs, but texts of existential

meaning. Thus, sermons become more than sermons for its own sake but

as ethical constructs and sources of spiritual encouragements and existen-

tial blueprints.

The significant role of religion relative to the adjustment processes of

immigrants are rife in the academic literatures dealing with both the older

and newer immigration waves to America.

100

Robert Anthony Orsi’s study

of the Madonna on 115th Street among Harlem’s New York Italians reflects

the mode in which immigrants’ religious and ritual constructs continue to

consolidate and reinforce group identity and bestow a source of deep per-

sonal and community devotional spirituality. Though Orsi’s Madonna of

115th Street buttress ritual idioms that though derived from earlier immi-

grants’ continually serve toward crystallizing the relevant social and ethnic

identities of the contemporary Italian-American within Harlem New York,

even long after most of the transformation of the immigrants’ identity and

population through such means as changed legal status as settlers and citi-

zens, and even death.

101

The Senegalese transplantation and transformation of the Murid Mos-

lems in New York, also images the dynamics within which African immi-

grants also stamp their cultural identity upon their ecological cline. Apart

from the Murid Moslems, different Christian churches, sects, and congre-

gations initiated, administered, and controlled by African immigrants are

agents of identity shaping social dynamics. Other African immigrants are

also agents of the perpetuation of African traditional religions in the United

States. These actors help toward interpreting certain religious idioms pres-

ent, but vaguely understood by the American and New World adherents.

They also learn new trajectories for their own spiritual enrichment. In fact,

among the Yoruba derived religions of the New World, there is a transna-

tional network between the American adherents and the aboriginal sources

in West Africa, in which African immigrants play major roles.

Controlling for variable of religion constitutes a veritable way of

evaluating the modes of the construction of social identity among Afri-

can immigrants, and specifically those in St. Louis. Therefore, religion is

hypothesized as a significant variable within the referential dynamics that

shapes the production of social identity among immigrant populations in

general, and specifically within American urban domains. Different events

and stresses help to reinforce the place and role of religions and spirituality

in the lives of African immigrants in the United States. African immigrants

are noted to experience heightened stress level as a result of the salience

of racism, in either overt or subtle forms, especially in their workplaces.

Further, black African immigrants experience lots of stress raising their

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 85

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children within the inherent cultural divide they found themselves, given

the sometimes contradictory demands placed upon them by the differing

cultural value-orientations for raising children as defined by the canonical

requirements of their dual cultural referents, namely their aboriginal Afri-

can cultural norms and those cultural requirements sanctioned by American

society. Such dynamics equally reflects transformations and the interplay

between agency, structures, social systems, and culture.

102

The issue of children rearing sometimes necessitates subscription for

new cultural prescriptions and requirements for success. Therefore, most

African immigrants upon having children move from the inner city to sub-

urbs, especially in search of crime free environment and good schools, with

zero-tolerance for crimes. Such processes also introduce its stressors.

103

Some African immigrants as a result make enormous sacrifices, and at

times reach breaking points, stressed financially and mentally, as they are

pressured to engage in longer work hours and additional jobs, in making

ends meet.

Religion and various spiritual practices offer succor and solace in the

face of such circumstances. Religious arena organizes adherents as a com-

munity of faith, but also of persons who share their deepest issues with

their ministers and fellow adherents. Thus, within these spaces adherents

networking spaces where African immigrants parents share information on

parentage, seek spiritual and pastoral counseling from their spiritual and

religious leaders, and also offer opportunities such as formal and informal

support groups. Equally, the internalization of values and complexities

of social relationships within a complex society also led to high rates of

divorces among some African immigrants leaving many financially, ethi-

cally, spiritually, and emotionally depleted, broken, and devastated, (Ndu-

buike, 93).

Many at such times find it easier to communicate with their religious

ministers, especially those who understand their physical and cultural pre-

dicaments. As Handlin notes of the Irish and German immigrants of the

19th centuries to America, immigrant religious establishments offers succor

in the midst of debilitating stress and anxiety, (Handlin, 105–06; Nwadiora,

58–71). African immigrants have documented their identity struggles and

shock following immigration. In one study of professional African immi-

grant beneficiaries of the Diversity Visa Lottery resident post-immigration

in the United States for about two year poignantly indicated their frustra-

tion, despair, anxiety, and difficulties, primarily as a result of the mismatch

between their pre-immigration expectations and the experience of their

lived existential realities.

104

Such experiences heighten the religious con-

sciousness among African immigrants.

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Further, the arid welcome and maltreatments melted to African

immigrants, by both officials and lay persons in such institutions espe-

cially referenced along discriminations and attitudes often interpreted as

underpinned by racism within American mainstream denominations of

their pre-immigration affiliation in their aboriginal homelands dislocate

and disenchant many sadly dislodging them and often leading to severance

of faith ties. Such persons through questing for meaningful religious com-

munities and spaces capable of affirming their humanity and sanctioning

their unique personhood, as well as validating their cultural heritages and

offering avenues for nurturing their spiritual faith seek more familiar faith

grounds often populated by people of their own kind, defined mainly either

by race, continental or national criteria. Many African immigrants feel that

such arena allow for more somatic and spiritual forms of self-expressions,

freedom, and emotional solace. Within such ambience African immigrant’s

religious institutions, denominations, or congregations in turn, dialectically

attempt to foster among their members the sense of community and milieu

for self-affirmation.

Further, America privileges the Anglo-culture as its dominant cultural

paradigm. Within such assignment of signification, American society privi-

leges racism and discriminations. Urban America continues to reflect the

different realities of years of racial and ethnic discrimination, victimiza-

tion, and marginalization of non-whites through direct and subtle means,

at both the private, public, and systemic levels. These diverse forms of sub-

jugation and human denigration, based upon racial profiling attempt to

achieve permanent emotional and personality damages. African immigrants

within these circumstances draw upon all kind of resources that included

their spirituality and religious practices, placing their hope and faith in

God. Foreign-born African Americans have notably outlined the interplay-

ing impact of American racism upon their personal and professionals.

105

AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS RELIGIOUS VALUES,

PRACTICES, AND INSTITUTIONAL PARADIGMS

African immigrants to America have been noted to appropriate religious

idioms, values, and institutions in framing their adaptation, coping, and

integration within urban America, (Kamya, 154–65). African immigrants

have constituted toward the sustenance of different forms of religious

spiritualities and established institutions in the West. Among Christians,

Africans like the three African Popes, Tertullian, Origen, Clement of Alex-

andria, and St. Augustine of Hippo played significant roles and underlined

the texture of early Western Christianity. However, they belonged mainly

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to the citizenship consciousness that defines them as Romans. In any case,

they are Africans.

Many African immigrants who privilege the religious idiom in fur-

thering spirituality and building institutions follow the path set by many

African forebears of the Christian faith like Sts. Clement of Alexandria,

Augustine, St. Cyprian, and many other Africans who attested to the vital-

ity of the faith in its earlier eras. In this context it is significant that at least

three African Popes in the Roman Catholic Church originated from North

African territories within the delineations of the Roman Empire. Specifi-

cally Abbot Hadrian, an African monk from the area of modern Sudan

who left his African Christian Community as a monk in the West. Living

first in Italy, he was appointed as the Bishop of the Church in England,

but declined. However, he recommended instead his student and colleague,

Theodore as Bishop in his place, merely assisting him by committing himself

toward the active work of evangelization and vivification of the primitive

form of English Christianity, task that made him to found the Catechetical

School which became the driving force in crystallizing the growth of Eng-

lish Christianity.

106

In contemporary times, African religious institutions and spiritual enti-

ties are emerging within the globalizing flow of Africans into other polities

outside of the continent, and specifically to the West. The salience of Afri-

can immigrants’ patronized or established institutions have been observed

among African immigrants Christians belonging to Pentecostal and immi-

grant initiated Churches in Germany, Netherland, and Israel.

107

Yoruba

immigrants in London have founded African Indigenous and newer Pente-

costal or Interdenominational Churches, including Islamic prayer centers,

(Oyetade, 77–80). The Senegalese in New York perpetuated their uniquely

Islamic and African Murid tradition by organizing a Mosque and center

there.

108

Social and religious rituals are appropriated by African immi-

grants in defining their social identity in America. Thus Ghanaian-African

immigrants in the United States utilize the Asante Kingship or Chieftaincy

enthronement rituals as idioms of social identity definition that constitutes

them both as Ghanaians and Americans.

African Immigrants are also the sources of immigrant Churches in dif-

ferent Western cities. The salience of African immigrants’ churches in the

West, especially in Europe has been given prominent attentions. Thus, Ala-

dura Churches, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), the Kings-

way International Church in London, Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches in

the Netherlands, and other religious entities prominently provide signifi-

cant niches and spaces for validating cultural identity and expressing faith

among African immigrants. Further, these religious establishments like the

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London-based Kingsway International are tremendously shaping the reli-

gious ambience of the urban spaces they occupy, providing relevant spiri-

tual and social services, thus enormously affirming their existential renown

and social influences

109

Social science research and observations indicate

the centrality of religion within the African consciousness, especially as it

helps as a significant aspect of their existences and source of adjustment

and coping within American societies, (Kamya, 154–65; Ogbaa; Ndubuike,

94–95).

Long before the post-1965 immigration stream, African immigrants

to the United States were actively associated with the pursuit of religious

studies, teaching, and pastoral ministry. This was the case of Orishatukeh

Faduma, whose rescued parents off a slave boat by the British Naval boats

were taken to British Guyana, where he was born William J. Davis. How-

ever, he returned at an early age to Sierra Leone, studied there and in Lon-

don, and later returned to Sierra Leone. From here he departed for the

United States in 1890 traveling first to Philadelphia to the headquarters

of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, went on to teach at Kitrell

Normal Institute, an AME seminary in North Carolina.

Orishatukeh later went to the Yale Divinity School in 1891 where he

obtained his Bachelors of Divinity (B.D) in 1894, and thereafter continued

his studies in Philosophy of Religion. He was ordained a Congregational

minister on May 9th, 1895. He worked in the Southern United States and

with the American Missionary Association he promoted African educa-

tion. Briefly he returned to Africa, departing for America on September 19,

1923, becoming a dean of the Virginia Theological Seminary, and he died

in High Point, North Carolina on January 25, 1946.

110

James Kwegyir Aggrey came to study in the United States in 1898

after been inspired by religious ministers and ideals, especially those mani-

fested through the agency of colonial European missionaries and even Afri-

can-American religious authorities, such as Bishop John Bryan Small of

the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ). The idea was that Aggrey

would return to consolidate the AMEZ in Ghana. However, Aggrey’s held

a contrary vision. Upon his graduation, he decided to remain in America,

where he married an African-American woman and begun teaching at

Livingstone College while equally engage din ministry to AMEZ African

American congregants in North Carolina to the consternation of Bishop

John Bryan Small whose initial ideas it was to send him to study in the

United States, under the auspices of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion

(AMEZ).

111

Azikiwe utilized religious colleges for his learning, study-

ing theology and at times preached in some African-American Churches.

Nkrumah did the same. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Kwameh Nkrumah utilized

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religion in various way toward enhancing their ability to cope and adapt in

America.

112

The contemporary post-1965 immigrants draw significantly upon reli-

gious idioms and rituals in constructing their immigration processes, from

pre-immigration decision making to their eventual successful settlements.

Rituals such as prayers are drawn upon by immigrants, including Africans,

in ensuring the success of their immigration process. Religious establish-

ments and their affiliates involved within such dynamics are also equally

frequented by these immigrants as significant elements in the constructing

of their lives and structural adaptation within their new host nations.

113

Rituals serve to richly help them cope with existential stress and to ensure

the building of social identity and community within their new host societ-

ies, and in some cases their novel homeland. In this way, Ghanaian immi-

grants in New England find the enthronement rituals of a new Ashantene,

performed every four years, significant in establishing and buttressing their

cultural and religious identity. This ritual helps to reinforce their Asante

identity and establish continuity, in spite of the geospatial dissonance that

attempts to relativize their cultural identity as Asante and Ghanaians. Such

linkages while engaged as a cultural referential of linearity, in spite of spa-

tial dissonance, affirms the continuity of culture within discrete transna-

tional spaces.

Further, it buttresses the significance of how these linkages with their

cultural pasts revivifies their lives within the scheme of cultural continuity

and perpetuation. Additionally, within this same ritual realm and practice

such activities also reveal the discontinuity evident within their ancestral

consciousness and spatial order, as they reinvent new cultural idioms dif-

fering from the Ghanaian aboriginal as defined by the conditions of their

varying spatial and configurative contexts.

114

As Obeng depict, African

immigrants are both retainers and creative inventors of novel religious

forms and ritual praxes by hermeneutically assigning new significations

to their rituals and practices. In processing their existential purviews and

social conditions through the mediation of ritual but exegetically modu-

lated through symbolic re-readings and reformulations of older cultural

and ritual referents engenders new cultural texts, that are authentic within

the heuristic consciousness of certain generations, especially second genera-

tions and their descents, within the diasporic community.

By reshaping rituals and religious practices in this way, the new cul-

tural variants introduced by the contingencies of immigrant social reali-

ties can radically and substantially differentiate these from their aboriginal

forms.

115

At times such dynamics become the source of heightened con-

flicts and even schisms, (Bodnar, 144). On the one hand, through such

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mediations they maintain continuity with their cultural past, distinguishing

themselves from their new immigrant existential ambience, while equally

assertively differentiating and contrasting their novel modalities with those

of their aboriginal past, together with its existential pervading hold and

cultural significations. Through such innovative prescriptions novel sym-

bols and signs emerge that equally reframes the social praxis and spatial

context of social relations modifying the structural configurations of previ-

ous cultural markers and significations that were maintained as existential

frames of reference. In publicly projecting the discrete fields of religious

and social rituals, African immigrants are aided, in ongoing and concurrent

ways, with constructing multiple sets of valuable social and cultural identi-

ties necessary for their existential convenience.

Bifocal referencing of varying cultural idioms offers African immi-

grants the unique opportunities to selectively adopt and distill which

expressive forms of cultural identities to privilege in constructing their iden-

tities, within the markets of competing cultural ideologies and idiosyncratic

values. Religious practices and rituals offer cogent resources and provide

means of distinctive exchange for creating cultural distinctions. While ritu-

als embody these distinctions as it marks the historical realities and cultural

anomie faced by the immigrants, it serves as a tool of resolution by making

the two cultural realities co-present within the perceptive mirror that the

immigrants view themselves.

The profound meaning of rituals such as the Ghanaian chieftaincy

enthronement rituals transcend the immediate purview where it is per-

formed resiliently functioning within the private and other public spaces

that allows Ghanaians, like other African immigrants, to attempt to suture

the broken linearity of their cultural pathways. Hiatus agency as fractured

consciousness regarding one’s historical and existential conditions—as

self and group—provokes a consciousness that engenders attempts at self-

rediscovery that aspires to realign the broken linearity caused by temporal

dissonance and historical hiatus.

116

Therefore, controlling for variable of religion constitutes a veritable

way of evaluating the modes of the construction of social identity among

African immigrants, and specifically those in St. Louis. Therefore, religion

is hypothesized as a significant variable within the referential dynamics that

shapes the production of social identity among immigrant populations in

general, and specifically within American urban domains. Different events

and stresses help to reinforce the place and role of religions and spirituality

in the lives of African immigrants in the United States. African immigrants

are noted to experience heightened stress level as a result of the salience of

racism, in either overt or subtle forms, especially in their workplaces.

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 91

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Further, black African immigrants experience lots of stress raising their

children, as a result of differing value orientations between their aboriginal

cultural references and the cultural markers evident within American soci-

ety for raising children. The issue of children rearing also necessitates new

cultural prescriptions and requirements for success. Therefore, most Afri-

can immigrants upon having children move from the inner city to suburbs,

especially in search of crime free environment and good schools, with zero-

tolerance for crimes. Such processes also introduce its stressors.

Some African immigrants as a result make enormous sacrifices, and

at times reach breaking points, stressed financially and mentally, as they

are pressured to engage in longer work hours and additional jobs toward

making ends meet. Religion and various spiritual practices offer succor and

solace in the face of such circumstances. Religious arena organizes adher-

ents as a community of faith, but also of persons who share their deepest

issues with their ministers and fellow adherents. Thus, within these spaces

adherents networking spaces where African immigrants parents share

information on parentage, seek spiritual and pastoral counseling from their

spiritual and religious leaders, and also offer opportunities such as formal

and informal support groups.

Equally, the internalization of values and complexities of social rela-

tionships within a complex society also led to high rates of divorces among

some African immigrants leaving many financially, ethically, spiritually,

and emotionally depleted, broken, and devastated, (Ndubuike, 93; Nwa-

diora, 1996). Many at such times find it easier to communicate with their

religious ministers, especially those who understand their physical and cul-

tural predicaments. As Handlin notes of the 19th century Irish and German

immigrants to America, the contemporary African immigrants’ religious

purviews and establishments offer succor in the face of debilitating stress

and anxiety, (Handlin, 1973; Nwadiora, 1995).

African immigrants’ experiences of shock, anxiety, and struggles

with constructing identities in the immediate post-immigration period can

be intense. Often, this constitutes the features of discussions among and

between African immigrants, their relatives, and friends. Phone-talks, emails,

and surface letter writing transmit these feelings expressively. One study

regarding the post-immigration experiences of professional African immi-

grants who had been beneficiaries of the Diversity Lottery Visa and resident

in the United States for at least two years, poignantly revealed their initial

level of diurnal frustration, despair, anxiety, and difficulties in the immedi-

ate post-immigration period. Basically, the intensity between mismatching

pre-immigration expectations and the lived realities of American diurnal liv-

ing constituted a significant factor relating to such highly felt emotions.

117

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These kinds of experiences give vent to heightened religious sensitivi-

ties among African immigrants. Furthermore, African immigrants are often

the subject of unwelcoming attitude and despise, mainly as a result of the

preeminent realities of racism in their new environments. Talks about mal-

treatments and condescending behaviors directed at African immigrants

both within private and public space, either overt or covert are also the sub-

ject of discussions among African immigrants. The realities of racism often

affect and define the world of African immigrants’ experiences, especially

since majority are blacks, and are easily discernible by their dark skin color

and readily differentiated more by their linguistic accents. Racism and dis-

criminations are sometimes unfortunately experienced within the religious

milieu, especially those shared by African black immigrants with whites, in

mainstream religious institutions. Given that most Africans are affiliated

with such religious entities back in their aboriginal homelands, the feelings

of rejection and condescending patronizations of cause intense pain and

crises that often generate disenchantment and dislocation.

This has led quite a good numbers of African immigrants to aban-

don these denominations in search of new ambiences that would meet their

quests for existential meaningful and a fulfilling religious communities and

spaces affirming of their humanity; in sanctioning their personhood, vali-

dating their cultural heritages, and nurturing their spirituality and faith.

Often times, such experiences drive African immigrants to religious spaces

where they would meet with other Africans in finding meaning, sharing

their unique and familiar experiences, worship, and experience solace

within an in-group milieu. Therefore, African immigrants seek out reli-

gious institutions, denominations, or congregations that foster their sense

of community, validate their social identity, and affirm their sense of selves,

especially those either founded or populated by other African immigrants,

or people of similar backgrounds.

Further, America privileges the Anglo culture as its dominant cultural

paradigm. Within such assignment of signification, American society privi-

leges racism and discriminations. Urban America continues to reflect the

different realities of years of racial and ethnic discrimination, victimiza-

tion, and marginalization of non-whites through direct and subtle means,

at both the private, public, and systemic levels. These diverse derisive forms

of subjugation and human denigration, based upon racial profiling dis-

missively cause permanent emotional pain and crises that can damage a

positive sense of self. African immigrants at various levels of society have

documented experiences of demeaning racism and destabilizing discrimina-

tions that has left trails of emotional scarifications, (Obiakor and Grant,

2000).

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 93

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CONCLUSION

African immigrants draw upon all vast arrays of resources, including their

spirituality and religious traditions and practices, as repertoires from which

they draw strength and hope, as they place access this arena nurtured and

support by their faith in either a divine entity or transcendental inner force.

Through rituals, African immigrants are enabled in expressing themselves

and creatively formatting spaces that can fortify their existential efforts with

meaning, and offer cogent hope. Also, these religious spaces, apart from

their primary roles of fostering certain forms of spiritualities also provide

communities for sharing and mutual support. In this way, African immi-

grants residing across America, and specifically St. Louis, resiliently through

their social and spiritual agencies create and aspires for viable institutions,

idioms, and rituals, as tools and resources that suit their existential needs

in offering fulfillment and meaning. In seeking relieve they also relive and

reenact the different structural dimensions of their diurnal existence. Fur-

ther, while in some respects, African immigrants’ religious institutions can

be accused of minimizing acculturation and full assimilation into American,

as vestige of religious ethnic enclaves, it must be buttressed that African

immigrants diurnal interactions occurs not in such spaces alone, nor in a

religious and spiritual vacuum, that mitigates against integration and inter-

penetrations into the different segments of American lives. St. Louis African

immigrants help us to visualize how African immigrants actually live out

their religious and spiritual trajectories meaningfully and expressively.

NOTES

1. David Killingray (ed.), Africans in Britain, (England: Frank Cass, 1994);

Folarin Shyllon, “Blacks in Britain: A Historical and Analytical Overview,”

in Joseph Harris (ed.), Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, (Wash-

ington, D.C: Howard University Press, 1993), 223–248; J.L. Keith, “Afri-

can Students in Great Britain,” African Affairs [London] 45 no. 17 (1946):

65–72; Michael Banton, “Recent Migration from West Africa and the West

Indies to the United Kingdom,” Population Studies 7 no. 1 (1953): 2–13;

Michael Banton, “The Social Groupings of Some West African Workers in

Britain,” Man 53 (1952): 130–133; Joseph E. Harris, “Africans in Asian

History,” in Joseph H. Harris (ed.), 1993, 325–385; H. St. J. B. Philby,

“African Contacts with Arabia,” Journal of the Royal African Society, 38

no. 150 (1939): 33–46; G. W. Roberts, “Immigration of Africans into the

British Caribbean,” Population Studies 7 no. 3 (1954): 235–262; Elisa Joy

White, “Forging African Diaspora Places in Dublin’s Retro-global Spaces:

Minority Making in a New Global City,” City, 6 no. 2 (2002); Julius Komo-

lafe, “Searching for Fortune: The Geographical Process of Nigerian Migra-

tion to Dublin, Ireland,” Irinkerindo: A Journal of African Migration, 1

94 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

(2002) available at www.africanmigration.com/j.komolafe_searching.html;

Edward A. Alpers, “Recollecting Africa: Diasporic Memory in the Indian

Ocean World,” African Studies Review 43 no. 1 (2000), 83–99; C. Aisha

Blackshire-Belay, “The African Diaspora in Europe: African Germans Speak

Out,” Journal of Black Studies, 31 no. 3 (2001): 264–287; Kesha Fikes and

Alaina Lemon, “African Presence in Former Soviet Spaces,”; Kesha Fikes

and Alaina Lemon, “African Presence in Former Soviet Spaces,” Annual

review of Anthropology 31 2002: 497–523.

2. Ivan Van Sertima, They Came Before Columbus, (New York: Random

House, 1976); Lerone Bennett, Jr. Before the Mayflower: A History of

Black America (New York: Penguin Books, 1984), 4; Jan Carew, Fulcrums

of Change, (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1988).

3. Jean Francois Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, (Lon-

don: Longman, 1993).

4. Enedelia J. Obregon, “A Stong and Sturdy Bridge; a Safe Passage of Faith

and Perseverance,” Catholic Spirit, Publication of the [Catholic] Austin

Diocese vol. 20, no. 1 (2002), January: 14–15.

5. Dalondo Moultrie, “Refugees Seeks New Life, Safe Haven,” Michigan

Chronicles vol. 62, no. 2 (1998), October 7–13: A1, A4.

6. Clyde Farnsworth, “Mom Fearful of Mutilation Given Asylum,” Houston

Chronicle, July 22, 1994.

7. “Nigerians Reject Oluloro’s Claims on Circumcision,” NAN [News Agency

of Nigeria] Nigeria News Update 3 no. 8 (April 5–13, 1994): 3.

8. William Glaberson, “Woman who Sought U.S. Asylum is arrested,” New

York Times, (Sept. 10, 2002): B3.

9. Margaret Peil, “Ghanaians Abroad,” African Affairs 94 no. 376 (1995):

345–67; April Gordon, “The New Diaspora-African Immigration to

the United States,” Journal of the Third World Studies 14 no. 1 (1998):

79–103; Baffour K. Takyi, “The Making of the Second Diaspora: On the

Recent African Community in the United States of America,” The Western

Journal of Black Studies 26 no. 1 (2002): 32–43; Paul Stoller, Money Has

No Smell: The Africanization of New York City, (Chicago, IL: University of

Chicago Press, 2001); Rachel R. Reynolds, “An African Brain Drain: Igbo

Decisions to Immigrate to the US,” Review of African Political Economy

92 (2002): 273–284; John Arthur, Invisible Sojourners:African Immigrant

Diaspora in the United States, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000).

10. Bayart, 1993; Mohammed A. El-Khawas, “Brain Drain: Putting Africa

Between a Rock and a Hard Place,” Mediterranean Quarterly 15 no. 4

(2004): 37–56.

11. Bernard I. Logan, “The Reverse Transfer of Technology from Sub-Saharan

African to the United States,” The Journal of Modern African Studies 25

no. 4 (1987): 597–612.

12. Sam Roberts, “More Africans Enters US than in Days of Slavery,” New

York Time, February 21, 2005.

13. Christian Joppke, Immigration and the Nation-State: The United States,

Germany, and Great Britain (Oxford, UK: University Press, 1999); Barbara

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 95

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Schmitter Heisler, “The Future of Immigrant Incorporation: Which Mod-

els? Which Concepts?” International Migration Review 26 no. 2 (1992):

634–35.

“U.S. House Passes Bill Abolishing DV Visa Lottery,” Associated Press, December

20, 2005, The fact that this visa category has helped immigration from

Africa, Asia, and Latin America, can be situated within the entire attempts

to stunt the idea of multiculturalism to which some Americans predomi-

nantly white scholars have castigated within the tenure of nativism, ideal

American culture, and even the privileging of the Anglo-culture in whiten-

ing cultural consciousness. Such facts it was that caused the invisibility and

inequality in the past. See Roy Simon Bryce-Laporte, “Black Immigrants:

The Experiences of Invisibility and Inequality,” Journal of Black Studies

3 no. 1 (1972): 29–56: Vilna Bashi, “Globalized Anti-Blackness: Transna-

tionalizing Western Immigration Law, Policy, and Practice,” Ethnic and

Racial Studies 27 no. 4 (2004): 584–606.

14. See John Hartigan, Jr., “Establishing the Fact of Whiteness,” American

Anthropologist 99 no. 3 (1997): 495–505.

15. David Dixon, “Characteristics of the African Born in the United States,”

Migration Informatin Source, January 1, 2006 (Migration Policy Institute)

available at http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/print.cfm? ID

= 366; Jill Wilson, “African-Born Residents of the United States,” Migra-

tion Information Source, August 1, 2003; available at http: www.migration

information.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=147; Elizabeth Grieco, “African

Foreign Born in the United States,” Migration Information Source, Septem-

ber 1, 2004; available at http://www.migrationinformation.org/US Focus/

display.cfm?ID+250.

16. Jim Lobe, “African-Born Residents: Fastest Growing U.S. Immigrant Popu-

lation,” The African Times, (Sept., 1999); 15–30, 9.

17. Roger Waldinger, “Immigration and Urban Change,” Annual Review of

Sociology 15 (1989): 211–12; Roger Waldinger (ed.), Strangers at the

Gates: New Immigration in Urban America (Berkeley, CA: University of

California, 2001), 1.

18. US Census Bureau, “Migration of Natives and Foreign Born: 1995–2000,”

Census 2000 Special Report, August, 2003 (US Census Bureau, U.S. Depart-

ment of Commerce [Economics and Statistics Administration]): 2–3.

19. “African Immigrants in the United States are the Nation’s Most Highly Edu-

cated Group,” The Journal of Black in Higher Education, 26 (1999/2000):

60–61; “African-Born U.S. Residents Have Achieved the Highest Level of

Educational Attainment,” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 4

(1994): 10–11.

20. Arun Peter Lobo, U.S. Diversity Visas are Attracting Africa’s Best and

Brightest,” Population Today, July, 2001, Population Reference Bureau

available at http://www.prb.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PT_articles/

July-Sep 01/U_S_Diversity_Visa.

21. Sara Rimer and Karen W. Arenson, “Top Colleges Take More Blacks, but

which Ones?” New York Times, June 24, 2004: A1.

96 African Minorities in the New World

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22. Augustine J. Kposowa. “Human Capital and the Performance of African

Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market,” The Western Journal of Black Stud-

ies 26 no. 3 (2002), 175–183.

23. James Rodriguez, “Inglewood’s ‘The Wood’ Displays Nigerian-American

Talent,” The African Times, Aug., 1999: 1–15: 3, 12.

24. Darlington Iheonunekwu Ihenacho Ndubuike, The Struggles, Challenges

and Triumph of the African Immigrants in America (Lewiston, New York:

The Edwin Mellen Press, 2002), 86–87.

25. Laolu Akande, “Nigerian-Born Businessman Dazzles Americans,” March

13, 2005; available at www.nigeriaworld.com (Url: http://odili.net/news/

source/2005/mar/13/4.html).

26. Kofi Akpraku, African Emigres in the United States, (New York: Praeger,

1991).

27. Laolu Akande, “Nigeria’s First Private Refinery Ready,” The Guardian

(Online Nigerian Newspaper), Sunday, February 22, 2004.

28. Anthony Ogbo,”Conspiracy! Africans in Medical Biz Face Hostility,

Oppression,” International Guardian, June: 1, 2003; 11.

29. “East Cleveland Mayor Convicted on 22 Counts,” Associated Press, Tues-

day, Aug. 31, 2004.

30. Babatunde Deinbo, ‘Mayor with Royal Roots Faces Criticism Chases

Goals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (Oct. 6, 2002): D1.

31. Anthony Ogbo, “Democrats Snub African Candidate, “ International

Guardian, Newspaper (A Journal of Africa and America) [Houston Vol. 4

No. 6] November: 1, 2002, 7.

32. Laolu Akande, “U.S. Republican Party Names Nigerian to Advisory Coun-

cil,” Tuesday Sept. 10, 2002; available at www.nigeriaworld.com; Laolu

Akande, “Nigerian-Born Businessman Dazzles Americans,” 2005 available

at www.nigeriaworld.com.

33. Laolu Akande, “Nigerian Awarded National Advisory Congressional

Republicans Award,” 2002; available at www.nigeriaworld.com; Laolu

Akande, “Nigerian-Born Businessman Dazzles Americans,” 2005 available

at www.nigeriaworld.com.

34. Ken Ike Okere, “Affluent Africans Flock to the Republican Party, Interna-

tional Guardian [A Journal of Africa and America] Houston, vol. 4 no. 6,

(Nov. 2002); 1–7.

35. “Nigerian-Born US Mayor Now a Republican,” available at http://comet

news.com.ng/07032002/nn97819.html.

36. “A Damaged Image,” (Nigeria), West Africa [Magazine] (22–29 Dec.

1986); 2644–5.

37. “Nigerians Angered by Labeling as Drug Traffickers,” Nigeria: New

Update, News Agency of Nigeria 3 no. 8, (April 5–13, 1994); 1–2.

38. “Ghanaian Crooks Makes Hay in USA,” New African (Magazine), (July

1992); 24.

39. “East Cleveland Mayor Convicted on 22 Counts,” Associated Press, Tues-

day August 31, 2004.

40. Chris Kahn, “Ex-Law Student Pleads Guilty to Slayings,” Associated Press,

Friday, February 27, 2004.

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 97

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41. US Department of Jusice, United States Attorney Office, Boston MA, “Press

Release: Boston Computer Hacker Charged with Illegal Access and the Use

of States Government and Private Systems,” February 23, 2000.

42. “Teen Drug Mule from Nigeria Sentenced to Year at Boy’s Ranch,” Associ-

ated Press, March 21, 2003; available at http://odili.net/news/source/2003/

mar/21/69.html.

43. “Tampa, Florida: Nigerian Born Police Officer Indicted in Threat to Shoot

George Bush,” Associated Press, August 28, 2003.

44. Jennifer Chambers, “Enslavement Trial Nears Finish: Cameroon Teenager

Accuses Farmington Hills Pair of Abuse,” The Detroit News, Aug. 30,

2001; Lisa Donovan, “Rochester Minnesota: Suite Alleges Enslavement,”

Pioneer Press March 10 2004, available at Twincities.com. Ruben Cas-

taneda, “Montgomery Woman Gets 7 Years in Domestic Slavery Case,”

Washington Post, April 19, 2005: B09.

45. “A Damaged Image,” (Nigeria), West Africa Magazine (22–29 Dec. 1986);

2644–5.

46. Patricia Montemurri and Jim Schaefer, “Detroit Parish Rallies to Priest’s

Defense,” Detroit Free Press, (Aug. 23, 2002); Jim Schaefer, “Priest Acquit-

ted of Rape Charges,” Detroit Free Press, August 31, 2002.

47. “Visiting Priest Charged with Child Abuse in NY, Sapa-AFP, June 27,

2002.

48. Andy Newman, “Priest Charged in Rape in 2000 in the Rectory,” The

New York Times, June 22, 2002; available at http://www.nytimes.

com/2002/06/22/nyregion/22PRI.html.

49. Brooks Egerton, “Warrants Languishes on Fugitive Cleric: S. Texas DA

Says He Doubts He Could Find Nigerian Priest,” The Dallas Morning

News, December 6, 2004; available at http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/

bi/gold_print.cgi.

50. Lauren FitzPatrick, “Ex-Priest Found Guilty in Forgery Case,” Daily

Southtown, February 17, 2005; available at http://www.dailysouthtown.

com/southtown/yrtwn/south/171syt4.html

51. Carol M. Ostrom, “Seattle, Washington: Nigerian-Born Physician [Dr.

Charles Momah’s] Rape Trial Begins Today,” Seattle Times, 2005; available

at http://naijanet.com/news/source/2005/oct/17/1005.html ; Reuters, “Seat-

tle: Nigerian Gynecologist Convicted Wednesday of Four Counts of Raping

his Patients,” 2005; available at http://naijanet.com/news/source/2005/

nov/17/1002.html.

52. “Identity Theft Continues to Increase,” CBS News, New York, May 15,

2001; available at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/05/15/60II/

printable 291415.shtml; “Report: Choice Point Inc. had Previous Identity

Theft Case,” Associated Press, March 2, 2005; “Westchester Charges 2

in Alleged Nigeria-themed Internet Scam,” Associated Press, January 22,

2003.

53. “Another One Snaps,” available at http://www.kwenu.com/amnews/

august20021/headline.html.

54. Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that

Made the American People, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1973

98 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

[1951]); John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban

America, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985), 144–167.

55. I am grateful to Mr. Femi Folarin, a Radiological Technician whom I first

met on my First day in St. Louis at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Center for

Advanced Medicine, and who in our discussions noted to have been here

since 1970, when he arrived from Nigeria. On another occasion, while talk-

ing about my research, he reaffirmed this and provided additional insights.

My dissertation research intends to utilize a survey instrument, somewhere

along the line to collect relevant data in this direction and other areas of

interests.

56. Walter Williams, “The Ethnic Relations of African Students in the United

States, with Black Americans, 1870–1900,” The Journal of Negro History

65 no. 3 (1980): 233.

57. G. M. Harlibuton, “Mark Christian Hayford: A Non-Success Story,” Jour-

nal of Religion in Africa 12 no. 1 (1981): 24

58. E. H, Behrmann, (Rev.), The Story of The Old Cathedral: Parish of St.

Louis IX, King of France St. Louis, MO, (St. Louis, MO: Ross-Gould Co/

Church of St. Louis IX, King of France, 1956 [1949]); William Barnaby

Faherty, Jesuit Roots in Mid-America (Florissant, MO: St. Stanislaus His-

torical Museum, 1980).

59. Barringer Fifield, Seeing Saint Louis, (St. Louis, MO: Washington Univer-

sity Press, 1987); 11.

60. James J. Horgan, City of Flight: The History of Aviation in St. Louis, (St.

Louis, MO: The Patrice Press, 1990).

61. Here we expand the idea of the “gateway to the west” which characteristi-

cally defined the meaning of St. Louis relative to American history, into the

wider delineation of the western hemisphere, of which is also associated

the notion of western civilization. America is located in this West, and it is

to this West that many Africans are now immigrating into, making it their

homeland.

62. Lorenzo J. Greene, Gary R. Kremer, and Anthony F. Holland, Missouri’s

Black Heritage, (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1980); John A. Wright Sr., African

Americans in Downtown St. Louis, (Chicago: Arcadia Publishing [Tempus

Publishing Inc.], 2003), 10.

63. Dennis L. Durst, “The Reverend John Berry Meachum (1789–1854) of

St. Louis: Prophet and Entrepreneurial Black Educator in Historiographi-

cal Perspective,” The North Star: A Journal of African American Religious

History 7 no. 2 (2004): 1–24; Donnie D. Bellany, “The Education of Blacks

in Missouri Prior to 1861,” The Journal of Negro History 59 no. 2 (1974):

143–157; Greene, 52.

64. William B. and Marcella C. Magnan, The Streets in St. Louis: A History

of St. Louis Street Names, (St. Louis, MO: Virginia Publishing Company,

2004 [1994]).

65. David Rusk, Cities without Suburbs, (Washington, D.C: The Woodrow

Wilson Center Press, 1995); Myron Orfield, Metropolitics: a Regional

Agenda for Community and Stability, (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Insti-

tution Press/Cambridge, MA: The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1997).

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 99

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66. John E. Farley, “Metropolitan Housing Segregation in 1980: The St. Louis

Case,” Urban Affairs Quarterly 18 no. 3 (1983): 347–59; “Black-White

Housing Segregation in the City of St. Louis: A 1988 Update,” Urban

Affairs Quarterly 26 no. 3 (1991): 442–50; “Race Still Matters: The Mini-

mal Role of Income and Housing Cost as Causes of Housing Segregation in

St. Louis, 1990,” Urban Affairs Review 31 no. 2 (1995): 244–254; “Racial

Housing Segregation in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, 2000,” The

Edwardsville Journal of Sociology, volume 2 (2002); available at http://

www.siue.edu/SOCIOLOGY/journal.

67. David H. Laslo, “Policy Communities and Infrastructure of Urban Tour-

ism,” American Behavioral Scientist 46 no. 8 (2003): 1070–1083; Arthur

Mehrhoff, “The Image of the City: The Jefferson National Expansion

Memorial as Monument to Progress,” Urban Affairs Quarter 24 no. 1

(1988): 46–68.

68. Kevin M. Mitchell, “The Changing Faces of St. Louis-Why New Immi-

grants are St. Louis’ Best Hope,” St. Louis magazine, 2003; available at

http://www.scanews.com/spot/2003/march/s655/scanews/news.html.

69. D. J. Wilson “Keeping up with the Jasarevics: Bosnian Refugees Found Safe

Haven in St. Louis in the 1990s. Many are on the Move Again—This Time

to the Suburbs,” Riverfront Times, March 5–11 (2003): 18–21, 23–25, 27.

70. Rachel L. Swarns, “Africa’s Lost Tribe Discovers American Way,” The New

York Times, March 10, 2003: A1, A6.

71. Chris King, “Fish Soup on the Way to Heaven,” Transition 77 (1998):

112–133.

72. Philip Dine, Invisible Population: A Growing Stream of Immigrants is

Changing the Face of St. Louis, (St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

1996).

73. Tayia Evans, “African Community Prosper in St. Louis: For the Refugees,

Life in U.S. Affords a Second Chance,” St. Louis American, February 12–

18 (2004): A1, A7.

74. John Mbiti, African Philosophy and Religion, (London: Heinemann, 1999),

75. Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence,

(New York: Harper San Francisco [Harper Collins], 1988), 295–301.

76. Diana L. Eck, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” has

Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation, (New York: Harper

San Francisco [Harper Collins Publishers], 2001); De Tocqueville, 290–91.

77. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste,

(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 171–72.

78. Jane E. Stets and Peter J. Burke, “Identity Theory and Social Identity The-

ory,” Social Psychological Quarterly 63 no. 3 (2000): 224–26.

79. This point has been emphasized at various times see Peter P. Ekeh, “Kinship

and State in African and African-American Histories,” in Isidore Okpewho,

Carole Boyce Davies, and Ali A. Mazrui, The African Diaspora: African

Origins and New World Identities, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

Press, 1999), 89; Elliott P.Skinner, “The Dialectic Between Diasporas and

Homelands,” book chapter in Joseph E. Harris (ed.), Global Dimensions

100 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

of the African Diaspora [Second Edition], (Washington, D.C.: Howard

University Press, 1993), 33–36; Femi Ojo-Ade, “African and Racism in the

New Millennium,” Journal of Black Studies 32 no. 2 (2001): 184–211.

80. Rachel L. Swarns, “African-American’ Becomes a Term for Debate,” Aug.

29, 2004; available at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/national/29

african.html; Daryl James, “Immigrants and New U.S. Citizens Question

Race-Category Label,” East Valley Tribune (Online Newspaper edition),

Sept. 17, 2005.

81. However, such situations seems to have exacerbated in spite of the demo-

graphic increase of the African immigrants’ populations, that should have

mitigated the mitigation of the false assumptions both groups hold about

each others as Nnamdi Azikiwe alluded to this ignorant and false conscious-

ness regarding his first encounters in the United States-cf. Nnamdi Azikiwe,

My Odyssey, (New York: Praeger, 1970), 40 In spite of contemporary

advances both African immigrants and African-Africans still hold certain

stereotypical images about one another. See Femi-Ojo-Ade, “African and

Racism,” 2001; Dympna Ugwu-Oju, What will My Mother Say: A Tribal

African Girl Comes of Age in America, (Chicago: Bonus Books, 1995), 279–

81. Disgusting images of Africa and Africans have also been perpetuated in

some matter of fact manner that reinforces the pejorative imagery of Afri-

can in the American, and specifically the African-American consciousness.

Two books written by African-Americans reflect this African Pessimism per-

spective in some virulent form, though some of their perspectives cannot be

totally occluded and pushed aside. See Eddy L. Harris, Native Stranger: A

Black America’s Journey into the Heart of Africa, (New York: Vintage Books

[Random House Inc.], 1993); Keith Richburg, Out of America: A Black

Man Confronts Africa, (San Diego, CA: A Harvest Book [Harcourt Bruce],

1998). Contemporary American media reports and feature stories are agog

filled with the different manifestations of this intra-racial belligerency. See

Sarah Rimer and Karen W. Arenson, “Top Colleges Take More Blacks, but

which Ones?” The New York Times, June 24, 2004:A1; Ruth Walker, “Not

a Simple Matter of Black and White,” The Christian Science Monitor, 2004;

available at www.csmonitor.com/2004/1008/p18s03-hfes.html.

82. Konia T. Kollehon and Edward E. Eule, “The Socioeconomic Attainment

Patterns of Africans in the United States,” International Migration Review

37 no. 4 (2003): 1163–1190.

83. Francis N. Njubi, “African Intellectuals in the Belly of the Beast: Migra-

tion, Identity, and the Politics of Exile,” Mots Pluriels no. 20 (2002) avail-

able at http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/Motspluriels/MP2002fnn.html.

84. Ali A. Mazrui, “Between the Brain Drain and the Brain Bonus: The Afri-

can Diaspora as a Nation Afloat.” Background Paper for the African Brain

Gain Conference, Nairobi, Kenyan, Dec. 19–22, 2004.

85. George Simpson, Black Religions in the Americas, (Baltimore, MD: John

Hopkins University Press, 1980); Toyin Falola and Ann Genova (ed.),

Orisa: Yoruba Gods and Spiritual Identity in Africa and the Diaspora,

(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2005).

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 101

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86. Tricia Redeker Hepner, “Religion, Nationalism, and Transnational Civil

Society in the Eritrean Diaspora,” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and

Power 10 (2003): 269–293.

87. See Hermione Harris, “Continuity or Change? Aladura and Born-Again

Yoruba Christianity in London,” book chapter in Toyin Falola (ed.), Chris-

tianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays in Honor of J.D. Y. Peel. (Dur-

ham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2005), 307–34; B. Akintude Oyetade,

“The Yoruba Community in London,” African Languages and Culture 6

no. 1 (1993): 77–80.

88. Hugo A. Kamya, “African Immigrants in the United States: The Challenges

for Research and Practice,” Social Work 42 no. 2 (1997); Kalu Ogbaa, The

Nigerian Americans, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishers, 2004); Ndu-

buike, 2002, 94–95.

89. Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and

Steven M. Tipton, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in

American Life, (Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1996),

219; De Tocqueville, 295.

90. Mita Sanghavi Goel; Ellen P. McCarthy; Russel S. Phillips, and Christina

C. Wee, “Obesity Among US Immigrant Subgroups by Duration of Resi-

dence,” JAMA [The Journal of the American Medical Association] 292 no.

23 (2004): 2860–2867; also Barry M. Popkin and J. Richard Udry, “Ado-

lescent Obesity Increases Significantly in Second and Third Generation U.S.

Immigrants: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health,” Jour-

nal of Nutrition 128 (1998): 701–06.

91. Jim Salter, “Analysis: Good Looks May Mean Better Pay,” Associated

Press, April 7, 2005.

92. Norimitsu Onishi, “Globalization of Beauty Makes Slimness Trendy,”

The New York Time, Oct. 3, 2002: A4; Editorials, “Where Heft Carried

Weight, Thin is Muscling In,” Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 7, 2002:

A10. A fuller scholarly treatment of image portraitures as it relates to

American ethnic minority women is presented by Tracey Owens Patton,

“Ally McBeal and Her Homies: The Reification of White Stereotypes of the

Other,” Journal of Black Studies 32 no. 2 (2001); 241–44.

93. F. NII-Amoo Dodoo, “Assimilation Differences among Africans in Amer-

ica,” Social Forces 76 no. 2 (1997): 528, 541; Kposowa, 175–183.

94. Nii Amoo-Dodoo and Baffour K. Takyi, “Africans in the Diaspora: Black-

White Earnings Differences among America’s Africans,” Ethnic and Racial

Studies 25 no. 6 (2002): 913–41; Ami R. Moore and Foster K. Amey,

“Earning Differentials among Male African Immigrants in the United

States,” Equal Opportunities International 21 no. 8 (2002): 30–50; Kolle-

hon and Eule, 1163–1190.

95. Jen’nan Ghazal Read and Michael O. Emerson, “Racial Context, Black

Immigration and the U.S. Black/White Health Disparity,” Social Force 84

no. 1 (2005): 181–199.

96. Femi Ojo-Ade, “Africans and Racism in the New Millennium,” Journal of

Black Studies 32 no. 2 (2001): 189.

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97. Ed Taylor, “Mesa, Arizona: Car Dealership Sued for denying Nigerian

Employee Promotion because of His Accent,” May 31, 2005; available at

http://naijanet.com/news/source/2005/may/31/1002.html.

98. Craig R. James, Migrations, Social Change, and Health: A Samoan Com-

munity in Urban California, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,

1990), 132.

99. In general immigrants in urban settings are predisposed to a higher level

of stress. Study relating to Samoan urban immigrants in California note a

high incidence of stress among the immigrant group, as an equally higher

level of cardiovascular diseases in contrast to the homeland Samoan popu-

lation, see James, 108–129. There’s been some suggestion that increasing

rates of obesity among Samoan immigrants in California is linked to stress.

In general there is a high level of stress among Samoan Urban immigrants

in California, see James, 112.

100. Handlin, 1979; Bodnar, 144–168; Fenggang Yagan and Helen Rose

Ebaugh, “Transformation in New Immigrant Religions and their Global

Implications,” American Sociological Review 66 no. 2 (2001): 269–288.

101. Robert Anthony Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Commu-

nity in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,

1985).

102. Ugwu-Oju, 3–7; Professor Sulayman S. Nyang, “The African Immigrant

Family in the United States of America: Challenges and Opportunities,”

Paper presented at the Conference on Africa and the Diaspora, Center for

African Peace and Conflict Resolution, California State University, Sacra-

mento, California, May 7–8, 1998; Nancy Foner, “The Immigrant Family:

Cultural Legacies and Cultural Changes,” International Migration Review

31 no. 4 (1997): 961–74.

103. Emeka Nwadiora, “Alienation and Stress among Black Immigrants: An

Exploratory Study,” The Western Journal of Black Studies 20 no. 3 (1995):

58–71; Emeka Nwadiora, “Therapy with African Families, Western Jour-

nal of Black Studies 20 no. 3 (1996):115–119.

104. Michael Afolayan, “The Impact of United States Diversity Lottery Visa on

Elite Migrants,” book chapter in Toyin Falola, (ed.). Nigeria in the Twenti-

eth Century, (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002), 743–57.

105. Festus E. Obiakor and Patrick A. Grant, Foreign-Born African-Americans

Silenced Voices in the Discourse on Race (New York: Nova Science Pub-

lishers, Inc., 2002).

106. Caleb Oladipo, “Piety and Politics in African Christianity: The Roles of the

Church and the Democratization Process,” Journal of Church and State 45

(2003): 347–48.

107. Benjamin Simon, “African Christians in German Speaking Diaspora of

Europe,” Exchange 31 no. 1 (2002): 23–35; Rijk Van Dijk, “From Camp

to Encompassment: Discourses of Transubjectivity in the Ghanaian Pente-

costal Diaspora,” Journal of Religion in Africa 37 no. 2 (1997): 134159;

“African Pentecostalism in the Netherlands, in S.D. Glazier (ed.), Encyclo-

pedia of African and African-American Religious, (New York: Routledge,

African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America 103

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2001), 17–19; “Negotiating Marriage: Questions of Morality and

Legitimacy in the Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora,” Journal of Religion in

Africa 34 no. 4 (2004): 438–467; Galia Sabar, “African Christianity in the

Jewish State: Adaptation, Accommodation and Legitimation of Migrant

Workers’ Churches, 1990–2003,” Journal of Religion in Africa 34 no. 4

(2004): 407–437.

108. Monika Salzbrunn, “The Occupation of Public Space Through Religious

and Political Events: how Senegalese Immigrants Became a Part of Harlem,

New York,” Journal of Religion in Africa 34 no. 4 (2004):468–92; Cheik

Anta Babou, “Brotherhood Solidarity, Education and Migration: The Role

of the Dahira Among the Murid Muslim Community of New York, African

Affairs; Journal of the Royal African Society 101 (2002): 151–70; Sylvi-

ane Diouf-Kamara, “Senegalese in New York: A Model Minority?” Black

Renaissance 1 no. 2 (1997): 92f.

109. The varying modes of the African immigrant religious expressions has been

appropriately treated in the following works: Hermione Harris, book chap-

ter in Toyin Falola (ed.), Christianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays

in Honor of J.D. Y. Peel. (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2005),

307–34; Afe dogame, “Engaging the Rhetoric of Spiritual Warfare: The

Public Face of Aladura in Diaspora,” Journal of Religion in Africa 34 no. 4

(2004): 493–521; Stephen Hunt, “The ‘New’ Black Pentecostal Churches in

Britain [1],” Paper presented at the Center for the Studies on New Religions

(CESNUR), 14th International Conference, Riga, Latvia, August 29–31,

2000; Oyetade, 77–80; Dijk, 1997; “African Pentecostalism Netherlands,”

2001; “Negotiating Marriage, Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora,” 2004.

110. Rina L. Okonkwo, “Orishatukeh Faduma: A Man of Two Worlds,” The

Journal of Negro History 68 no. 1 (1983): 24–36.

111. Edward W. Smith, Aggrey of Africa: A Study in Black and White, (New

York: Richard R. Smith Inc., 1930); Sylvia M. Jacobs, “James Emman

Kwegyir Aggrey: An African Intellectual in the United States,” The Journal

of Negro History 81 no. 1/4 (1996): 49–61.

112. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah, (Lon-

don, 1970), 40–42; Azikiwe, 1970.

113. Jacqueline Hagan and Helen Rose Ebaugh, “Calling Upon the Sacred:

Migrants’ Use of Religion in the Migration Process,” The International

Migration Review 37 no. 4 (2003): 1145–1162; Rijk Van Dijk, 135–159.

114. Pashington Obeng, “Remembering Through Oath: Installation of African

Kings and Queens,” Journal of Black Studies 28 no. 3 (1998): 334–56.

115. Such existential transformations of religious institutions, practices, rituals,

and idioms have been greatly and variedly underlined in past and current

scholarships. See Handlin, 1973, Bodnar, 1985; Fenggang Yang and Helen

Rose Ebaugh, “Transformation in New Immigrants Religion and their

Global Implications,” American Sociological Review 66 no. 2 (2001): 269–

288; Helen Rose Ebaugh and Janet Saltzman Chafetz, “Agents for Cultural

Reproduction and Structural Change: The Ironic Role of Women in Immi-

grant Religious Institutions,” Social Forces 78 no. 2 (1999): 585–612.

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116. I have advanced this theory of hiatus and its reformulation as a psycho-

social dynamics that reference and locate dislocations which through

dialectical working actually sprint the drivers of its own transformation

through discomfort posture of the alienation this consciousness produces.

Novel transcendental consciousness occurs, that propels the generation of

reversion to the exotic or nostalgic past, or creating a desire to return that

would fundamentally create either a synthesis of both the past and present,

or nurture a virulent attempt at reinventing it structural or cognitive quali-

ties, by inducing some connective tissues intended to ensure social sutur-

ing. Such processes, I refer to as either the realignment or reformulation

of hiatus consciousness in my different writings. See Anthony A. Agbali,

“Politics, Rhetoric, and Ritual of the Ogoni Movement,” book chapter in

Toyin Falola (ed.). Nigeria in the Twentieth Century. (Durham, NC: Caro-

lina Academic Press, 2002); A recent book by a Ghanaian-Briton, who was

returning to Ghana in the attempts at self-discovery reflect such nostal-

gic consciousness and yearnings among certain second generation descent

of African immigrants in their search of Africa. See Ekow Eshun, Black

Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa, (London,

UK: Hamish Hamilton [Imprint of Penguin Books], 2005), 1–2. Even

immigrants and exiles nurture the nostalgia of such return as in the case of

Manthia Diawara return to Guinea. His account is published in Manthia

Diawara, In Search of Africa (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,

1998). Among African descent in the diaspora, the salience of this idea of

return has been amply underlined by certain sentiments in the past that

antedates from the time of slavery, when at the death of a slave surviving

peers attach material objects to their corpses praying that the demised by

returning to Africa should carry the news of their welfare to their ancestors

and kin in Africa, their aboriginal home. This nostalgia of re-alignment

that references an aboriginal source underlines the writings of African-

Americans such as Alex Harley, The Roots, Marita Golden, Migration of

the Heart (Garden City, New York: Anchor Press [Doubleday], 1983), 65;

Eddy L. Harris Native Son: A Black American’s Journey into the Heart

of Africa, (New York: Vintage Book [Random], 1992; Richburg, 1998).

These last two books copiously resonate each other’s sentiments.

117. Michael Afolayan, “The Impact of United States Diersity Lottery Visa on

Elite Migrants,” book chapter in Toyin Falola, (ed.). Nigeria in the Twenti-

eth Century, (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002), 743–57.

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Chapter Four

Ethnography of Religion

and Spirituality among

St. Louisan African Immigrants

Anthony Attah Agbali

INTRODUCTION

This chapter assesses the modes and impacts of St. Louisan African immi-

grants’ religiosity and varies forms of expressive spiritualities, including the

valuable role of their institutional trajectories and specific ritual modalities

that frame the construction of their social identities. It also focuses upon the

functional idioms and trajectories that serve as coping strategies in mitigat-

ing the stress of the immigration process and their diurnal existence within

urban America. The African immigrants to St. Louis are vital contributors

toward the development of their host communities. Many among them are

entrepreneurs and professionals, such as physicians, lawyers, computer sci-

entists, engineers, and small business owners. In their diverse operational

engagements, they vivify different aspects of human development and the

social ecology of the St. Louis metro area.

Fundamentally, affiliations with and participation in different reli-

gious establishments constitute in some sense the mode by which St. Louis’

African immigrants positively affect the ecology and advancement of the

area. America’s African immigrants’ spiritual well-being has been found

to interact with other social and demographic variables in enhancing their

overall existential well-being.

Equally, religious entities that are the ini-

tiatives and those privileged by African immigrants affect the ecology of

the religious market and commercial exchanges. African immigrants’ reli-

gious establishments build or rent physical infrastructures, employ person-

nel, and purchase related items. Conferences, religious gatherings and other

activities organized by these religious entities bring people into the area and

help to aid its economic prospects. Businesses that deal with marketing reli-

gious materials and spiritual objects are also boosted by the presence and

patronization of such entities. By themselves, these African immigrants’

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religious organizations also add to the diversity of religious markets and

spiritual alternatives available to Americans, given the certain novel appeal

and forms of religious expression.

African immigrants’ varying forms of religious expression also offer

special spiritual idioms for their utilization. Apart from purely religious

events, other forms of private and public spirituality such as coronation

rites, wake keeping, naming ceremonies, traditional and contemporary

forms of marriage engagement and cultural rites, new yam festivals, house

blessings, shower parties for pregnant mothers, churching rites, funeral

rites and other communal ritualistic events that are not strictly religious in

form reflect the diverse nature of spiritual ceremonies employed by African

immigrants within their immigrant space. These activities help to enhance

their culture and abet their mutual coping and integration with the differ-

ent vagaries of American urban life.

African immigrants in the St. Louis area participate in many religious

institutions and entities. African immigrants also establish their own reli-

gious institutions in the area, or form part of a congregation within extant

mainstream religious entities or denominations. Sometimes, these newly

formed religious institutions transmit religious practices peculiar to their

aboriginal African context, giving vent to “reverse colonialism” within the

process of religious globalization.

At other times, these are totally novel

initiatives as ex creatio nihilo processes, without a priori religious sources,

founded by African immigrants in America and ordered universally and

inclusively. African immigrants are also ministers, pastors, priests, imams,

and sheiks of established religious orders like the Roman Catholic, Epis-

copalian, Presbyterian, Methodist and Islamic faiths, and other denomina-

tional entities. African immigrants are also found as qualified Professional

Chaplains within different local-area hospitals and healthcare facilities.

In this chapter, I shall focus on three main religious trajectories that

shape the spiritualities and religious values of African immigrants within

the St. Louis area. These are selected sites that I have attempted to engage,

and to conduct ethnographic research relative to my doctoral dissertation.

Two of these religious entities are Christian, which I will discuss more spe-

cifically, and the third relates to African immigrant Islamic adherents in St.

Louis. Of the Islamic adherents, I shall discuss more broadly, because I have

not done any specific site-related studies relative to this group. However, in

meeting with individual African immigrants resident in the area who prac-

tice this religion I have acquired a much broader perspective regarding their

modes of religious practices and spiritualities.

More specifically, my research focuses upon multiple religious sites

and entities where African immigrants worship. Of these, two main religious

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sites, the Jesus House of All Nations, Kirkwood, Missouri, an affiliate of

the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), and the United African

Presbyterian Church, Rock Hill, Missouri. Other sites of interest include

the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis another religious and spiritual

establishment involving or catering to the physical, spiritual, and psycho-

social needs of African immigrants.

A. AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS’ CHRISTIANITY

Those who have moved to St. Louis from Africa appear to feel most wel-

come in religious institutions led by fellow immigrants, The Jesus House

of all Nations in St. Louis, located in Kirkwood, is led by Pastors Olufemi

Omotayo as head pastor and assisted by Pastor “Prof” Olufemi Akawo

(assistant pastor). The United African Presbyterian Church is located in the

Rock Hill area of St. Louis and administered by Rev. Dr. Jemimah Nga-

tiah. The United African Presbyterian Church has a current membership of

about 35 members and growing. The congregation has close ties with the

Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery of the Presbyterian-USA, who provides over-

sight over its activities.

However, the fact that these religious sites have a predominant wor-

shiping African immigrant populations, or that these entities are led by

African immigrants, does not limit their membership solely to this popu-

lation. In Jesus House, there are some non-Africans and non-Nigerian

members, including area natives. Racially, the memberships within both

churches are mainly black. Jesus House has one active white member who

is actively involved in the ministry of the church. The reason for the choice

of these two is predicated upon their significant African immigrant popula-

tion. The RCCG, in spite of its global posture and widespread global evan-

gelistic efforts, still remains essentially composed of Nigerian immigrants.

Its essential immigrant feature contrasts with its global ideology, within its

identity portraiture as the Jesus House for all Nations.

The United African Presbyterian church is equally constituted of

majority blacks, and though operating within the matrix of a mainstream

and universally recognized denomination, the congregation fundamentally

attempts to privilege African culture, such as the use of Swahili in its lit-

urgy and within its spaces. This environment is equally reinforced by the

East African cuisine that is served after their liturgical service in the hall.

The flyer of the United African Presbyterian church notably portrays its

vision as specifically slanted toward African immigrant issues, “The vision

of UAPC is to gather people from Africa and help them to process their

cultural shocks, to provide spiritual, physical, and material care to those

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who are already here, and to help those who are coming to America. It

will also be helpful for them to have a place to fellowship and worship

God in their original languages.” African immigrants’ churches show an

intriguing clustering along national lines, and even specifically within each

church along certain predominant ethnic delineations. In Jesus House and

the United African Presbyterian churches, most of the membership derived

from the ethnic area of their leaders. Nigerians and specifically Yoruba pre-

dominate within Jesus’ House. In the United African Presbyterian Church,

Kenyans and Gikuyu are in the majority. Nigerians and Kenyans, alongside

Ethiopians (including Eritreans) and Somalis constitute the highest African

immigrant populations in St. Louis. Therefore, it is not surprising that they

would be the majority in these churches. Further, different historical trajec-

tories defined religious histories and cultural sentiments differently, among

and between African national and ethnic groups. The religious arena as the

site for communal and sentimental sharing specifically structures and reifies

these trajectories in ordering membership.

The choice of RCCG church is intentional, as it allows for measur-

ing of how much of some of the thesis associated with this phenomenon

in African is true of new situations, specifically in America. Simply put,

there are many transformations between the church’s African sources and

their realities presented by the new locations. Fundamentally, given that the

RCCG is purely an African initiative, as a Church founded in Africa and

now in the reversal of missionary roles and consciousness, now proselytiz-

ing in the west, it offers an opportunity at examining the salient cultural

trajectories related to the how race and class can impact the diffusion of

Christianity trans-spatially.

The members are about a hundred and fifty families, it is young, and

it shows all the signs of a religious organization attempting to entrench

itself within its ecological niche. Secondly, observations of African religios-

ity have also pointed to the salience of Pentecostal and evangelical Chris-

tian modalities among younger Africans on the continent. The United

African Presbyterian Church offers a significant case of how African con-

gregations functions within predominantly white American denomina-

tions. How does the specificity of their institutional label and heritage help

to enhance or stymie their ability at social reproduction and reconstitution

of the different spiritual and theological trajectories that demarcate and

nuance their African social identity? Further, their recent historical forma-

tion also offers an opportunity to evaluate different dimensions of their

structuring over time. In this way, one is able to measure against certain

changes as conditioned by different factors within their denominational

and faith experience.

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Crucially, I intend to assess how African immigrants, through their

spiritualities and the idioms of specific institutional trajectories, help to

frame the construction of social identity among African immigrants. I also

attempt to focus upon the modes in which these values and trajectories

function toward helping the coping and adjustment processes of African

immigrants in urban America. In spite of the general nature of this presen-

tation, I shall focus also on two religious institutional entities with which

I have been engaged, to reflect the roles of such entities in helping African

immigrants in the area. The choice of these two is mainly for referential

purposes and selectively privileged because of their relatively recent origins

in the area, and the relative size of their African immigrant populations.

Further, African immigrants tend to shun any overture that attempts

to engage their time individually outside of a unified institutional forum. I

came to this realization in 2004, when I started mapping ways of engaging

in my research. Using the opportunity of the Nigerian Day Celebration, I

produced and distributed more than two hundred and fifty flyers on two

different occasions. Of these I received only one reply. Again, in 2005 at a

church reception I tried again as I had the opportunity of introducing my

research to the adherents, while requesting any of them interested in volun-

tary participation to contact me. On this later occasion, not a single person

did. This litmus test was instructive as I gained first hand experience that

communal settings and organizational spaces are better sites for engaging,

accessing, and researching this population through participation in their

activities and rapport establishment. I found this the surest way to interact

intensely and to gain the confidence of the adherents. I realized the signifi-

cant opportunities that this arena offers, and thus I tried to gain access to

different African immigrants’ religious communities, based upon my lim-

ited knowledge, personal contacts, and sometimes newspaper features and

adverts in published materials, such as newspapers, brochures, flyers, and

other useful sources.

Based upon such knowledge, I attempted gaining access to religious

sites and institutions catering to the needs of African immigrants. I focused

on this site utilizing participant observation methods and ethnography.

This formed the major basis for my observations. I also utilized different

resources such as newspapers articles, organizational publications—bro-

chures, pamphlets, bulletins, leaflets, and flyers, as well as internet publi-

cations, multimedia, audio-visual materials, such as video clips of events,

recorded audio CDs and cassettes. I found these multimedia tools very

resourceful in the task of mnemonic recalls.

Given the multi-sited nature of this study, ethnographic methods and

participant observations offered useful instruments for capturing discrete

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events through field notes. The vastness of the urban area defined the level

of selectivity regarding sites and data to be studied. Such considerations

hinged upon ability to access the site, convenient location, demograph-

ics, and proximity, though the latter did not count as much. All sites were

located within about half hour driving range from my residence using the

highway. My fervent intention is to be very inclusive of the multiplex varia-

tions that define the social landscape of the St. Louis’ African immigrants’

community, religious institutions, and social or ethnic organizations and

associations.

These sites offer me a specific albeit nuanced view of the differing

modes of African immigrants’ religious and spiritual operations and func-

tioning. Further, the relatively small churchgoing population for these estab-

lishments also offered credibility toward building rapport and enhancing

better interactions toward my research goals. Active participation allows

me to monitor ongoing changes over time in terms of demographics, physi-

cal and ritual ecology, and structures. Observation regarding the modes

of agency and structure interacts dialectically in building institutions. The

structural properties that affect African immigrants, especially their spiritu-

alities and religious experiences, were among the items I sought to under-

stand, as well as these immigrants as creative agents, whose activities act

upon structure to build and alter social relations and constitute a certain

social ecology. Fundamentally, I was interested in issues regarding the phe-

nomenon of how African immigrants’ religious establishments affect the

phenomenon of “reverse colonialism”—the process which enables non-

western elements influence developments in the west (Giddens, 34) within

the texture of religious globalization.

1. The Jesus House for all Nations

Among the African-founded religious entities in St. Louis is the Jesus House

for All Nations, an affiliate branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of

God (RCCG). The RCCG was founded in Nigeria with twelve members in

1951, headed by the late Pastor Josiah Akindayomi, initially as a schismatic

branch of the indigenous Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Sera-

phim, Christian prayer-oriented Aladura Churches. The RCCG has since

transformed greatly under the leadership of its current General Overseer,

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, into an evangelical church with over 5,000 classical

and model parishes globally.

Jesus House of all Nations, in St. Louis, is a member of the RCCG.

The RCCG follows an organic reproductive scheme. Its diverse branches

carry out the work of evangelization through reproductive fission by open-

ing and nurturing the existence of new branches. The goal in Nigeria is to

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open a Church within five minutes of walking distance for any worshipper.

In spite of such a diffusive agenda these branches maintain a central orga-

nization with the parent branch and hierarchy. The new formation evolves

out of specific church families that constitute a kind of extensive kinship

clan network, in shaping social and ecclesiastical relationships. Therefore,

a branch is a member of a family, out of which it has its origin. This repro-

ductive structure in organically breeding new church formations propagates

the movement.

The Jesus House of all Nations was established in St. Louis around

2000 under the leadership of Pastor Olufemi Omotayo, its current head

pastor. Pastor Omotayo was previously a resident Missionary Pastor in Aus-

tria prior to migrating to the United States as a missionary for the RCCG.

He briefly resided in Florida, before relocating to St. Louis following his

appointment as the founding pastor of Jesus House, St. Louis. According

to Pastor Omotayo, the driving force behind the establishment of the Jesus

House Church is the current assistant pastor, Olufemi Akawo. The forma-

tion of Jesus House is predicated upon the forceful nature of Akawo’s per-

sistent appeal to the RCCG to start a St. Louis branch.

Prior to the establishment of the St. Louis RCCG Jesus House church,

Pastor Omotayo noted that there was a negotiation with different other

Figure 4-1. Worship Space, Jesus House of All Nations, RCCG, St. Louis, Missouri

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branches of the RCCG, regarding the sustenance of the budding church.

These negotiations involved four branches of the RCCG, mainly deriving

from the Ikoyi Family of the Four model parishes that evolved when the

restructuring of the RCCG occurred after the ascension of the incumbent

General Overseer, Pastor Adeboye. The four branches involved in the nego-

tiation toward sustaining the new Jesus House Church St. Louis were, Jesus

House, London, United Kingdom; Jesus House Chicago, Illinois; Jesus

House, Baltimore, Maryland; and Boston, Massachusetts. This negotiated

agreement was seen as fundamental toward nurturing the foundations of

the new church in St. Louis.

This agreement was to cover the major seed expenditures of the baby-

branch by providing monthly funds for about six months, while the

new St. Louis branch found its bearings. Some of the affiliated churches

either partially met their obligations or reneged upon their commit-

ments, not meeting the terms of the negotiated deal. Pastor Omotayo

noted that this period was personally and spiritually trying. Like most

new beginnings of a major venture, the initial attempts were not easy.

The nature of this difficulty was discerned from a sermon regarding this

early formative period, enunciating the difficulties of its initial affairs

and the commitment of Pastor Omotayo toward achieving success.

In this sermon, Pastor Omotayo noted the complexity of the nego-

tiated arrangement with the other churches that committed themselves

toward ensuring the foundational success of Jesus House St. Louis. Some

of these affiliates unfortunately either partly or totally reneged upon their

agreed commitments. At this early stage, survival was difficult. Pastor

Omotayo averred that even his father called, offering the church financial

support until the church’s fortunes improved. Since this involved paying his

own salary he felt ashamed and humiliated; “as a man with a wife, with

two children, at this time my old man was still giving me pocket money!”

In spite of his dented ego, he nonetheless had to agree when through divine

revelation God scolded him for being proud and arrogant.

This origin-related vignette reveals multiple realities regarding the

immigrant context. First, it portrays the mold in which immigrants’ agency

can engender autonomous institutions and produce social change. In the

case of Jesus House, such agency was the product of Assistant Pastor Aka-

wo’s instrumentality and desire. Following an increase in the immigrants’

population, he tried to pressure the Redeemed Christian Church authorities

to open a St. Louis branch. This also was an attempt at reproducing famil-

iar dispositions helpful in translating the immigrants’ spatial and spiritual

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experiences through the familiar prisms of their cultural and religious con-

structs. Agencies such as noted can richly contribute toward the valuable

role of building and maintaining the modalities of communal interactions

and social institutions. Therefore, the creative and proactive agency of

immigrants serve as a source of institutional growth, ecological change, and

elongation of value-orientations. Secondly, this affirms the noted salience of

religiosity and its assumed significance in the lives and functioning of Nige-

rians, and Nigerian immigrants.

The Jesus House church is a predominantly Nigerian immigrant

Church, though it has few non-African members. It reflects an instance on

the religious evolution within African Christianity, radically transforming

its engendered structures toward the appropriation of novel spiritual dis-

positions and dogmatic emphases. For instance, the Pentecostal explosion

has blurred the barriers between Pentecostal and evangelical dogma, as well

as between independency and Pentecostal-charismatic churches.

Schol-

ars would easily classify among charismatic or neo-Pentecostal Christian

movements, especially given its emphasis on, and integration of, local and

global evangelistic outlooks.

The Pentecostal idiom helps to mediate the

structuring of immigrants’ differentiation and social identity constructions.

Thus, its idioms and spaces provide immigrants with a channel toward vali-

dating their social identity and difference, especially in an amply hostile

and prejudicial milieu.

The prevalence of American racism that devalues blacks makes such

idioms appealing. It has been helpful to immigrants’ sense of identity and

social differentiation in the sense that the Charismatic-Pentecostal para-

digm describes the RCCG, although not exclusively. The RCCG vibrantly

embraces this paradigm but uniquely remains unbound, by limiting cate-

gories and any labeling within the religious field. Pastor Omotayo affirms

that the RCCG has “none—other—kind—of—expression but itself.” Jesus

House embodies different forms of Christian faith expressions and praxes.

The United African Presbyterian church is a predominantly East African

(mainly Kenyan) congregation within the Presbyterian-USA church. In these

two sites, I have actively engaged in participant observation and conducted

ethnography.

Immigrants are significant agents of social transformations that affect

the spiritual and natural ecology. Also, the phenomenon of immigration

does not merely affect demographic transformations solely but possess

ramifications for other social arenas, thus within its salience and potency

capably functioning to enhance the transformation of social and physical

spaces and the capability toward engendering positive and credible institu-

tions necessary for constructing social identity, validating a priori identities

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and helping the navigation and adjustments to new forms of existential

experiences.

In Jesus House in St. Louis, different events constitute modes of oper-

ations on a weekly level. These events are the service held every morning,

consisting in general of praise worship (songs), the Pastors’ or visiting Pas-

tors’ sermon, offerings, testimonies, announcements, and dismissal. This

order is often the norm, interspaced and interlaced with songs at different

points. Occasionally, this order is altered slightly. The worship is not rigidly

formal and a sense of the informal cordiality is depicted by the Pastor’s

jokes, congregational refrains and occasional interjectory comments.

The testimonies are not held throughout the month. Mainly, the testi-

monies are allocated in their own time on the first Sunday of each month.

At times, when the demand is high, allowances are made to ensure its con-

tinuity in other Sunday services. Also, special situations that warrant imme-

diate testimonies are discerned on an ad hoc basis. For instance, on Sunday,

October 22nd, 2005, following news of a plane crash in Nigeria, with over

a hundred persons on board, and the death of the Nigerian First Lady, Mrs.

Obasanjo, in the aftermath of a cosmetic surgery in Spain, the Pastor after

informing the congregation with this news and leading them in prayers,

allowed a member of the congregation to give testimony.

The congregant’s wife, a resident in Nigeria, was to have traveled to

Lagos from Abuja, and intended to return that same evening on the last

plane out of Lagos, which happened to be the ill-fated plane. However, as

the testimony presenter avers, he had by some circumstances made a phone

call to his wife, and they both decided that she put off the trip. There-

fore, he was celebrating God’s soteriological intervention in his situation.

His sentiment of thanksgiving is focally underlined by his statement: “to

go home and meet a corpse! What will I do? I thank God this is not my

portion.”

Transnationalism, defined as “the processes by which immigrants

forge and sustain multistranded social relations that link together their

societies of origin and settlements,”

is reflected within the African immi-

grants’ religious linkages and transnational networks. This is true for both

Jesus House and the United African Presbyterian congregation. Jesus House,

while autonomous without tight hierarchical control, is not acephalous: it

maintains organizational linkages with the RCCG-Nigeria headquarters—

especially as mediated through its RCCG-USA, the coordinating and clear-

inghouse framework that oversees all RCCG churches in the United States.

Jesus House is also engaged in transnationalism in another way, through

linkages with other RCCG churches outside of both Nigeria and the United

States. I have witnessed the visits and preaching of RCCG pastors resident

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in Nigeria and the United Kingdom on at least three occasions, since begin-

ning to participate in its activities.

The United African Presbyterian congregation has a much looser and

smaller set of direct linkages to similar ecclesiastical structures in Kenya.

Nonetheless, such linkages exist through the mediation of Rev. Ngatiah,

whenever she travels. Other kinds of linkages are much more cultural prac-

tices and faith currents that are transmitted from the Kenyan ecclesiastical

cultural space, through travel, visitors from Kenya, and new immigrants.

The United African Presbyterian Church is linked to the Presbyterian-

USA, in a way that while existing within the United States, their cultural

diversity adds value to the transnational claims of universality by the

Presbyterian-USA.

Immigrant church spaces also offer opportunities for transnational

networking through news sharing, support, prayers, and even subjective

narratives that through the spatial arena of their rendition become pub-

lic, as testimonies of faith. For instance, on the two recent occasions when

plane crashes occurred in Nigeria, the Pastor broke this news to the congre-

gation. It was obvious through the verbal sentimental expressions emitted

by the adherents that many heard this news for the first time through their

pastor.

Such dynamics have been affirmed of Immigrants to Houston, as

well as among African immigrant churches in Israel and London.

Testimonies are unique formats, utilized mainly by Pentecostal and

Charismatic churches or fellowships to render divine interventions in the

ordinary events of life, interpreted as extraordinary, miraculous, and even

mysterious. It is not just rendition in the normal recounting or recalling,

but it is one that is defined by faith, and often invites the auditors toward

thanksgiving and to affirm and enhance the qualitative and productive

dimensions of faith. Therefore, such subjective testimonies are transfigured

within the communal space that privileges and endorse it through affirma-

tion and laudatory thanksgiving to God.

Such testimonials and personal thanksgivings are channels through

subjective narratives that affirm the objective delineations of the possibili-

ties of faith; and through these subjective narratives will evolve a strand of

the voiced and unvoiced narratives and aspirations f the community, within

the shared commonality. Their expressed faith and participative experi-

ence of God’s working through the material domain and ordinary human

processes help to shape the personal fortune and fate of the teller and the

community of worshippers. This medium also serves as a means through

which adherents immerse themselves profoundly within their faith and the

promise of the possibilities offered through the ministry and channel of the

church. Therefore, every testimony is a weaving of individual narrators

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into the teleological and ontological tapestry which the Church offers and

represents.

Further, the space of the presentation of thanksgiving allows for the

sharing and internalization of sentiments that enhance bonding. One per-

son’s testimony can be representative of the experiences of others within

their shared identity of immigration, spiritual journey, and the attempts at

constituting meaning out of their variegated experiences and even social

positions. Therefore, the space offered by worship, testimony, and the insti-

tutional idiom to which they are affiliated provides a vital and powerful

arena in which their shared material and spiritual journeys enhance the

realization of their commonalities as humans and believers, each sharing a

peculiar faith ethos invested with a mission, and reflects the identity of faith

as a constituted community of faith and existential meaning. More than

a community of faith, their shared identity also shapes them as a bonded

human community tied by their common spiritual kinship marked by the

blood of Christ that defines them as a living community of grace, called

upon uniquely to experience their humanization through the divinizing

power of communitarian worship, bible-study sharing, holy communion,

and its operations beyond the space and time of these events.

Thus, all testimonies are tools for the ingratiation and internalization

of faith both within the public and private domains of operation. Often in

his sermons, Pastor Omotola insists that it is not enough to act like a Chris-

tian only while inside Church, but that the dimensions of faith must resil-

iently resonate within the private boundaries of one’s ethical and ordinary

functioning. (possibly cite Jeremiah, or other relevant scriptures?)

This signification of a spiritual kinship is relevant to the establishment

of a perceptive grounding of how Pentecostal movements nurture commu-

nity, and how they function socially, in ensuring the adaptable integration

of their members within society, especially in alien lands. It is noteworthy

that while the RCCG integrates the Pentecostal paradigm, Pastor Omotayo

remarked that the RCCG transcends the different labels with which the

Church has been designated or associated. Therefore, he notes that while

there are diverse areas of shared correlations within the theological field,

spiritual practices, and organizational paradigms within the cognitive con-

sciousness, the RCCG defines itself differently by a set of its own ideology

and idiosyncratic modalities that are nuanced by its theology and ethical

stances.

Such unified fields of shared dogma with other Christians’ expressive

forms does not in fact preclude the fact that the RCCG is neither any of

these labels but rather uniquely and radically its own entity. In a sense, it

is somewhat all of these labels but actually none of them. In this way, the

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RCCG constructs its social identity through certain distinctive characters.

Given that social identity is defined by differences, the RCCG is a unique

phenomenon. Therefore, the distinctive arena that defines the RCCG

dichotomizes it with other cross-referencing Christian congregations and

denominations, as its identity is underpinned by the perspectives of its his-

torical development, values and orientations, which are amply stressed in

the RCCG form of spirituality and theology.

According to Pastor Omotayo, the RCCG, “is neither Catholic,

Anglican, Aladura, nor Pentecostal, but is rather what it is: the Redeemed

Christian Church of God.”

The identity of the RCCG is found within

itself rather than any forced associative set of correlations or categoriza-

tions. Such a perspective is spectacular, given that hitherto many scholars

have arbitrarily insinuated and superimposed the Pentecostal label upon

the RCCG. Nonetheless, Pastor Omotayo affirms that while the RCCG

integrates certain unified fields of Pentecostal practices and forms of

expressions, it is richer by such facts but remains uniquely its own peculiar

religious expressions.

Such statements are significant, given the fact that some members

of the RCCG had hitherto belonged to other religious affiliations prior to

their conversion experience through the agency of the RCCG, especially

its renewing and reinvigorating moralistic ideologies. For instance, Pas-

tor Omotayo often alludes jokingly, though indicating a truism and a sig-

nificant fact, to his self-transformation made possible by the message and

vision of Christian beliefs since becoming a member of the RCCG, in spite

and in contrast of his being an “Ijebu man who comes from Mushin,” an

area in Lagos, Nigeria, prior to his spiritual and moral regeneration.

Once, Pastor Omotayo noted in a sermon that he was dually a Catho-

lic and a Muslim prior to his conversion to the RCCG and from the worldly

ethos that sanctioned profane and amoral norms within his past. His father

was a Catholic and he used to attend and even enjoy the Latin Mass, while

with his mother, a Muslim, he used to attend the Mosque. Therefore, given

his ecumenical existential position and experiences, he seems more likely to

understand the distinction between these religious entities and their peculiar

religious ethos. Within this sermon, he noted that while the Latin Mass was

outwardly beautiful and the Moslem rites endearing they were not interi-

orly far-reaching. “They were not enough” he noted.

Therefore, the RCCG from this perspective is paradoxically all and

yet none of the a priori labels transposed upon it for the purpose of forced

definition and classification. Fundamentally, what is inherently at stake here

is the contrast between the meta-hermeneutics of the forced identity that

scholars impose upon the RCCG, and what at least from the perspective

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of Pastor Omotayo, represents the self-identification of the RCCG as a dis-

tinct form of Christian expressions in its own right. However, it is doubtful

whether all RCCG functionaries would subscribe to such views as Pastor

Omotayo.

However, there is much to be said regarding some of the paradigm

and idioms of Pentecostal spirituality that inherently subsist within the

RCCG, that is substantially also rooted within the formidable spirituality

that is identified within the tradition of its initial origin within the African

Independent Church, the so-called Nigerian Aladura framework. Within

this consideration, we note the preeminence of the power of prayer and

the role of the Holy Spirit in ensuring transformations of situations. It was

such emphasis as applied to Pastor Adeboye, prior to his conversion to

the Church, that led to his fervent conversion and eventual membership,

following the fact that the prayer guild members of the original RCCG

prayed upon him to surrender to Christ, in times of personal difficulties.

Initially, as a university professor of Mathematics, he found such orienta-

tions laughable, but once he felt the power of the prayers of the “illiterates

and poor people” who ensured his conversion, there was no going back.

The emphasis on prayer and having a relationship with Christ is an impor-

tant element of the RCCG, and it resonates within the sermons at the Jesus

House of all Nations, St. Louis.

The role of prayer in the RCCG defines its spirituality. Prayer is

privileged and both the pastor and membership have through sermons and

testimonies attested to the active way God works in their lives, in answer-

ing their prayers. As is normally the practice, the General Overseer, Pastor

Adeboye, disseminates his annual message and prophecy for each year. On

January 1st, 2006, the message of the General Overseer was read to the

congregation by the Pastor. In his message, he urged all RCCG members

worldwide fervently to dedicate the month of February to prayer and fast-

ing, so as to enable them have overflowing abundance of divine outpouring

of blessings.

This emphasis on prayer is also nuanced, predicating the outcome of

the prayer on certain dialectical norms. Namely, prayer is not supposed

to be one-dimensional, just requesting from God, it also entails receiving

God’s own list for oneself, and to take care of the areas of our lives that he

commanded us to work upon. Therefore, within this symbiotic relationship

and dialectics, prayer is tied to subjective ethical adherence based upon the

prescription of faith. Herein, such cognizant emphasis on the moral order

has salience for the production of good citizenship, and is thus potentially

valuable for helping immigrants through the internalization of the values of

their faith and spiritual practice, to live according to the moral requirements

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of their host community and to perform their civil duties as is required of

good citizens.

This fact is buttressed by Pastor Omotayo, while talking about mem-

bers’ financial contributions for the previous year, as the information

regarding these contributions were being handed-out. Noting that some

people complain that they do not need to be refunded what they give to

God, through tax returns, and are tempted not to fill out information on

the donation envelops, he noted that it is the requirements of the Internal

Revenue Services (IRS) that parishioners note all of their tax exemptions.

In any case, the point here is that such opportunities enable the pas-

tor to attune the congregations to the demands of American legal norms

and social requirements. In this manner, the Pastor is invested with not just

religious authority, but also becomes a civic instructor that helps the con-

gregation toward understanding the sanctity of the secular order and its

legal requirements. Thus, the religious authorities can direct the congrega-

tion toward their own social and civic responsibilities.

Such simple constructs like this have significant relevance in the way

social identity is shaped. Therefore, giving to Caesar what is material and

required, and to the divine what is spiritual and absolute, perforce we wit-

ness the subtle but powerful modes in which religious institutions and lead-

ership shape social identity, civic values and responsibilities, and in this

way act to create good citizens. Within such modes of acting, the Church

in furthering the interests of the state enhances its American credentials,

as through its reinforcement and endorsement of the ideals of the states,

it legitimates the state. In this way, civil society, including religious order

functions, in spite of the rules of separation of Church and State, engage in

ideological reinforcement of the existence of each other.

In furthering obligations toward respecting the laws of the land, the

church also enroots itself within the fundamental realities that define it not as

alien but as an integrated, albeit American institution. Within such salience,

the Church, as represented by the Pastor, becomes a model of performance

of civic duties, as required by law. In this way, therefore, the Church, despite

being made up of many Nigerian immigrants, helps to sanction loyalty to

their host nation and community. Another way this was done, was shortly

prior to Christmas, the food bank of St. Louis had written to the Church for

help toward enlarging its stocks, especially for the poor and for use during

times of crisis and emergency. The pastor once again educated the congrega-

tion on their need to be pro-active in contributing toward the food bank,

beckoning them to ensure their participation in the event.

Concomitantly, while educating the congregation, the pastor was

also noting that a church rooted within a community, while fundamentally

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spiritual and transcendental, must also be socially rooted as part of their

habitat-community, helping it as best as is possible within their resources

by aligning with the interests of the community in which it exists. In this

way, such a pro-active stance and drive has enormous and far reaching

implications in the mode in which it engenders members’ consciousness in

also aligning with their community and ensuring its interests.

Therefore, through various devices, cogent and subtle, the Jesus House

St. Louis helps to nurture the construction of social identity among its

membership, especially its immigrant component, as well as helping them

to ensure their existential integration within the spatial matrix and cogni-

tive dimensions of their host communities. In one recent sermon, Pastor

Omotayo noted the qualitative contours and necessity of the membership

to entrench themselves within their host society, encouraging them to tran-

scend the limiting boundaries cast by past negative racial and residential ste-

reotypes and other modes of hindering their conditioning. He encouraged

the adherents to aspire toward a high standard of existential and material

attainment and success in becoming whatever they can become, especially

within this year that is marked by the Church as one for the outpouring of

superabundant goodness.

Therefore, he urged that those who had to buy houses should not give

in to the human stereotypes that defines a certain imaginary line of residen-

tial divide, and mainly confining people of color, especially blacks, to the

St. Louis North Country. Further, he urged his adherents to seek opportuni-

ties according to their talents in different business arenas, and even hold-

ing political office. He noted that he sees his adherents being successful in

different areas of human endeavor, being their own bosses. In the process,

he also pointed out some who already are excelling in their areas of busi-

ness and occupational niches. In this way, through sermons and admonish-

ment, the pastor becomes a source of motivation and encouragement for

the adherents in the furtherance of their existential and material pursuit

and aspiration toward success and attainment of excellence.

Further, by pointing out successful members, the Pastor also offers

the image of real community models whose successes offer iconic references

on the possibility of what other adherents are capable of achieving in their

American odyssey, with the enhancement and empowerment of their faith

in God and believing in their own personal abilities to succeed, by working

hard. Thus, he noted that it would be a mistake for a student to prepare for

an exam by engaging in prayer without reading the material, believing that

God would provide a good grade rather than his own efforts. In this way,

the Pastor presents to the congregation the ideals of the “Protestant Work

Ethic,” which privileges excellence through determined and conscientious

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hard work. In such ways, the seed of excellence is embedded within the con-

sciousness of adherents in their quest for material and spiritual success in

America. Such sermonic admonitions are cast within the overall theme des-

ignating the year 2006 as one of “superabundant goodness or blessing.”

This point is also validated by a visiting preacher, an RCCG Pastor,

and physician, Dr. Sola Fola-Alade, from Sanford in the United Kingdom.

Pastor Fola-Alade, in a sermon entitled “Break out of Containment”, noted

that there are certain material retrogressions embedded within the spiri-

tual realm, where spiritual curses and other forms of demonic machinations

collaborate to affect human chances and upward mobility. Thus he noted

that from that day that through prayers and deliverance that the bonds

of containment, especially those veiled and bound by demonic actions and

agents, are unleashed. Therefore, he affirmed that his mission that day was

to break any such holds over all the adherents delivering them from the

powers of demonic curses that hold them in bondage, impeding their mate-

rial and existential pursuits. Speaking in graphic terms regarding the reali-

ties of most black immigrants, who feel constrained and overwhelmed by

economic and material forces, he related that in most cases such conditions

are a direct result of demonic curses, that represses people.

Drawing upon the passage of Judges 3:16, he related the case of

Joshua threshing wheat in a wine press to the circumstances of many Afri-

can immigrants and people of African descent whom he noted to be deni-

grated materially and politically oppressed for the greater part of modern

human history. Thus, he referenced the state of unhappiness that defines

the real experiences of many immigrants, including Africans who work

two jobs, who are underemployed, and who are traumatized between the

non-fulfillment of their pre-immigration expectations and their lived exis-

tence. Under such conditions, many find themselves stressed and burdened

by enormous economic straits. Such biblical passages interlink the diurnal

experience of many African immigrants, most of whom constitute over

half of the congregation’s membership. Further, such referencing to these

existential circumstances are not fixatedly pejorative, but rather projects

hope, offering a vision of contextual resolution that privilege liberation and

deliverance from bondage and are predicated upon divine providence and

benevolence.

The other part is the sermon by the Pastor, his assistant, or invited

guest pastors. Most often I have heard Pastor Omotayo preach, but I have

also been in attendance at services when a guest female Pastor, a sister-in-

law to Pastor Omotayo, also preached. On another occasion, a Nigerian

physician and Pastor of the RCCG church in Sanford, United Kingdom,

preached and conducted prayer sessions for healing and deliverance during

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the worship service. During this event, people were prayed over and brought

before the altar. At times, the manifestation of spiritual power made some

people tremble, others dizzy, and some even fell. This was not a usual occur-

rence in the weekly services; I often attend but yet it forms a core value of

the RCCG. Such prayer sessions are part of the evangelical and Aladura

heritages that configure the identity of the RCCG.

The Assistant Pastor, “Prof” Akawo, preaches occasionally. He was

the preacher and officiator on my first visit during the church’s Sunday ser-

vice in September 2005, while attempting to gain access to the site. I had

turned up in the church, after having previously discussed my intentions

with Pastor Omotayo on the phone. On this occasion, Pastor Omotayo, the

head pastor, was absent away on a trip to Florida. The church has other

ministries for children and young adults, women and men. These different

initiatives converge at different times and places. For instance, the Joshua

Initiative Men’s Meeting on one occasion passed out flyers regarding its

fellowship at a member’s apartment. Other ministries include conducting

prayers and fasting sessions during assigned periods of the year. Between

November 18th and 20th, 2005, the church invited a couple specialized on

marriage issues to lead a marriage seminar organized by the church. Finally,

like most kinds of evangelical and Pentecostal churches, including those of

African origin, Jesus House invests in a multimedia ministry to record the

weekly Sunday sermons into audio-CDs.

These provide a meaningful way

in which those absent can be a part of its worship community, given that

sometimes some members work Sunday shifts.

2. The United African Presbyterian Church

This church is relatively young. It evolved out of the Giddings-Lovejoy pres-

bytery of the Presbyterian-USA, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Jemimah

Ngatiah. Its majority adherents are East African, with a significant Kenyan

majority population among its membership of about thirty-five, though

more are expected to join. Some Ugandans, Nigerians, and even Americans

are found sprinkled among its large East African membership. The congre-

gation, from its earliest formation, attempted to crystallize certain residuals

of their cultural root metaphor, evidently African and specifically Kenyan,

along the spatial and cognitive consciousness that defines their unique iden-

tity within the American space.

As W.E. B. Dubois pointed out regarding the role of American Black

Churches as the social centre that defines the African-American identity,

the African immigrant church somewhat approximates a similar feature

within the modes of its functioning. Therefore, while the prescribed con-

centric identity is predicated upon a cognitive spiritual consciousness, the

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space constructed for religious and spiritual functions also serves as a

cogent resource and cultural center, whose meaningful impact transcends

the immediate limits of its religious embodiment.

The story of the emergence of this congregation is defined by the

diverse trajectories that characteristically alter social relations and interac-

tions leading to demographic shifts within American urban metropolitan

areas. This context equally affects the stability and even existence of some

religious institutions within these areas. Such facts of history and faith

are reflected in the sermon by Rev. Dr. Linda Shugert, Moderator of the

Giddens-Lovejoy Presbytery, entitled, “The Village”, delivered during the

ordination rites of Dr. Jemimah Ngatiah. She outlined the different histori-

cal factors that helped shaped the conditions that eventually induced the

formation of the United African Presbyterian Church in 2005. These fac-

tors were embedded in historical processes, especially those urban dynam-

ics that affected shifting population demographics.

Focal to these changes with their interactive effect is the outward

migration from the inner-central-city core toward outer ring suburbs. In

addition to these changing contexts affecting urban areas evolved another

phenomenon: the international immigration from non-western countries.

The in-migration of immigrants into abandoned central and older inner

ring suburbs produced new modes of thinking. The palpable effect of such

movements radically altered the local demographic landscape within met-

ropolitan areas of St. Louis. The convenience of the phenomenon of immi-

gration also favored the establishment of immigrant churches to serve their

needs, thus finding use for older church facilities.

Occasionally, we would see a different group arrive in our village,

like Taiwanese people or Korean. So we would start another village

for this group, but that didn’t happen that often. While we kept on

maintaining our village, the outside world completely changed. Neigh-

borhoods became integrated, not only with African-American people,

but people from the continent of Africa, Bosnians, [and] Latinos. Non-

denominational churches sprang up everywhere without staples and

pews. Many churches without organs to be seen were changing the lives

of people in various communities. The “scrubby Dutch” and Germans

in South St. Louis had to move over to make room for people that were

moving into their neighborhoods.

The Giddings-Lovejoy parish was in the process of discerning whether

to remain open or close, with the latter option more viable as a result of

a decline in worshippers, following suburban shift of its vast membership

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over the years. It was at this time that Rev. Jemimah Ngatiah, who was

already a member of the Giddings-Lovejoy parish, and his fellow East Afri-

cans came up with the option of using the church property for their African

services, and as a religious center serving the immigrant African popula-

tions around St. Louis.

The congregation was brought to my awareness in about the sixth

month of its existence. I accidentally became aware of its existence through

a colleague at work, Margaret Kihoro, a Kenyan Chaplain Resident then

training at the Barnes-Jewish Spiritual Care department, after her invitation

to preach at the budding congregation. Discussion revolving her preaching

incidentally brought this congregation and the pastor, Dr. Jemimah Ngatiah

to my attention. Luckily, I met Rev. Jemimah Ngatiah later at a hospital

farewell function for Margaret and her resident colleagues. Incidentally, I

sat at the same table with Dr. Ngatiah, during which period we discoursed

regarding the new congregation.

I. FAITH AND ITS BEGINNINGS:

THE NOW IS THE BEGINNING OF THE FUTURE

A dynamic and heuristic visionary, and never one to miss an opportunity,

she promptly invited me to attend her church, on the symbolic launching

of their new service time, which changed from 12:30pm to 10:30am on

September 18th, 2005 Taking my address, she sent me a letter of invita-

tion in record time. Thus, I obliged and attended the service on September

Figure 4-2. Rev. Dr. Jemimah Ngatia, Pastor United African Presbyterian Church

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18th, 2005. This event marked a monumental landmark in the history of

the congregation. It formally presented the congregation to the public.

Accordingly, the service was rich in symbolic meaning as a new congrega-

tion of African immigrants was publicly born. As the congregants swayed

and chanted, songs intoned in Swahili and the rhythmical swing and inter-

mittent jumping in between stanzas marked a spirited display of an African

spirit of worship.

To the tone of the music all present shared their joys marking a

sense of community. More significantly, Dr. Ngatiah invited Kenyans, reli-

gious and political leaders, and others from within the St. Louis area. The

Mayor of Rockhill, Missouri, Julie Morgan and her spouse were pres-

ent and introduced to the congregation. Mayor Morgan glowingly con-

gratulated the congregation and denoted her intention to partner with the

church in bringing about development in the area. Promising to do her

best in partnering with the church’s leadership, she affirmed the roles of

immigrants as agents of social progress. She offered the immigrant popu-

lation a true home in Rockhill. Finally, she enjoined the membership to

be good steward of opportunities and resources, while urging them to

observe the laws.

Other invitees attended from the neighboring state of Illinois, from

Bloomington, Peoria, and Chicago. Therefore, like at African celebrations,

those invited formed an extended family network, upon which Dr. Ngatiah

could draw upon for support for herself and members of her church family.

During the event Dr. Ngatiah outlined once again her vision for the church,

mainly centering upon the mission of evangelization and outreach to many,

especially among the African immigrant community in St. Louis.

The colorful service included songs, scriptural readings, presentations

of dignitaries, blessings of the church and new grounds, the commissioning

of the new board members, communion service, and preaching. Although a

lengthy service, it was fulfilling.

Rev. Linda Shugert’s sermon focused upon the theme of the village.

The village was a communal space where responsibility and accountability

was the norm, each person was responsible for another’s welfare. The vil-

lage was also a place of rest, as urbanites escaping from the vicissitudes of

the city, work, and life in general tend to seek solace. For Dr. Shugert, the

Giddings-Lovejoy presbytery, and the United African Presbyterian Church,

Rockhill reflected that spirit as a serene spot for all, aboriginal as well as

new African members. It was such a spirit that allowed Kenyan immi-

grants to be able to rush in. Therefore, while the Kenyan immigrants are

expected to change some of its characteristics, the mission ought to remain

unchangeable.

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This metaphor is powerful but equally contradictory, as it relates to

the experience of most African immigrants. Broadly speaking, most African

immigrants are discarding village lives and violating its serenity with moder-

nity. The village is hardly the spatial dream of most African immigrants

rushing into different global metropolitan spaces to partake in the divi-

dends of globalization, especially in the West. Returning home is not upper-

most on the agenda of most, for now. Some will never return to the village.

Regardless of this fact, there is often a nostalgic yearning for a serene space

within the consciousness of many African immigrants. They seek for some

sense of village life, a home within the city where they can enjoy commu-

nity and experience serenity. Partaking in the processes of globalizations

they sometimes experience dire frustration and hardship, and feel the need

to rest, supported by the community. Located within global centers and

embedded within its technologically advanced processes, they look forward

to transform their aboriginal villages, in both subtle and significant ways,

to adopt certain semblances with their experience of the global polity.

In spite of the above, the iconoclasm of the village is alluring, reflect-

ing a significant reality as the scenery of retreat from the maze of urban

activities, crises, and conflicts. It is in this sense that the sermonic theme of

village finds its appropriate analogical fit. In this sense, the church repre-

sents an arena of peaceful and serene existence. It contrasts with the diurnal

existential experience of most immigrants, engaged in the bustling of urban

American life. The Church’s space offers rest and serenity from the bustling

and fast-paced life as experienced in many western societies. Herein, they

can hear familiar tones, hear the tone of long-sung chants and speak Swa-

hili and Gikuyu. The local presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy represents such

a village as a religious sanctuary.

Within the specific opportunities of the social relationship offered by

such faith encounters, Dr. Ngatiah delineated her faith community as a vil-

lage, a reclusive space for loving and sharing, outside of the rowdy urban

space. By such symbolizations, the village is cast as a sanctuary, shielding

one from the diurnal vicissitudes that pervade human lives within the exis-

tential experience of the city. This village of faith provides an arena where

one person knows about the other, and reaches out to them in love and

with joy. Therefore, the pastor notes the significance of faith as offering

succor and as a spring of revitalization from hard daily struggles, especially

within the social and economic spheres.

It is a village also in another sense, within the segmented subdivision

of the vast Presbyterian-USA denomination. In this sense, it is appropriate

that the older inhabitants welcome the newer members into their village

community; as a community of faith and where they seek fulfillment and

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rest from the vast operations of everyday life. This sermon, within its poly-

semous form, coalesces varying idioms, making sense of the efforts toward

fostering the sense of ecclesial community. Further, it offers ways of shaping

and enriching the mutually shared but diverse experiences of faith among

adherents, builds community, and helps them to share immigration stories.

On another level, it begins to re-story and reinvent ways toward integrat-

ing and understanding elements of the spatial and political landscape, as

these dynamically frame the American urban landscape and reference the

construction of social identity.

Sermons like this bring faith into the open sphere, relating it to his-

torical and existential issues. In this sense, faith is relieved of its mythi-

cal power and ahistorical qualities, toward grounding people within the

conditions of historicity. Sermons predicated upon real issues and histori-

cal conditions serve as referential texts for real people living in a concrete

grounding of cultures and religious consciousness, packaging them in a set

of understandable concepts. Faith then becomes dispossessed of its abstract

appeal and is more concretely attuned toward anchoring and integrating

people within society. It is within that sense that the village becomes a

powerful paradigmatic metaphor. Specifically, the modalities of faith and

religion among adherents of this congregation must assert and affirm dif-

ferences as the condition for reifying their sense of social identity. They

must concretely aspire to integrate differences, but also to uplift their own

differences.

The village, as a responsible and accountable arena, offers contexts

not only for validating one’s cultural difference, but also of accepting and

respecting those of others. Within the crucible of the urban conflicts and

crises that tend to accentuate difference as pejorative, this understanding

of the village offers a rare way of critical self-understanding for the church.

In this way, the church can become the privileged space within which Afri-

can immigrants, by referencing their religious heritage, can become agents

of cultural appreciation and instruments of social change. In appreciating

their unique African pathways, the church can help them toward appreciat-

ing American culture and thus incensing the conditions for true integration,

acculturation, and even assimilation.

The historical conditions that gave birth to the emergence of this con-

gregation, in which a predominantly white congregation offered to Afri-

can immigrants the facilities and structures for operation, represents a

powerful testimony to the power of co-operation, Christian generosity and

a spirit of true charity. By affirming such values, the congregation can be

concomitantly equipped to not only support their congregation but also to

be alert to helping less privileged members within society. Therefore, through

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outreach programs that invest in social justice and community issues, the

understanding of the village as a place of responsibility and accountability

is likely to enrich the worldviews of these African immigrants. The vision

of responsibility and accountability also must be underlined by efforts to be

faithful to the multiple heritages constitutive of the history of the congrega-

tion. The congregation’s ability to engender new forms of ministry, liturgy,

rituals, music, and other aspects of church life, must equally be alive to

helping society’s development.

African immigrants have a repertoire of transitional experiences that

at times must can be brought alive toward vivifying the church and society.

In this sense, the installation of lay leadership affords these parishioners

opportunities to lead and organize within an American setting. In this man-

ner, African immigrants’ religious scenes provide opportunities for acquir-

ing leadership experience, which are capable of being utilized within other

social and public scenes. The memories and histories of institutions are of

some significance in this case. During the Women’s Guild Day celebration,

congregants drew upon religious and specifically ethnic memories that sanc-

tioned this practice. In this way, the United African Presbyterian Church

can be a veritable instrument in preserving the group’s cultural memories

and histories in bringing about social changes.

At the end of the service there was a reception with traditional

Kenyan cuisine, conversations and interactions among the participants.

Settling down to eat and interact, it was evident that the reception offered

a communal space for interaction. Religion, nationalism, and an extensive

network of friends and well wishers featured an invented community with

people gracefully engaging themselves in conversations and trying to get

acquainted. Faith offers a unique community, not only for the outreach

of grace, but as a community of encounter, care, and concern for each

other’s welfare. Faith offers a spectacular space where all are engaged

through interactions, sharing of different perspectives regarding human

realities, and offers of support on the journey toward the discovery of

meaning.

Such powerful articulations regarding the meaning of faith and its

reflection regarding the spatial configurations shape cognitive conscious-

ness as nuanced aesthetics, spirituality and religiosity succinctly offer immi-

grants that opportunity for creating relevant meaning within the perceptive

locale that creates adaptive meaning and supports the constructive site for

the formation of unique self- and social identities.

The Mayor stayed through the duration of the events, spending

time with the people. This quality reinforced the functional attraction

of America’s democratic values and the norms of democratic politics for

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African immigrants. Some members were impressed, noting that such act

was rare “back home”. Such actions depict the value of American democ-

racy unlike “back home” where occupants at any level of elected office act

arrogantly and oppressively, demeaning the people they are meant to serve.

American civic leadership and leadership act in partnership with other

aspects of civil society and institutions, to ensure people’s participatory

commitment to the progress of American society, and has already endeared

itself to some of the members.

The partnership between the fields of politics and religion in con-

structing civil society represents a focal expression of a true American ideal.

Power is not for its own sake but instrumental toward generating social

advancement. The visible presence and interests in this event also served to

show how a representative of American government validates the relevance

of the African immigrants, as well as their trust in their competence to be

creative agents of social transformation.

The next event was the ordination of Dr. Jemimah Ngatiah, as an

Evangelist within the Presbyterian-USA. Dr. Ngatiah’s ordination marked

a significant event. It was held at the end of a busy day, in the evening,

after members of the regional Presbyterian-USA from all over the Midwest

had finished their business meeting. Dr. Ngatiah’s ordination also marked

an epic historical event, as she represented the First African woman to be

ordained into any position within the Presbysterian-USA.

Figure 4-3. Ordination Rites (Laying on of Hands Rev. Jemimah Ngatiah)

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II. ORDINATION OF REV. DR. JEMIMAH NGATIAH FIRST

AFRICAN WOMAN ORDAINED IN PRESBYTERIAN-USA

Rev. Ngatiah’s ordination was performed in the evening of November 12,

2005, in the presence of family members, her church and Kenyan fami-

lies and friends. This event marked the first time an African woman would

be ordained into ministry within the Presbyterian-USA. Family and friends

traveled from as far as Texas to witness this event. The ceremony was col-

orful, interlaced with Swahili, Kikuyu, and English scriptural readings and

songs. Many speakers attested to the personal integrity and evangelical zeal

of Rev. Ngatiah, as a people-oriented and outreaching personality, empha-

sized as qualitatively essential for her evangelizing mission. Following the

ordination, through the laying on of hands by all the ordained ministers

present, Rev. Ngatiah was vested with the authority of ministry, supported

by members of her church family, her immediate family, Kenyans, and other

well wishers who participated in this historic ceremony. After Rev. Ngatiah

had been vested in the clerical gown, collar, and stole donated by her fam-

ily, the Giddings-Lovejoy presbytery made a presentation of a brand new

communion set to the new congregation to enhance their worship.

These two presentations gave symbolic meaning to the conjoined

spheres of different but mutual networks of real and fictional kinship,

one defined biologically, the others socially and spiritually. The signi-

fication of the presents reveals the mutual supportive roles each play in

validating the ministry of Rev. Ngatiah and those of the United African

Presbyterian church she represents as leader. From these different levels,

Rev. Ngatiah derives strength. In these symbolic presentations of the cleri-

cal vestments, the immediate family members of Rev. Ngatiah offered their

veritable endorsement of her ministry and spiritual functioning. In the

presentation by the presbytery, her church family offered to the congrega-

tion the ties of spiritual kinship defined by faith and community within the

Presbyterian-USA.

III. WOMEN’S GUILD DAY CELEBRATION

In late November, during a phone conversation with Rev. Ngatiah, she

invited me to the “Women’s Guild worship day” celebration the following

Sunday, December 4th, 2005. I obliged and attended. This event represents

the affirmation of the role of the feminine genius in sustaining faith. It is

predicated upon the real, practical, and significant roles that women play in

nurturing the Christian faith in Kenya. It also offered a space for mnemonic

recalling of the past and the role of women in their past pre-immigration

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ecclesial functioning in the Kenyan Church. Therefore, this event is more

derived from the Kenyan and East African experiences of the congregants

as an annual event that sanctions and privileges women’s place and as their

roles as relevant agents within the mission of the church. At the Sunday

worship, the worship was led by the women adorned with a blue hat, or

“tambaya.” They entered the church in unison procession, singing, and

dancing in African, especially Swahili and Kikuyu lyrics.

In welcoming and congratulating the women and the entire congre-

gation, the president of the church committee noted the relevance of this

celebration with reference to its occurrence in Kenya. Further, he noted

that women were creative agents and drivers of change, hence in Kenya

the establishment of the women’s guild also led to the emergence of the

Men’s Guild. Therefore, he noted women as the pacesetters, not only in

the events of the Kenyan Church, but equally in society. Such points are

vital toward understanding certain cognitive processes that shaped tradi-

tional social identity in Kenya, especially among the Kikuyu, who form the

majority membership of the congregation. According to Jomo Kenyatta, the

Kikuyu were an efficiently ruled matrilineal society prior to the existential

but forceful transformation of the leadership along patrilineal constructs.

Therefore, within the context of the statement made by the president

of the church committee, a vital cultural link interfaced with spiritual reali-

ties within a social framework that while surfacing within a Christian con-

text is transcendent to it, grounded within a cognitive consciousness that is

submerged within the processes of Kenyan historical or mythical matrices.

Mrs. Esther Moya, a Christian woman leader in Kenya and St. Louis resi-

dent, preached. Marking this event, she called upon the women to be pro-

active as previously in Kenya, especially toward furthering the evangelical

ministry they crafted for themselves, such as visiting the sick, the aged, and

pursuing other charitable ministries.

Memory plays a great function in the immigrant experience and its

religious imagination. Thus, Mrs. Moya nostalgically reminisces about the

role of the Kenyan Christian Women’s Guild in shaping society and spiri-

tual consciousness in Kenya, affirming their leading roles in the ministries

they carry out. She recalled how in the past ten years of her residency in

the US, she had nurtured a dream for this celebration of the women guild’s

day. In spite of her inability formally to participate in such events, wearing

her women’s guild headgear often commemorated the passage of such a day

each year. Memory and representation are focal to the sustenance of immi-

grants’ culture and identity. Therefore, she expressed excitement that with

the establishment of the United African Presbyterian Church, the possibility

of fulfilling a long-held desire had finally become a reality. She urged all the

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female members of the church to enroll in the women’s guild. In this way,

she noted that they would find satisfaction and become agents of evangeli-

zation within their homes, church, and society: “We shall have something

to do, even if we are in America.”

During the event, an African-American woman with her three chil-

dren, who had come to the church, was warmly welcomed and introduced

to the congregation. This woman had earlier on come to Rev. Ngatiah in

search of material support, and willingly decided to come to the Sunday

worship. The leader of the women’s guild welcomed her after he intro-

duction and offered her their support, urging that she should see herself

as belonging to them, in spite of cultural differences. Here too, while the

members of this congregation were defining themselves through peculiar

forms of worship unique to their experiences, they also exhibited the reality

of openness to others within the wider American society, imbibing a demo-

cratic and spiritual value of openness to all people.

After the service, two events were celebrated, namely the Thanksgiv-

ing meal and the reception for the women’s guild. The meal was prepared,

though using the symbolic thanksgiving turkey and salads, as a typical

East African cuisine. The meal itself offers a rich symbol, within which the

very celebration of a typical American feast—Thanksgiving—is radically

approximated and appropriated through East African cuisine.

3. Catholic Church, Institutions, and African Immigration

American Catholicism has often played a significant role in immigrants’

adjustment.

The Catholic Church was central to the lives of many immi-

grants into the St. Louis area, especially the Germans, Irish, and later Ital-

ians.

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ (USCCB) office

for migration and refugee services provides pastoral care for new African

immigrants and helps them adjust to the realities of American life. Addi-

tionally, they advocate for favorable immigration related public policies,

and coordinate national resettlement services for refugees and forced

migrants.

African Catholic communities, representatives of religious com-

munities, and other allied groups have also been pro-active. Many of these

have held various meetings toward helping with the pastoral care issues of

new African immigrants.

Officially, the hierarchy of the St. Louis Catholic Church has con-

tinued to favor immigration, given that its foundational features were tied

to previous immigrant groups to the area. Recently, Archbishop Raymond

Burke joined protesters to disavow the proposed congressional immigra-

tion reforms.

The St. Louis Catholic Church has certain institutions deal-

ing with immigration issues such as the Catholic Charity and its affiliated

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Catholic Legal Assistance Services. The Catholic Legal Assistance Services,

in a phone interview I held with Jasminska, an official in charge of immi-

gration matters, noted that their case loads for African immigrants in the

area is negligible. Personal experience has also proved to me that the qual-

ity of the work of that agency is poor. In 2004, following a request for

evidence regarding a personal immigration matter then with the United

States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), while referred there

to enable me to understand what was required, one of the attorneys then

almost complicated matters beyond imagination and was very rude. The

processes she advised were more detrimental than useful.

The St. Pius V Catholic Parish is one Catholic facility that caters

delightfully and meaningfully to the needs of diverse immigrants, including

African immigrants, in the St. Louis area. Their liturgy is equally inclu-

sive of diversity and multiethnic worship expressions, in creating a relevant

cultural and reverential space, enabling worshippers’ authentic encounter

with God, community, and among themselves in worship. Other than these

purely religious-ethos enforcing orders, there are also other social institu-

tions related to religious organizations that serve the African immigrants’

causes and needs. While, St. Pius V is not a designated a “national” or

“ethnic” parish or congregation, it nonetheless serves African Catholic

immigrants’ spiritual and religious needs.

There is no single African immigrant Catholic congregation in the St.

Louis area, like it obtains in Washington, DC, and the Baltimore, Mary-

land, area, Detroit, Michigan, Austin, Texas (here both Africans and Afri-

can-Americans have patronized the Holy Cross Church, whose three last

pastors have been African priests from Uganda and Nigeria respectively),

and in Southern California,

among several other places. Significantly, in

dioceses in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, African Catholic priests

have been specifically assigned to focused and specialized ministries with

African refugees and immigrants. However, as the area is enriched by the

presence of African immigrants it is anticipated that the Archdiocese of

St. Louis would pay greater attention to their pastoral and spiritual care

issues.

Such paths have been recently threaded following the consolida-

tion of parishes. The Archdiocese of St. Louis set aside parishes for His-

panic and Vietnamese minority ethnic groups for their liturgical services

and spiritual activities.

Unlike other dioceses across the United States, though St. Louis has a

sizeable African-American populations and even parishes, there is no office

of “Black Catholics,” “Black Evangelization,” or “African-American Min-

istry” within the Archdiocese of St. Louis. It is instructive to note that there

is a Lwanga Center, with a Dominican African-American priest, Fr. Arthur

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Opitts, O.P. African priests working in the archdiocese are few, mostly on

the fringe of parish life, as most are either temporary, coming as gradu-

ate students to study, mostly at the Jesuit’s St. Louis University and the

Dominican Aquinas Institute of Theology, or work as Catholic Priests in

the professional role of hospital chaplaincy.

Historically, the Archdiocese

of St. Louis, under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph E. Ritter in 1947, seri-

ously pursued the process of desegregation of its school systems and other

institutions, in spite of intense public opposition.

At the moment, the only foreign-born African priest assigned as

a pastor to a Catholic parish in the St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese is the

Congolese-born priest, Fr. George Kintiba, SVD, a member of the Society

of the Divine Words Missionary (Societas Verbi Divini). He is the pastor of

a predominantly African-American parish; St. Nicholas Catholic Church

located on 18th Street within a blighted area of Downtown St. Louis.

African-American or Black priests within the St. Louis Metro-area are

equally few. In the Archdiocese of St. Louis there are less than fifteen. Of

these, about seven are African priests who are mainly engaged in graduate

programs within the area’s universities and research institutions. There are

no known congregations or members of communities of religious African

women (nuns) serving in the area at this time. An African priest from the

Congo is serving in the vicinity of Granite City, Illinois. Other than this,

it is not known how many African priests or religious women are serving

or studying within the jurisdiction of the neighboring diocese of Belleville,

just across the River from St. Louis. It seems doubtful if there are any apart

from the aforementioned priest.

Therefore, the direct and intentional ministry at St. Pius V is momen-

tous, symbolic, and significant for most of the participating faithful. There-

fore through incorporating and existentially expressing the ideals of social

justice St. Pius V parish is cryptically marked as a progressive church dually:

ideologically and factually. Ideologically, social justice is a faith stance that

is theoretically interlinked with the gospel and the overall Catholic Church’s

ministry in the world. Factually, faith is lived as praxis, as in practice real

people are helped on a daily basis based upon an interventionist stance that

though an offshoot of faith and dogma is existentially pragmatic.

The two idiosyncrasies merge as faith lived in action. Within this

realm, the parish also offers non-liturgical or religious community out-

reach that includes fervent concerns for immigrants, including Africans.

Many African immigrants regardless of their faith affiliations have bene-

fited immensely from this program, directed by a religious nun, Sr. Pauline

Windell, CPPS. The Catholic Charity of St. Louis, and its associated office

of Immigrant concerns, at various times have also offered distinguished

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services to different immigrants in the area, including African immigrants,

helping them toward resolving immigration issues, and offering free legal

services and immigration representations on behalf of their clients.

The Lutheran Immigrant Services of St. Louis provides similar ser-

vices for different immigrant groups, inclusive of African immigrants. At

the Concordia Seminary in Richmond Heights, located in the inner suburb

of St. Louis, is a seminary of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. There

is a Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology that engages in outreach to

African outreach under the leadership of Rev. Yohannes Mengsteab, as mis-

sion facilitator for the New African Immigrant Missions.

4. Islamic Adherents and African Immigrants

African Moslems are contributing toward the social development and eco-

nomic vitality of St. Louis, in different occupations. The upsurge in the Afri-

can Moslem population in the area, it must be noted, is primarily a factor

of the resettlement exercise of a large population of Somali nationals in the

area, through the International Institutes of St. Louis, and other area immi-

gration agencies, following the political crises that erupted and decimated

the Somali state in the 1990s. Further, the Somali Bantu are among those

who resettled in the area. It is noteworthy to recall that about 12,000 Somali

Bantu of predominantly sub-Saharan African ancestry, in Kenyan refugee

camps, were offered refugee status in the United States given the manifest

ethnic discrimination and antagonism they faced in their native Somalia.

Many of these Somalis and other African immigrant Moslems are con-

scientious about their faith and its practices, and in spite of their dislodged

dislocations, especially from war torn countries of the Horn of Africa, they

have credibly adjusted and made St. Louis home, partaking in its affairs

while defining themselves. Some of these Somalis have attained citizenship

and are proud to be American, and many are grateful for the opportuni-

ties availed them by the American government and people in their times

of existential needs. In spite of being Moslems, different religious agencies

that cater to the needs of immigrants such as Catholic Charities and the

Lutheran Social Services of Missouri have helped many among this popula-

tion to settle and adjust to lives in St. Louis.

African immigrants in the St. Louis area are not only ethnically and

nationally diverse; they are equally varied in their religious and spiritual

orientations. There is a significant African immigrant Islamic community

in the St. Louis area. Most of these African Moslems come from Somalia,

Nigeria, Sudan, and Eritrea.

In attempting to enrich my research with the diverse religious experi-

ences and spiritualities of St. Louis African immigrants, I decided to include

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the adherents of Islam. In this vein, I contacted Imam Sheik Nur Abdul-

lah of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis. After some phone calls

placed to his office, we eventually connected following his return of these

calls. Our dialogue on the phone was very refreshing. My brief conversa-

tions with Sheik Nur Abdullah led me to conceptually visualize his quali-

tative assets and personal charm as a spiritual leader. He seemed to me

an energetic, charismatic and charming personality, who commands enor-

mous presence. These qualities I imagined ensure his status as an Islamic

and community leader within the diverse St. Louis Islamic and wider com-

munity. Sheik Nur Abdullah represents and embodies the notable role and

impact created by African immigrants in the St. Louis area. During this

brief discussion, Sheik Abdullah chronicled his journey to the United States.

Since 1990, sixteen years ago, he has been an area resident of St. Louis.

In response to my questions, Sheik Nur Abdullah, a soft spoken and

erudite scholar, sketched his story. Further internet research would support

his assertions. He recounted being a native of Sudan and immigrated to the

United State in 1978, after his Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia. He has been

a St. Louis resident over the last sixteen years. Prior to St. Louis, he led

the Main Masjid, Mosque Number Two in Chicago. Apart from his stud-

ies in Saudi Arabia, he holds a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the

University of Chicago, where he is also currently a Ph.D. candidate.

Sheik

Nur Abdullah is a busy person. Concurrently with his St. Louis duties, he

serves as the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and

is actively involved with different local and national interfaith initiatives. A

highly sought speaker within the Islamic national and international lecture

circuit, he was until his recent resignation as Imam, also the principal of the

Al-Salam Islamic School, attached to the mosque. He was also a sponsored

delegate representing the ISNA on a peace mission to Sudan toward finding

peaceful resolutions to the Darfur crisis.

This representation attests to the potent social validation of the civic

responsibility and social influence imputed into the leadership of the St.

Louis Islamic community toward participatory involvement in American

and international affairs, thus deservedly signified as a relevant agency

toward effecting social changes locally, nationally, and internationally.

Apart from such transnational involvement St. Louis African immigrants

both as individuals and as a group continue to utilize the idioms of their

faith toward sanctioning the ideals of their faith and American society.

Sheik Nur Abdullah is an ardent supporter of ecumenical dialogue

with different religious and civic groups. Through his stellar efforts and

deep insights he has furthered collaborations and ecumenical dialogues with

different religious groups and institutions. As a result of his social standing,

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he was among the area’s religious leaders who met with the late Pope John

Paul II during his 1999 visit to St. Louis. As the President of the Islamic

Society of North America (ISNA) and other Islamic and non-Islamic reli-

gious leaders he condemned the September 11th terrorist attacks on the

United States as uncharacteristic of the Islamic faith as expressed within its

laws (Sharia), traditions (Hadith), and practices.

In spite of such efforts, in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001,

Sheik Nur Abdullah had suspicions of having been under surveillance by

state security agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). In view

of these events in 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Mis-

souri (ACLU) on behalf of requestors that included Sheik Nur Abadullah,

wrote a letter to the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act.

Yet, while

pursuing his rights as a citizen entitled to freedom, he disclaims such efforts

as a waste of time and prefers not to buckle under any kind of unwarranted

pressure. During my phone conversations, following my joke that I was a

research and not a state agent, he responded waving aside such thoughts: “I

do not bother about that. Anyone who has nothing to hide need not bother

about such things. I have no skeleton in my closet.”

It is instructive to note that the first mosque that Sheik Nur Abdullah

ministered in Chicago and the St. Louis mosque, the Islamic Foundations,

were originally linked to the Black Muslim group, the Nation of Islam.

The quest of African Americans for religious and social identity had been

behind the saga of the Nation of Islam. The fissiparous occurrences within

the Nations of Islam, shortly prior to and after the death of the leader,

Muhammed Elijah, elicited efforts among some elements to align them-

selves closely with mainstream Islamic current associated with global Islam,

especially its Sunni and Saudi Arabian variant.

Aspirations like this, that attempted to interlink local expressions

to global currents, is at the root of the historical conditions that favored

an African immigrant and a Saudi Arabian-trained scholar into leading

the mosque into its heuristic vision of membership of the Islamic Ummah

(Community), first beginning in Chicago and afterwards in sustaining a

mosque in St. Louis, that is representational of the Ummah, given its inter-

national character. The choice of an African immigrant for the position

of Imam symbolically references continuity with the historical fact that

enslaved African immigrants were the first agents of the Islamic faith in the

Americans, including the United States. Unfortunately, the realities of slav-

ery eclipsed their ability to leave any lasting iconic Islamic legacy.

During our phone conversations, I introduced my research objectives.

The soft spoken, low toned, but evanescent Sheik Nur Abdullah cordially

expressed his willingness to assist my project. We set up an appointment to

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meet at the mosque for a Saturday afternoon. I felt gratified with intense

happiness. I expected to utilize his assistance and extensive knowledge of

his faith community to carry out my research, to build substantial rapport,

gain access, and tap into the insights and experiences of African immigrant

adherents of his faith community. Unfortunately, our appointment did not

hold. We were unable to meet; ever so busy with pastoral and spiritual

care, he was away performing one of the fundamental and noblest Islamic

duties, the burial of the dead, who was a member of his Musjid-al Duur

(Mosque).

As I drove to meet my appointment, I was captivated by the natural

ecology of the area locating the Islamic Center. Located within a choice

and priced locations within the West County area of St. Louis, I felt a sense

of cosmic harmony within the serenity of the scenic view. It was such an

experience of a natural experience of Rudolf Otto’s idea of “mysterium

tremndum”

It struck me too that it was by no accident that another spiri-

tual edifice, the Hindu Temple and the Mahatma Gandhi Center, was also

located within the vicinity. Here affluence melted with nature, as this area

too bespoke the caliber of adherents of these faiths, and significantly of

their ability to support their faith through enormous financial contribu-

tions, in building and boosting its outreach.

As I veered off from the main road, heading for the mosque and cen-

ter, I could not but experience awe at the magnificent architectural edifice,

with its luxuriant aesthetics coated in luminous white paint presumably

emblematic of the ideal of purity that is richly stressed in Islamic dogma.

The impressive tower rising from the building upward toward the sky

(heaven) reflects the merger of the earthly with the celestial. Together with

the Islamic emblems of the crescent moon and the star on the tower’s top-

most end I felt a sense of celestial aura. Informed that Sheik Nur Abdullah

would return to the Mosque, I waited in the lobby’s rotunda. Spending my

time creatively I rummaged and browsed through some of the free books

on Islamic topics placed on a table in the lobby area. I equally glimpsed at

various fliers, brochures, pamphlets, and leaflets regarding various themes

of Islamic events, topics, and community resources, placed on event boards

on the adjoining walls. Different fliers announced different events.

The people moving in and out provided a constant traffic and were

unceasing companions with whom I intermittently struck up some con-

versations. While waiting, I imagined all that time about what a vivifying

spiritual presence this African Immigrant from the Sudan commands. My

mind made mental maps and finally settled on comparisons that sutured

the present to different historical trajectories of the past involving previous

African immigrants to the West, and especially to the United States. My

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first thoughts regarded the forcefully enslaved Muslims who came here but

became dispossessed of their religion and its practices. Detouring from my

thought, I next recast a mental contour that juxtaposes the image of Sheik

Nur Abdullah with Abbot Hadrian, the Christian monk, originally from

the area of modern Sudan. Hadrian was greatly instrumental in fortifying

the structures of English Christianity in the 8th century. Juxtaposed thus,

Sheik Abdullah and his ministrations in the West made sense regarding the

contributions of African immigrants to different forms of organized global

religions over human history.

The parallel between the mostly forgotten exploits of Abbot Hadrian,

Sheik Nur Abdullah’s forebear to the West, became more lucidly crystallized

within this comparative portraiture, albeit along parallel religious paths.

Hadrian was sent as a missionary to Britain from his Italian monastery to

secure the Christian faith in 8th century England, and strove to build an

enduring legacy of the Christian faith through pedagogical means. The Cat-

echetical School he built helped to root Britain’s Christian faith. Similarly,

Sheik Abdullah’s religious work among the St. Louis Islamic adherents

included educational work and different didactic functions such as orga-

nized lectures, seminars, and symposia. Until his resignation in June 2006,

he was the Principal of the Islamic Al Salaam day school in St. Louis.

I toured the lobby, it became apparent that the center was big on didac-

tic methods, as different posters and fliers marked the presentations to be

given on different insightful themes by either Sheik Nur Abdullah himself,

or other invited Islamic guest lecturers, often renowned Islamic scholars

from within the United States and abroad.

As members trooped in and out, I realized the diversities of languages

they uttered, denoting in some relative sense the different nationalities of

which the Mosque is composed. This realization brought into mind that

the Islamic center is both a religious and cultural expression that is repre-

sentative of diversity and that reflects the universality characteristic of the

Islamic Umma; the faith community. Therefore, the center plays a globaliz-

ing role, serving to unify diverse groups without diminishing the essentiality

of differences. The Islamic center functions in this respect both as sacred

and unifying grounds. In spite of the expressions of diversity the essence of

the Islamic faith and spirituality bonds the community toward fostering a

sense of bonding and belongingness which uniquely marks the ideal of the

Islamic Umma. This intuitive awareness brought me to realize the global-

izing instrumentality that the Islamic religion represents.

On an individual level, I have met and discoursed about the faith

and spiritualities of African immigrants’ Islamic adherents, with a focus on

my dissertation. Most of those that I met are from Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt,

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Ethiopia, and Somalia. Many take their faith seriously. I have equally met

fervent African Islamic immigrant women. In the last year, I had met at

least three from Somali and one from Egypt who wear the Hijab

as a dis-

tinctive marker of their social, ethnic, and religious identity. Many young

and adult Somali women in the St. Louis area are noted to wear the Hijab

here, though not as popularly used as in Somalia. Many contend with the

derogatory attitudes such dispositions generate.

Islamic spirituality sup-

ports the daily aspirations of African Islamic immigrants. In my workplace,

I have met at various times some Moslem immigrants from Nigeria, Egypt,

Somalia and other African nationalities who utilize the chapel for prayers

either individually or collectively, especially for the Friday prayers (Salat).

This globalizing salience reflects the Islamic Umma expressed visibly

through its spiritual leadership as represented by an African immigrant. I

felt an inward sense of pride that an African immigrant can represent the

spiritual matters of such an organization. The fact that an African immi-

grant headed this organization is a testament to the capability of African

immigrants to excel. Religious spaces and the spiritual arena offer a critical

opportunity for African immigrants to prove their worth in urban Amer-

ica. The pursuit of the ideal of commitment and service to the commu-

nity, especially to the diverse Moslem community, epitomizes the leadership

capability of African immigrants in building community and institutions.

I instantly realized that Sheik Nur Abdullah stood not for himself alone

but was a significant role model within and outside of the Islamic com-

munity for other African immigrants regardless of their beliefs. Reinforced

by this thought, I expended myself plotting on the ways in which Sheik

Nur Abdullah would be useful in my exploration and incorporating of the

unique perspectives and experiences of African immigrants’ Islamic adher-

ences into my ethnographic schema. I had begun mentally to map the dif-

ferent structural and imaginary contours of my research. Even as Sheik Nur

Abdullah recently resigned from his position of Imam at the Islamic Foun-

dation, and was replaced with a younger Imam, Minhaj Uddin Ahmed, my

mind’s eye still has his place secure, while also interested in securing the

help and insights of the new Imam, Ahmed, an American-born Moslem

who completed eight years advanced Islamic studies in South Africa,

carrying out my research project.

THE PROBLEMS OF URBANITY AND THE

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS

The ethnographic study of African immigrant communities in urban areas

comes with a lot of problems. In general, the difficulty associated with

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engaging in urban anthropological research due to its large purview is well

known: “As every urban anthropologist knows, research work in an urban

area is very frustrating, simply because it is large and the population con-

siderable, even though in some cases it might be possible to demarcate a

nice little compact unit for observation.”

Such realities also handicap

the study of diverse and spatially diffused immigrant groups spread within

large urban areas, such as is the case with African immigrants in urban

America.

African immigrants in St. Louis do not have an enclave, and neither

are they clustered within a given region of the metro-area. Therefore, like

the St. Louis Chinese, the concept of cultural community aptly references

the African immigrants, given their diffusion throughout the metro area

while still uniquely engaging diverse cultural institutions such as churches,

mosques, and other cultural centers catering to African immigrants.

However, to fully engage African immigrants issues multi-sited research

the best measure for success, given their diffusion within the metropolitan

area. But in fact, this is difficult to do: it involves time, finances, commit-

ments, and other resources. Ethnographers’ site-switching and occupation

of between spaces leaves a transitional identity that sometimes affects the

research embedment within the flow of discourse and the current of events.

Researching each site within a designated time independently, before switch-

ing to another site, offers better advantages. However, it means that issues

of access and rapport building can intrusively slow one’s pace. In any case,

urban research with discrete and vacillating populations is a hard venture.

First, many members of these communities are leery of any focus upon

them, significantly, because some are suspicious regarding the ends to which

such studies would be utilized. Within the consciousness of anti-immigrant

backlash and profiling of immigrants in the aftermath of September 11th,

such fears cannot simply be ignored as irrelevant.

In fact, the mode of

coping with such phenomena also shapes the cultural repertoire of Afri-

can immigrants’ consciousness. Further, the vast urban ambiance of many

American metro-areas makes the locating of African immigrants problem-

atic. Immigrants’ institutions such as religious entities and businesses, like

grocery stores, restaurants, and immigrants’ associations within the urban

area, become the real spaces for locating African immigrants to engage for

any meaningful studies.

Therefore, the ethnographical method, while relevant for studying

African immigrant populations within Western metro-areas, especially

American cities, needs to incorporate other forms such as internet sites, web

logs (blogs), internet chat rooms, and other multimedia resources in which

African immigrants are located and which they utilize toward constructing

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their social and cultural identities. Therefore, the utilization of such tools

as archival resources, as spheres of textual ethnography, within which cog-

nitive epistemological archaeology could be done, would help to enunci-

ate the world of African immigrants. Autobiographies, biographies, ethnic

newspapers, church brochures and bulletins, calendars and almanacs, home

movies, photographs, and other printed and audio-visual materials can

yield resourceful information regarding the mode of African immigrants’

engagement and participation within their host environment.

In carrying out my research, one such item, an advertisement placed

in an ethnic event brochure of the Nigerian Day Celebration in St. Louis,

was helpful in directing me toward the Jesus House of all Nations, as their

contact information and time of services provided me with cogent informa-

tion. Hitherto, some of the Nigerians I had met and inquired from were

not aware of the existence of this church in St. Louis. One informant told

me that Jesus House Church once existed in St. Louis, but had relocated

to Kansas City, Missouri. In addition to participant observation and other

forms of ethnographic methods, the utilization of such sources has positive

salience toward locating and researching immigrant populations in general,

and African immigrants specifically. I have also found internet resources

and sites operated by African immigrant groups and individuals to be very

helpful and informative.

Further, multi-sited research such as this presents its own problems,

especially of time. For instance, the two Churches in this study meet about

the same time each Sunday; therefore, I have had to try to make appropri-

ate choices as to which and when I would attend any one of them to engage

in participant observations. In one Church, the use of multimedia, such as

CD recordings of sermons, has helped me to be able to catch up with the

text of the sermons for any particular Sunday. However, the subtle nuances

that actual participation offers is often lost, in spite of the usefulness of

such media.

CONCLUSIONS

This chapter attempted to present an overview profile of the African immi-

grants in the urban centers of the United States, with specific emphasis

on looking at the modes of their construction of social identity, particu-

larly through the utility of religious values, idioms, and institutions. We

attempted to present the mode of such engagements in a Midwestern urban

area, the metro-area of St. Louis, Missouri, that also overlaps with some

counties in the Southern Illinois area of what is purposefully designated as

the Bi-State area.

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Such enunciations flowed mainly from participant observation and

ethnography within two religious communities, with two variant popula-

tions of African immigrants in St. Louis. The Jesus House of all Nations

RCCG is made up mainly of Nigerians, and particularly Yoruba immi-

grants. The second, the United African Presbyterian Church, a congregation

within the predominantly Anglo-American Presbyterian-USA, is constituted

mainly of East African immigrants, and particularly Kenyans. In spite of

such nuanced demographics, these two religious entities are a diverse mix,

with the pool of their membership drawn from African immigrant nation-

als of different nations, the Caribbean, and native-born Americans.

Within this mapping, specific emphasis was placed on the role of

religion and spiritual resources in discerning the modes by which African

immigrants construct their social identities in urban America. This emphasis

derives from the noted salience of religious values and institutional frame-

works in reinforcing certain normative and spiritual values that help immi-

grants toward navigating and engaging different trajectories that modulate

their experiences and integration processes.

The African immigrants’ utilization of religion varies across many lev-

els. While some utilize African immigrant-initiated or indigenous churches,

others are members of mainstream traditional religious denominations and

sects. Thus, African immigrants are found as clergies in different Christian

denominations and congregations. Thus, an African Catholic or Episcopa-

lian priest can be serving at a predominantly Anglo or Hispanic Church,

whose demographic constitutions might be composed of very few, if any,

African immigrant parishioners.

At other times, an African priest might be serving at an ethnic Catholic

or Episcopalian Church constituted of mainly native-born African-American

adherents. The same can apply to an African Pastor of Evangelical or Pen-

tecostal Churches. Therefore, the lines of delineation are blurred, and that

makes any scholarship of discrete and non-territorially fixated populations

within American urban areas tasking. In spite of all these, religion is fun-

damental toward the shaping of African immigrants’ identity, as it also was

instrumental in the lives of previous European immigrants, whose spiritual

and religious legacy still dots the landscape of many American cities.

African immigrants in St. Louis are active agents who utilize religion

as a source of spiritual, moral, and existential relevance for their daily liv-

ing, in coping with diurnal stress, and establishing communities that are

vitally significant in ensuring their material and spiritual wellbeing. In this

way, African immigrants, whether in an African-initiated and predomi-

nantly immigrant church like the Jesus House of all Nations, RCCG, or as

discrete congregations within mainline Churches like Roman Catholicism,

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Episcopalism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, and others, creatively utilize

the religious idioms, values, and institutional opportunities privileged by

their memberships of such entities. In this way, the United African Pres-

byterian Church serves a predominantly East African group, specifically

Kenyans.

There is still a lot to be known about the realities of African immigra-

tion to American urban areas, and specifically into St. Louis. There is a need

for an on-going research, or body of researches that needs to chronicle this

population, especially the cultural formations they produce and reproduce,

that invariable structure that forms uniquely the social and material ecolo-

gies of St. Louis. The relatively fewer number and lower diversity among

the pool of African immigrants in St. Louis offers enormous advantages for

micro-level immigrant studies as representational samples concerned with

issues of African immigrants and their cultural potential.

Building upon this research, I intend to continue to explore these

issues in depth relative to furthering understanding the modal processes

responsible, and which situate the construction and sustenance of the St.

Louis African immigrants’ identity. This would also enable us to delineate

whether the notion of identity can be monolithic or multiplex, within the

subjective modes of individual actions and activities. I also envisage the

heuristic emergence of other scholarship relative to this population target-

ing discrete aspects of their cultures.

Overall, while some might argue that the African immigrants’ reli-

gious space might limit the level of their integration in urban America, I

argue otherwise, that religious institutions, while significant in shaping val-

ues, also attempt to root themselves within their ecological and social niche.

Thus, while enhancing certain past cosmological perspectives, they are also

defining their domains using the cultural markers of American societies’

tax exempt status, and these institutions also experience transformation

in establishing their own unique American character, even when bonded

within a transnational matrix.

Secondly, religious spaces represent just a singular purview among

other competing spaces that shape immigrants’ awareness, transverse, navi-

gate, and negotiate. Therefore, compared to the time spent in their work-

places, for example, the religious arena would be less potent in radically

altering the processes of their acculturation, and even assimilation, already

formed within their interactions within these non-religious social spheres of

diurnal activities and participations.

Thirdly, the cultural and religious institutions of previous immigrant

streams from Europe, such as the Irish and Germans, while offering services

to these immigrants, did not stop the process of the immigrants and their

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children’s integration into mainstream American society. Yet at the time of

their immigration these immigrants were denigrated and classified less than

“whites.” Rather, these religious entities actually helped to ensure the immi-

grants’ social and structural integration into American society. Hence, the

new immigrants’ religious entities are also less likely to impede the process

of their adherents’ integration into mainstream America.

African immigrants’ religious establishments resonate with the earlier

18th and 19th century immigrants in the kind of roles they play regarding

the adjustment process. Nonetheless, there are noticeable differences and

tensions in the focus, emphases and spiritual expressions between African

and African-American religious establishments.

African immigrants’ spiri-

tuality is focally religion-based, though expressed in other forms such an

naming ceremonies and other rituals that are not purely religious. None-

theless, different life events are expressed through the idioms of religion.

For instance, the Nigerian Ogoni refugees resettled in the St. Louis area

engaged the forum of prayers to pray for their survival from tyranny and

bestial death during the military dictatorship that dislodged them.

These religious entities and the values they reinforce represent a posi-

tive force in the adjustment, adaptation, and integration processes of Afri-

can immigrants, especially through their emphasis upon the performance of

their civic responsibilities and religious duties. In this way, African immi-

grant churches attempt to integrate their immigrant adherents within a

double or hybridized consciousness that sanctions and enriches both their

faith practices and ideals of citizenship. Therefore, while some refer to the

African immigrants as sojourners, and while it is true that many among

these immigrants due to modern technology are engaged in transnational

homeland activities, for these same reasons the blurring caused by distance

also enhances their propensity toward naturalizing and permanently resid-

ing in America.

African immigrants are easily adaptable. In fact, most African immi-

grants were urbanites in Africa before coming to the United States. Others

possessed experiences living in other Western countries previous to their

American immigration. Many had experienced long absences from their

rural homeland and agrarian practices, and were hence highly detached.

Given this scenario, there is little difference between a Nigerian living in

the United States and those living in Lagos, Nigeria, except for distance

and the frequency of visits back home. Such processes have made decisions

to adapt permanently to American life easy. In fact, the growing incidence

and frequency of the internment of many African immigrants in Ameri-

can cemeteries in recent years offers a certain proof in this direction. The

direction of African immigration remains to be seen. Whatever be the case,

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African religious communities such as St. Louis’ remain valuable in helping

us to discern the heuristic dimension of African immigrations to the United

States.

NOTES

1. Editorial, “African Immigrants’ Gains Tied to Values,” St. Louis American,

February 12–18, 2004: A4; Tavia Evans, “African Community Prospers in

St. Louis,” St. Louis American, February 12–18, 2004: A1, A7.

2. Hugo A. Kmaya, “African Immigrants in the United States: The Challenge

for Research and Practice,” Social Work 42 no. 2 (1997): 154–165.

3. Diana L. Eck, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has

Now Become the World’s Most Religious Diverse Nation, (New York:

Harper San Francisco [HarperCollins], 2001); Daniel J. Wakin, “Where

Gospel Resounds in African Tongues,” The New York Times, April 18,

2004; available at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/nyregion/18CHUR.

html.

4. Anthony Giddens, RunAway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our

Lives, (New York: Routledge, 2000), 34.

5. Most of my materials regarding this congregation derive from my site par-

ticipant observations and fieldnotes of events witnessed, including some

audio-video recordings of Rev. Ngatiah’s ordinations rites, including the

sermon by Pastor Linda Schubert and others. Mrs. Esther Moya during

the Women Guild’s day was recorded as audio. A recent newspaper feature

article regarding this congregation was published while I was at the verge

of finishing this paper. See Tim Townsend, “Native of Kenya helps Presby-

terians reach out,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 23, 2006.

6. Stephen Hunt, “The “New” Black Pentecostal Churches in Britain [1],” a

paper present at the Center for Studies on New Religion (CESNUR) 14th

International Conference, Riga, Latvia, August 29–31, 2000.

7. Asonzeh Franklin-Kennedy Ukah, “Those Who Trade with God Never

Lose”: The Economics of Pentecostal Activism in Nigeria,” book chapter

in Toyin Falola (ed.), Christianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays in

Honor of J.D. Y. Peel. (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2005),

253–274; “The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Nigeria:

Local Identities and Global Processes in African Pentecostalism,” Disserta-

tion zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades an der kulturwissenschaftlich Fakul-

tat der Universitat Bayreuth [Germany], 2003.

8. Field notes based upon Sermon of Pastor Femi Omotayo November 05,

2005

9. Darlington Iheonunekwu Ihenacho Ndibuike, The Struggles, Challenge,

and the Triumph of the African Immigrants in America, (New York: The

Edwin Mellen Press, 2002), 94–95; Kalu Ogbaa, The Nigerian Americans,

(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001), 14.

10. Paul Gifford, “Some Recent developments in African Christianity,” African

Affairs 93 no. 373 (1994): 513–34; Birgit Meyer, “Christianity in Africa:

Ethnography of Religion and Spirituality 147

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From African Independent to Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches,” Annual

Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 447–74; Cephas N. Omeno, “from

the Fringes to the Centre: Pentecostalization of the Mainline Churches in

Ghana,” Exchange 34 no. 1 (2005): 39–60.

11. Ruth Marshall-Fratani, “Mediating the Global and Local in Nigerian Pen-

tecostalism,” Journal of Religion in Africa 28 no. 3 (1998): 278–315.

12. See Paul Brodwin, “Pentecostalism in Translation: Religion and the Pro-

duction of Community in the Haitian Diaspora,” American Ethnologist 30

no. 1 (2003): 85–101.

13. Linda Basch, Nina Glick Schiller, and Christina Szanton Blanc, Nations

Unbound: Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments, and Deterrito-

rialized Nation States, (Pennsylvania: Gordon and Breach Science, 1994), 7.

14. The two airplane crashes referred to here relates to the Bellview Airlines

Crash on October 22, 2005, in a remote village in Ondo State minutes

after take off, over 118 passengers and crews died in the crash. The other

involved a Sosoliso Plane crash in the oil rich city of Port-Harcourt, on

November 19, 2005, killing over 60 young students of the Loyola Jesuit

High School, Abuja, returning home for Christmas vacations with their

families. Others killed in this crash, was a popular Nigerian Televangelist

and pastor, Bimbo Odukoya and a Catholic priest of the Spiritan Congre-

gation (C.S.Sp.), Fr. Alphonsus Obi, Pastor of a parish in the Nigerian Fed-

eral Capital Territory, Abuja.

15. Fenggang Yang and Helen Rose Ebaugh “Transformation in New Immi-

grant Religions and their Global Implications,;”American Sociological

Review 66 (2001): 269–88; Galia Sabar, “African Christian in the Jewish

State: Adaptation, Accommodation and Legitimization of Migrant Work-

ers’ Churches, 1990–2003, Journal of Religion in Africa 34 no. 4 (2004):

407–437; Benjamin Simon, “African Christians in the German Speaking

Diaspora of Europe,” Exchange 3 no. 1 (2002): 23–35, Afe Adogame,

“Engaging the Rhetoric of Spiritual Warfare: The Public Face of Aladura in

Diaspora,” Journal of Religion in Africa 34 no. 4 (2004): 493–521

16. Fieldnotes of Discussions with Pastor Omotayo at his Office, Jesus House

of all Nations, St. Louis, October 2, 2005.

17. Pastor Omotayo, “Breaking through with Containment,” Sermon at Sun-

day Service, January 15th, 2006 on CD, Jesus House for all Nations.

18. Asonzeh-Franklin-Kennedy Ukah, “The Redeemed Christian Church of

God (RCCG), Nigeria. Local Identities and Global Processes in African

Pentecostalism,” Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades an der Kul-

turwissenshaftlich Fakultat der Universitat Bayreuth, December 17, 2003;

Asonzeh-Franklin-Kennedy Ukah, “Those Who Trade with God Never Lose:

The Economics of Pentecostal Activism in Nigeria,” in Toyin Falola (ed.).,

Christianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays in Honor of J.D.Y. Peel,

(Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2005); 253–274.

19. Pastor Femi Omotayo, “Its All in Yorur Mind,” Rivers of Living Water

Sermon CD, Sunday February 05; also Personal Field notes containing data

of Participant observation, Sunday February 05, 2005.

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20. Ukah, 2003.

21. The use of modern media and audio-visual technologies in the productions

of new African Christian Church paradigms is well known. Though not

specifically focused upon audio recordings, the following articles provides

critical insight into broadcast, film, and somewhat multimedia—Marleen

De White, “Altar Media’s Living Word: Televise Charismatic Christian-

ity in Ghana,” Journal of Religion in Africa 33 no. 2 (2003): 172–202;

Asonzeh F-K Ukah, “Advertising God: Nigerian Christian Video-Films and

the Power of Consumer Culture,” Journal of Religion in Africa 33 no. 2

(2003): 203–231.

22. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, (New York: Bantam Books, 1989

[1903]), 136

23. Transcription of Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Linda Shugert, Moderator

of Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, at the Ordination Ceremony of Rev. Dr.

Jemimah Ngatiah as First African Woman Ordained in the Presbyterian-

USA, November 12, 2005.

24. Rev. Shugert, “Ordination Sermon,” November 12, 2005.

25. Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu, (New

York: Vintage Books [Random House], 1965), 8–10.

26. Mrs. Esther Moya, Sermon on the Occasion of Women Guild’s Day Cel-

ebration at the United Presbyterian Church, Rochhill, Missouri, December

4, 2005.

27. James T. Fisher, Communion of Immigrants: A History of Catholics in

America, (Oxford: University Press, 2002); Jay P. Dolan, The Immigrant

Church: New York’s Irish and German Catholics 1815–1865, (Notre

Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975).

28. William Barnaby Faherty, S.J. St. Louis Irish: An Unmatched Celtic Com-

munity, (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2001); St. Louis Ger-

man Catholics, (St. Louis, MO: Reedy Press, 2004): Gary Ross Mormino,

Immigrants on the Hill: Italian-Americans in St. Louis 1882–1982, (Colum-

bia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2002), 148–71.

29. Mark Franken, “The Catholic Church in the United States: Caring for the

Newest Immigrants from Africa,” Washington, D.C: Migration and Refu-

gee Service, 2004 available at http://www.usccb.org/mrs/talkafricapaper.

shtml; Catholic News Service, “Migration Advocates Raise Concerns,”

Catholic Spirit (Diocesan Newspaper Austin, Texas), July/August: 11,

2003.

30. “African Representatives Meeting Summary,” Office of Migration and

Refugee Services, USCCB, November 16, 1995; Rev. Aniedi Okure, O.P,

“ ‘Let’s Look at It Together,” Invitation Letter Regarding Joint Meeting of

African Priests and Sisters Resident in the United States, Jacksonville, Flor-

ida, August 23–26, 2001; Sr. MaryPaul Asoegwu, DDL, Letter: “Making it

Here Together,” Regarding Third Annual Joint Meeting of African Women

Religious Conference (AWRC) and African Catholic Clergy Association

(ACCA), Palm Beach, Florida, August 1–4, 2002. The 1999 Pan African

Roman Catholic Clergy Conference also dealt with similar theme “Who’s

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in the House.” This meeting focused upon African priests, religious, and

seminarians working in Catholic communities with African-Americans.

31. Matthew Murphy, “Immigration Nation,” Arch City Chronicle, (April 18–

May 8, 2006): 1, 15.

32. See Michelle Gahee, “Celebrating Strength and Community: Nigerian

Catholics Plan Milestone Celebration July 19–20 with Shrine Dedication,

Cathedral Mass, The Tidings (Los Angeles Catholic Newspaper) July 11,

2003: 4.

33. This kind of outreach has been stressed by the Roman Catholic Church

and specifically during the Extraordinary Synod for the Americas. The late

Pope John Paul II, emphasized similar sentiments in the document—John

Paul, 11, 1999, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America,

January 22nd 1999, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana): no.65.

34. Amanda C. Tinnin, “Archdiocese Sets Aside Parishes for Minorities,” Sub-

urban Journals, Nov. 30, 2004.

35. About five African-born priests are currently resident within the Archdio-

cese of St. Louis. About two are studying at either the St. Louis University

or Aquinas Institute of Theology. About one or two are in Professional

Hospital Chaplaincy after a professional course of accredited education

of the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) (see www.acpe.edu) after which

they are certified with any of the recognized certifying chaplaincy orga-

nizations—National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC), Asso-

ciation of Professional Chaplains (APC), and the National Association of

Jewish Chaplains (NAJC). For Catholics, including priest, the preferred is

the NACC. However, it is sometimes the case that Catholics and priests

have been certified by the APC. The professional competency requirements

toward certification exercise for almost all the certifying bodies are simi-

lar. It is also sometimes the case that due to paucity of Catholic priest,

and the general apathy of most priests to engage in a nine months to a

year-long CPE residency program (often divided into four units sometimes

three) within a clinical, but appropriately a hospital setting, priests with

some CPE (1 unit), often required for most Catholic seminarians on their

way toward becoming priests, may be employed for sacramental ministry.

Though it is an expectation to possess the CPE (4 units), it is seemingly the

case that more immigrant priests, especially the growing African immigrant

Catholic priests, are more likely to be made to meet the CPE requirements

standards for employment than their fellow American confreres, who are

often employed without the demanded burden of satisfying these require-

ments, and are often better paid than the immigrant priests with compa-

rable ministerial experience and often better educated including meeting

the CPE requirements.

36. R. Bentley Anderson, “Prelates, Protest, and Public Opinion: Catholic

Opposition to Desegregation, 1947–1955,” Journal of Church and State

46 (2004): 617–44.

37. “LCMS Mission Focus: African Immigrant Mission,” April 2003; available

at www.lcmsworldmission.org.

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38. Rachel L. Swarns, “African Lost Tribe Discovers American Way,” The New

York Times, March 1, 2003: A1, A6.

39. Phone conversation with Sheik Nur Abdullah. April 14, 2006. More data

emerged from a Tape recorded and transcribed project of the American

Culture Studies Program of the Washington University, in St. Louis—

Owais Ahmed, “Interview with Muhammed Nur Abdullah,” October 30,

2003, American Culture Studies Program, Washington University in St.

Louis, American Lives Project available at http://amlives.artsci.wustl.edu/

details_streaming.php.

40. George Jackson, “Local Delegates to Sudan Gain Insight on Crisis,” The St.

Louis Argus [Newspaper Vol. 92, No. 35], Aug. 26–Sept. 1, 2004: A1, A4.

41. American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (signed by Denise D.

Lieberman [Legal Director] and James G. Felakos [Staff Attorney]), letter

to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), May 18, 2005, “Re: Request

Under Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act/Expedited Processing

Requested”

42. Malcolm X and Alex Harley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, (New

York: Ballantine Books, 1990 [1964]).

43. Terry Alford, Prince among Slaves: The True Story of an African Prince

Sold into Slavery in the American South, (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1977); Michael Gomez, “Muslims in Early America,” The Journal of

Southern History 60 no. 4 (1994): 671–710.

44. This is the sense in which one’s emotionality is engrossed when experienc-

ing an enlightening and enlivening object—numinous-that floods the mind

and holds it spellbound. Such state of captivation ensures the intense align-

ment of the person with the essence of the object of attention. It repre-

sents a kind of epiphany, that manifestly inspire awesome rather than awful

experience. Some have also referred to it as “mysterium et fascinans.” See

Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy, (Oxford: University Press, 1958).

45. See Caleb Oladipo, “Piety and Politics in African Christianity: The Role of

the Church and the Democratization Process,” Journal of Church and State

45 no. 2 (2003): 347–48.

46. Hijab is the clothing adorned by Islamic women that covers their faces and

most parts of their bodies. Different Islamic and national cultures define

the style and modes of dressing in this way.

47. Pamela A. De Voe, “Symbolic Action: Religion’s Role in the Changing

Environment of Young Somali Women,” Journal of Refugee Studies 15 no.

2 (2002): 234–46.

48. Aisha Sultan, “Local Islamic Foundation’s Leader Steps Down,” St. Louis

Post-Dispatch, June 16, 2006; “Islamic Foundation Turns to Youth,” St.

Louis Post-Dispatch, July 08.

49. Peter C. Gutkind, Urban Anthropology: Perspectives on ‘Third World’

Urbanization and Urbanism, (Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum and

Company, 1974), 62.

50. A cultural community is defined as “”Ling Huping, Chinese in St. Louis:

From Enclave to Cultural Community, (Philadelphia: Temple University

Press, 2004), 12.

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51. George E. Marcus, “Ethnography In/Of The World System: The Emergence

of Multi-Site Ethnography,” Annual Review of Anthropology 24 (1995):

95–117.

52. Some Africans have suffered in the post-9/11 era. Given that the 9/11 Com-

mission highlighted some African countries as danger zones, some Africans

especially those who are Moslems have met greater suspicion. The case of

Sulaiman Oladokun, a Nigerian Student at the SUNY Maritime who was

rusticated and eventually deported following some arguments regarding

tuition with a school official is a case in point. Unfortunately, Africans, and

presumably even African Muslims, were victims of the 9/11 events. Two

South African Muslims heading to the United States for a conference were

denied admission and later both deported. The same was the case of Mou-

stapha Seck a Senegalese Imam and itinerant preacher, who was detained

in St. Louis in 2004 (see Aisha Sultan, “Imam Held on Visa Charge Near

Release,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July, 2004). Even the Nigerian-born

Akeem Olajuwon founded Islamic Da’Wah Center in Houston was named

to be at the center of a Federal probe involving a sting of donations to the

Islamic African Relief Agency alleged to have ties with Osama Bin Lad-

en’s Al-Qaida, an organization virtually accused of perpetuating the 9/11

events.

53. David W. Machacek, “Prayer Warriors: African Immigrant Religions,”

Paper presented at the Religious Pluralism in Southern California Confer-

ence, University of California-Santa Barbara, May 9, 2003.

54. Chris King, “They Survived Death in Nigeria to Pray for Life in St. Louis,”

St. Louis American, July 29–August 4, 2004: A14.

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Chapter Five

‘Born in the USA’: Dislocation,

Disrupted Kinship Networks, and

the Transformative Power of Music

and Dance in African Immigrant

Baby Naming Ceremonies

Sherri Canon

This chapter examines the adaptive strategies by Senegalese and Ghanaian

immigrants when replicating one of the primary African family ceremonies,

the baby naming ceremony, in Los Angeles. With the far and wide trans-

migration of Africans during the past few decades, family ceremonies such

as baptisms, weddings, and funerals have become more transnational and

multi-sited. Rituals and celebrations are often performed in dual or mul-

tiple locations in Africa and abroad, and often include “stand-ins” to repre-

sent important family elders or relations. In terms of performance practice,

immigrants’ notions of authenticity and appropriate behavior are constantly

re-negotiated in the diasporic performance settings. Ghanaian and Senega-

lese immigrants in Los Angeles formulate their identities as transnational

subjects by alternately adapting to and resisting assimilation into the host

society. On the one hand, immigrants adapt their rituals and celebrations to

the constraints and limitations of the foreign surroundings, making subtle

or significant changes to the rituals. On the other hand, immigrants Afri-

canize the landscape and soundscape of their surroundings to ensure ritual

efficacy, in both religious and social terms.

My focus is on the ethnomusicological issues of performance and

identity during diasporic naming ceremonies. When African immigrants

perform locally meaningful styles of music, dance, poetics, and praise at

baby naming ceremonies, they create boundaries around like-identified

groups, re-inscribe ethnic and national identities, reinforce social relation-

ships, and accentuate the kinship ties between extended families across

the Atlantic. At the same time, immigrants sometimes resist expected or

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appropriate behavior in order to assert newfound freedoms, away from the

watchful gaze of family elders. To compare the various strategies of identity

negotiation and cultural retentions during diasporic naming ceremonies,

I present three case studies from Los Angeles, including ceremonies by a

Ghanaian Christian family, a Ghanaian Muslim family, and a Senegalese

Mouride family. One thing that these ceremonies share is that they were

videotaped by family or community members, with copies of the video-

tapes made available to family and friends across the Diaspora. Videotaped

media have become a critical feature of modern transnational African cer-

emonies and thus, have figured prominently into my research and analysis.

DISLOCATION AND DISRUPTED KINSHIP NETWORKS

Ghanaian scholar John Arthur writes, “To the majority of African immi-

grants, the journey to America is a family’s investment in its future.”

Simi-

lar to other immigrants in America’s past and present, Africans have come

to the U.S. seeking educational and economic advancement and to escape

certain limiting conditions in their countries of origin. However, contrary

to the trope of rugged individualism that informs the American journey,

Africans use the opportunity to advance the security and well-being of

their extended families and kinship networks back home. In other words,

their success or failure in America represents the success or failure of an

extended family (Arthur 2000). While much has been said about the del-

eterious effects of the brain drain in West Africa, fewer reports have exam-

ined the extensive contributions made by African immigrants living abroad

to their countries of origin. Recently, Ghanaian president John Kufuor,

addressing an audience of Ghanaian immigrants in Los Angeles, reported

that the remittances from immigrants abroad currently comprise the larg-

est source of income in Ghana.

For the purposes of this study, I draw out

themes of dislocation and disrupted kinship networks to better understand

the identity negotiations at play during family ceremonies.

African immigrants in the U.S. face a unique set of challenges with

the birth of a child in America. On the positive side, a child is considered

a blessing to a family and represents an increase in the status of the family

as an extended social unit. Also, the majority of African immigrants believe

that a child born in America will have more opportunities than in Africa,

which ultimately signifies an increase in the family’s investment. However,

in terms of raising a child in the U.S., immigrant parents express concern

that American culture threatens their traditional African social and familial

values. They feel they must compete with the popular media, which valo-

rizes individualism and consumerism, portrays youths disrespecting elders,

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and represents blacks as criminals and outcasts. African children also

become victims of discrimination and negative stereotypes about Africa in

the schools. In response to excessive ostracizing, African children tend to

assimilate into the “Black melting pot” of African American culture. This

concerns African parents who believe that associating with African Amer-

ica offers fewer economic and social opportunities for black immigrants

in the long run. To counteract these threats of identity crisis and “down-

ward assimilation,” African immigrants attempt to discipline their children

according to their own traditional social values and limit their exposure to

American media. Some families resort to sending their children home to

Africa to be schooled and socialized and then have them return when they

are of age to attend university.

Against this backdrop, a baby naming ceremony in the Diaspora is

a potentially conflicted event for immigrant parents. To fully grasp the

conflicts, it is necessary to introduce the key components and cultural sig-

nificance of the naming rite in many West African societies. The baby nam-

ing rite is a social arena for publicizing the name of a newborn child to

a family and a community. The act of naming establishes the identity of

the child within the ethnic group, clan, and kinship network. The name

selected for a child is believed to not only influence the child’s disposition

and behavior, but reflect on the quality and character of the entire family.

Following a birth, it is customary to leave a baby and mother in seclusion

during the first week of its life to ensure the protection of the mother and

child, both physically and spiritually. The naming rite marks the end of the

period of seclusion and introduces the baby to the community. During the

naming ceremony, families perform a series of symbolic rites that provide

further spiritual protection for the child. Following the naming rite, there

is a large-scale public celebration to introduce the baby to the community,

which includes traditional and popular music, dancing, feasting, and gift

exchange.

The case studies below will illustrate various adaptive strategies, cul-

tural retentions, and resistance by immigrants from Ghana and Senegal in

Southern California. While these groups have different social histories and

cultural expressions, they share the practice of naming their babies in a

religious rite and introducing the infant in a community-wide celebration.

How do immigrant parents reconcile their anxieties of being away from

home regarding their child’s first ever lifecycle ritual? How do immigrants,

who belong to kinship-based social systems which uphold a host of cus-

tomary and religious rites, familial obligations, and age group responsibili-

ties, manage to reproduce the naming ceremony in a style that will ensure

the newborn’s spiritual protection and introduction into the community? In

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terms of performance practice, how are immigrants’ notions of authenticity

and appropriate behavior re-negotiated in the host society?

GHANAIAN CHRISTIAN NAMING CEREMONY

AND OUTDOORING

In Ghana, the baby naming rite is traditionally performed at the home of

the parents in the early morning on the seventh day of the baby’s birth. The

rite is officiated by a family elder, who reveals the name to the baby and

to the family and friends in attendance. This is followed by prayers and

customary rites that instruct the infant on proper codes of behavior such as

honesty, hard work, and respect for others. Recently, Ghanaian Christians

have appropriated this traditional naming rite into a church setting, known

as a baby dedication (asubø in Akan). The baby dedication differs from a

Protestant or Catholic baptism, which involves water as a sign of initiation

into the religious faith. Situated towards the end of a regular Sunday church

service, the baby dedication is officiated by the pastor, who publicizes the

baby’s name to the congregation, prays for the infant’s health, long life, and

prosperity, and requests a special offering of money to benefit the baby.

One such dedication took place in an African immigrant Pentecos-

tal church in an area of town known as Beverly Hills Adjacent in August

of 2003. The service consists of an hour of music from the gospel band,

or “praise team” (which included myself on drumset), the sermon, more

singing, and prayers. Towards the end of the service, the pastor announces

the baby dedication, and requests that the family come to the front of the

sanctuary. The mother and father come forward with the baby girl, dressed

in a white christening gown, and face the pastor. They are surrounded by

a dozen family members dressed in Western-style suits and formal dresses.

The pastor asks the praise team to play a song while he prays. The band

quickly peruses their set list from the beginning of the service and selects a

slow worship song appropriate to the occasion. Holding the baby, the pas-

tor prays for blessings for the young daughter, mentioning her by name,

and welcomes her into the church community. He then dots the infant’s

forehead and crown with olive oil from a small crystal bottle, as he softly

chants a prayer to Jesus Christ. A prominent feature in Pentecostal healing

and dedication practices, olive oil is regarded as a symbol of the Holy Spirit

and a powerful medium for consecrating people and objects.

As the pas-

tor prays aloud, the praise team continues to play and sing worship songs

softly in the background.

At the end of the dedication, a special offering is collected for the baby

and family. The praise team switches gears and plays a quick tempo highlife

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song, while the congregation forms two lines, dancing in a procession

towards the basket at the center of the room. As each person approaches

the basket, they discreetly drop their offering inside and dance back to their

seats.

Later that afternoon, the family hosts the outdooring at the parents’

apartment in South Los Angeles. In Ghanaian culture, the term “outdoor-

ing” literally signifies the first time the baby is brought out of doors, to

the community-wide celebration. Inside the small apartment, the sofas and

chairs have been pushed against the walls, opening up the center of the

room for dancing. Gospel highlife music blasts from the home stereo. The

ladies of the house pass through the living room with trays of sodas and

Heineken to offer the guests. So far, the guests are sitting quietly or talking

intermittently among themselves. Soon I discover that the festivities cannot

officially begin until the elder man of the family arrives to pour libations.

One man goes to the back bedroom and changes out of his casual clothes

into a wrap of screen printed cloth folded down around his waist. After

pouring some liquor into a small glass, the old man steps onto the thresh-

old of the front door and pours libations outside onto the front stoop. Each

time he dribbles a few drops onto the stoop, he chants a call to the ances-

tors. Outside, a young man is videotaping.

Now that the ceremony has officially been opened, the guests begin

to dine and dance. The dining table is spread with a buffet of large alu-

minum tins of Ghanaian food, and guests load up their paper plates with

fufu and groundnut soup, rice and fish, banku and okro soup, and fried

plantain. The highlife music continues in the background as people eat.

One of the guests, from Côte d’Ivoire, asks permission to play some other

music on the stereo and fetches a tape of Congolese soukous music from

his car. The soukous plays for a while, but does not inspire any dancing

from the guests. After awhile, one of the male family members puts on

another tape of highlife music and soon, nearly all the guests are dancing

in the middle of the living room. Women and young men form tight circles

and take turns going to the center of the small circle to dance and then

retreat to the outer circle. One young woman brings the baby girl into the

circle and dances with her. Holding the baby, she gently manipulates her

limbs to the music. Then the father holds the baby and bounces her to the

two-pulse highlife rhythms. This activity not only teaches the child from

the earliest age how to interpret and move to the rhythms of the national

music. It also sends information to the child about the value of music and

dance in a social setting. The circle dissolves into couples dancing between

persons of opposite gender and same gender. The dancing continues into

the night.

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Naming ceremonies are sites at which Ghanaian immigrants cre-

atively negotiate religious and traditional performance practices. This Akan

baby dedication exhibits some of these creative negotiations. The first issue

involves the syncretization of traditional and Christian practices, which are

evident in the use of music and dance during the baby dedication. Tradi-

tionally, among the Akan and other ethnic groups, there is no music during

the early morning naming rite, however, there is much music and danc-

ing during the outdooring. In the case of an asubø (baby dedication), the

naming rite has been appropriated into a Christian church context, and

therefore, music and dance are central, because the church, particularly the

Pentecostal denomination, regards music and dance as key components of

worship.

The second issue involves the creative negotiation of traditional rites,

such as pouring libations, with Christianity. Within these negotiations,

certain traditional practices continue to be contested. Today, Ghanaian

Christians are divided over the practice of pouring libations in ceremonies.

Without condemning traditional cultural practices wholesale, some Chris-

tians view certain traditional aspects of the naming ceremony as running

counter to their religious path. The prohibition over pouring libations is

rooted in Western missionary ideology that conflated African traditional

religious practices with demonic worship and fetishism. Using liquor for

libations and symbolic rites were misunderstood by missionaries as a

satanic practice, given liquor’s potency for communicating with beings in

the spirit world. Other Ghanaian Christians refuse to abandon traditional

rituals such as pouring libations because of its deep association with the

interactive relationship between living beings and ancestors, a cornerstone

of Ghanaian traditional cosmology and an important indicator of cultural

identity.

To negotiate between the prohibitions of the received religion and tra-

ditional religious practice, Ghanaian immigrants devise new ways of per-

forming their rites that are spiritually and emotionally satisfying. In some

cases, they adapt Christian concepts into otherwise traditional performance

contexts, in effect “assimilating Christianity into their own world.”

Chris-

tians who choose to pour libations often diffuse the fetish aspect by using

water rather than liquor. Using water for pouring libation de-activates the

magical element and renders the activity merely symbolic. The Akan prov-

erb, “AdeE a yEde nsa yE no, yen mfa nsuo nyE!” meaning, “You can’t use

water to do something that requires liquor,” indicates that pouring water

for libations lacks the power to invoke the ancestral spirits since ancestors

demand liquor to drink. Also, Ghanaian Christians associate water with

Jesus’ life and power.

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In other cases, people keep the religious and traditional rites separate

by performing them at different locations. As the case study above illus-

trates, a family may perform the asubø in the church and later perform the

outdooring in the home where a family elder may pour libations to honor

the ancestors. This strategy allows the family to conform to Christian ethics

and prohibitions and at the same time, appease the ancestors by continuing

a tradition that is central to kinship-based rites.

GHANAIAN MUSLIM NAMING CEREMONY

AND OUTDOORING

In a Los Angeles hospital on Halloween night 2001, an African American

woman has just given birth to a baby girl. The father, a recent arrival from

Ghana, picks up his baby and whispers in her right ear the adhan, or Call

to Prayer:

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

Ash-hadu alla ilaha illa-llah (etc.)

In her left ear, he recites the iqamah, or Standing for Prayer. Then he

whispers in Chamba:

Siyeedi Hibah. You shall be known as Hibah.

In Chamba culture, the child is the only one privileged to know her

name until the formal naming ceremony in seven days. The practice of

revealing the name first to the newborn is common to many northern Gha-

naian ethnic groups, including Hausa and Konkoba, but contrasts that of

most southern ethnic groups, including Asante, Ga, Fante, and Ewe, who

regard a newborn as a visitor during its first week of life and thus, conceal

the name until the official naming ceremony.

When they arrive home, the father spreads shea butter over the infant’s

body to protect her from evil spirits and the evil eye. He only regrets that

hospital policy has prevented him from taking away the placenta, which

he would have buried in the ground, a custom with both Islamic and tra-

ditional African roots. Seven days later, the father invites a few friends to a

naming ceremony at a mosque, where the imam announces the baby’s name

and prays for her health and long life. Afterwards, the guests gather in the

modest reception room to have refreshments and listen to tapes of Ghana-

ian music. But for the father, this is only a makeshift gesture, a place holder.

He later tells me, “Because it’s so important to have this rite, I sent the

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information home [to Ghana] that I want them to do the naming ceremony

at home for her, and that they should tape it and send it to me, so when she

grows up she will see the difference of how it’s done back home and what

they do here. It’s so big, honestly.”

Thus, the videotape of the naming ceremony performed in the absence

of the father, mother, and baby, will serve as the infant’s official naming

ceremony. The video, taped in a small town near Accra, opens with several

women wearing screenprint dresses and headgear in green, purple, and red,

sitting in a tight circle over a large aluminum basin of small red tomatoes.

They are preparing enough rice, fish stew, and tuo (fufu made of corn or

millet) to feed everyone who will stop by throughout the day. Several boys

are tying up the front and back legs of a sheep and then carry it toward a

hole they have dug in the ground. One boy grabs a ribbon of skin along the

animal’s neck and cuts straight through, allowing the blood to pour into

the hole. The sheep twitches, then lies lifeless, as the words “Happy Birth-

day” superimpose over the screen.

The next morning, the men and women gather at the mosque to per-

form the naming rite. In the front room, the men sit quietly on rugs against

a bright green wall. A silver tray of cedi notes and candies and a bowl of

kola nuts are placed on the floor. The imam chants the announcement of

the child’s name, “Hibah,” three times. Then each man in turn prays aloud

as the room responds “Amee.” After a brief sermon by the imam, the men

spill out into the compound outside to eat from communal bowls of millet

and meat stew served by the women.

The mood back at the family compound is light and celebratory for

the outdooring. Dozens of people mill about talking, laughing, and visiting.

Under a tarp, escaping the dry sunlight, four drummers play two longa,

small hour-glass shaped tension drums, and two digonga, double-headed

bass drums, beating out proverbial language in praise of the child and her

family line. Several people dance forward and paste money on the drum-

mers’ foreheads and then dance into a loose circle formation. One bucci

(praise song) praises Hibah’s father’s clan, which established the village in

northern Ghana where they originate. The song celebrates the idea that if

everyone in the village were to die, the village would still belong to the

clan.

Bani bikpe ki to, (Even if everybody dies)

binse ndo, (They own the village).

One elder woman dances to the center of the loose circle, bends

sharply at the waist, and accentuates the drum rhythms with her hips and

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behind. She gestures with her hands and feet to the right, left, up, and

down, signifying the village’s magnitude and importance. The buccis, both

drummed and sung, celebrate the valor and warrior aspect of the Chamba

people, the heroics of the family’s clan, and other notable activities in the

village. These songs “place” the guest of honor, the child Hibah, who is not

actually present, but regarded as a member of the lineage, in a regional and

historical context of kinship.

As this case study illustrates, new arrivals to America sometimes

struggle with their inability to properly perform a baby naming ceremony.

In this case, the immigrant asked his family members in Ghana to perform

the ceremony in his absence and videotape it, in order to ensure ritual effi-

cacy. This relates to a second issue, which is the use of videotapes in rituals

and celebrations. As videos of naming rituals circulate around the Diaspora,

the distance between extended families collapses. As we have seen from the

video, the family celebrates the baby’s birth by situating the newborn in a

complex of familial relationships, which are expressed through proverbial

drum language, songs, and dances. Although the baby and her parents are

not present during this ritual and celebration, the video will serve as her

official naming ceremony.

A SENEGALESE MOURIDE BAPTÊME (BAPTISM)

Similar to other Senegalese immigrant enclaves in New York, Paris, and

Milan, the community in Los Angeles consists largely of disciples of the

Mouride order. Mouridism is a Sufi brotherhood (or tariqa) particular to

Senegal that revolves around the teachings of its founder and saint, Cheikh

Amadou Bamba. Today, the majority of Mourides work as merchants in

the bustling downtown markets of urban centers, selling luxury items such

as hats, sunglasses, and watches. Many of the wives of Mouride merchants

work as hair braiders. It should be noted that not all Mourides are mer-

chants and not all merchants, Mouride.

In March of 2003, a Wolof Mouride couple hosted an ngente, or baby

naming ceremony, also known as baptême (French for baptism), in their

apartment in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles. In Senegal, the Wolof

naming ceremony is performed in two segments—the religious ritual, which

occurs on the morning of the seventh day after the baby’s birth, and the

cultural celebration, which is geared towards women and features tradi-

tional and popular music, dancing, feasting, and a systematic form of gift

exchange among the women, called ndowtel.

At the naming rite in Los Angeles, the living room is filled with men

seated quietly on sofas and available floor space. The women are a few

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feet away in the kitchen preparing the traditional breakfast of ‘lah (a warm

cereal, or porridge). The family has hired a Senegalese videographer to

record the ngente. The video captures the following events: First, the local

leader of the Mouride community holds the baby and leans in to pray qui-

etly, blowing the prayer toward the infant. He passes the baby to the imam,

who follows suit, and then announces the name of the child to the crowd.

Then, each man in turn holds the baby and whispers a blessing and softly

spits it toward the infant. Senegalese Muslims believe that the words of a

prayer are imbued with a visceral power, which is transferred by blowing

or spitting the prayer onto another person or oneself by wiping the hands

on one’s face.

The celebration takes place later that day at the apartment reception

hall. While the women dance to mbalax music in a large circle around the

birthmother, the men sit off to the side, eating and discussing matters of

their own interest. The women take turns going to the center of the circle

to dance a flashy, sometimes explosive solo dance, and then quickly retreat

to the outer circle. Each new song initiates a new dance movement and the

women impress one another with their movements in a spirit of intimacy

and relaxed glee.

At one point, the géwël women (those of the praise singer, musician,

historian caste) hover around the seated géer ladies (those of the noble or

free-born caste). The géwël clap straight beats and chant a praise song tar-

geted to the birthmother:

Lidibe sama mbokula (The baby, he’s my parent).

Sama nijaay moko diur (He’s the son of my uncle).

Sama mbokula (He’s my parent).

A man standing behind the birthmother hands a couple of twenty

dollar bills to the lead singer, who waves the bills in the air as she strikes

up another song. This exchange of song and money signifies the social

dynamic between géer and géwël. This particular praise song speaks to

a unique set of familial relationships and obligations in Wolof society.

If a woman and her brother of the same mother and father each bear a

child—e.g., the sister bears a daughter and her brother bears a son—the

woman’s daughter regards her cousin, the son of her uncle, as her care-

taker or parent, and he, in turn, is expected to give her money if she asks

for it. This relationship is uni-directional, in that it applies only from the

sister’s child towards the brother’s child. The géwël at this baptism are

highlighting the special caretaker relationship between cousins by assert-

ing that, “Lidibe sama mbokula,” “The baby, he’s my parent;” “Sama

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nijaay moko diur,” “He’s the son of my uncle.” In fact, they are not actu-

ally related to the baby or the mother, but are placing themselves in a

position to request money through the poetics of the praise chant and

obligations of kinship.

Throughout the ceremony, the women’s dance movements become

increasingly sexual and flirtatious. At one point, the mother is seated in a

chair, and several women form a circle and take turns dancing in front of

her, some allowing their dresses to open and expose their undergarments.

During another song, a woman clutches the back of the chair, bends for-

ward at the waist, lifts her dress slightly, and bumps her hips and behind

to the rhythms. As she winds her hips, she gives a mock look of seduc-

tion towards the camera, then laughs and skips away. Other ladies take

their turn one and two at a time. During the rhythmic break in the song, a

woman turns the chair to face the camera while another bumps her behind

precisely to the call and response vocal and drum pattern, as the camera

zooms in on the shaking cloth of her dress. The song, called “Songa Ma” by

Mbaye Dieye Faye, literally means “Attack Me,” meaning, sexually. During

the drum break, he sings, “Diafandou” meaning “Hang on!” suggesting to

his lover how to respond to his acrobatic love-making. Consequently, the

dancers at the party playfully act out the sexual connotations by “hanging

on” to the chair back while dancing to the rhythmic break.

Among Senegalese Mouride families in Los Angeles, the performance

of kin-based ceremonies such as the naming rite is important for assert-

ing and maintaining different aspects of identity, such as class, social caste,

ethnicity, nationality, age-group, religion, and gender. For one, the inter-

dependent relationship between géer and géwël is clearly marked through

musical performance practice of praise singing. In this example, the géwël

move around the reception hall singing short repetitive praise songs to the

géer, who in turn exercise their grace and honor through giving money to

the singers.

SISTERBROTHER

 \ \

 \ \

HERDAUGHTERHISSON

Figure 5-1.

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However, according to Senegalese immigrants, women of the géer caste

are taking liberties to blur the line between the social classes in the area of

dance and are thus, resisting the norms of appropriate behavior. Their resis-

tance in the area of dance can be read as an extension of contemporary atti-

tudes in Senegal, but with the added particularity of diasporic identities and

strategies. According to Deborah Heath, women’s dance in urban Senegal

has been the focus of a “struggle for control” in what she calls a “politics

of appropriateness and appropriation.” Heath suggests that, “The struggle

over the meaning of dance has to do with shifting notions of appropriate-

ness, grounded in relations of power.”

Whereas géwël are believed to be

born with music and dance aptitude and have license to dance suggestively

in public, due to their relatively lower status, géer women are associated

with “the concept of kersa (honor), which links high status to restraint,”

(Heath, 90).

At baptisms and wedding celebrations in Los Angeles, Senegalese

claim that everyone is dancing “like a géwël,” regardless of their social class,

even in mixed company. One Senegalese man commented that, “Maybe it’s

because we don’t see each other for a long time, so we just go wild. We crave

for Senegalese parties and each other’s company. And also, it’s because the

elders are not there watching.”

But we must also consider the culturally

specific notions of decency and appropriate behavior. Senegalese consider

the erotic hip and derrière movements, such as those for “Songa Ma,” to be

sexually provocative and daring, but not necessarily indecent. These types

of movements have a long association with traditional music and dance

and are not deemed inappropriate. The real measure of indecency for Sen-

egalese pertains to géer women, in mixed company, who expose their legs

or undergarments. This is where resistance is situated for Senegalese immi-

grant women.

CONCLUSIONS

Family ceremonies reinforce and regenerate kinship bonds through a series

of customary rites that celebrate the new family roles that people have cre-

ated for themselves. For immigrants in the Diaspora, the added components

of dislocation, disrupted kinship networks, and transnational identities can

add a certain amount of conflict or anxiety for new parents. This chapter

has explored various strategies of cultural retention, negotiation, and resis-

tance among Ghanaian and Senegalese immigrants in Los Angeles when

performing baby naming ceremonies.

For the Ghanaian Christian family, the naming ceremony hinges on

recognizing and ritualizing the interactive relationship between humans and

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their ancestors. The family in question creatively negotiated their religious

and traditional performance practices by performing an appropriation of

the traditional naming rite in a church setting and then later performing the

customary rite of pouring libations to the ancestors at the outdooring at

their home. Music and dance were key components of the both the naming

rite in the church and the outdooring afterwards.

For the Ghanaian Muslim man and his family, it was more important

to get the ritual and celebration right than to attempt to recreate a naming

ceremony on his own in Los Angeles. Being a recent arrival, the man was

still very connected to his family and home area, and asked that his family

perform the proper rite and celebration in their absence and videotape it

for him. The videotape has the power to collapse the expanse between him-

self and his family at home, and it will be an opportunity for his daughter

to view her heritage and homeland. In terms of performance practice, the

music and dance at the celebration clearly situate the infant in a historical

and regional network of kinship.

At the Senegalese naming ceremony, the women re-evaluated the

degrees of appropriate behavior in the realm of dance, along the lines of

social caste and age group. The factors that contribute most to these chang-

ing dynamics among Senegalese immigrants include a real and imagined

separation from the older generation, who are the arbiters of appropriate

behavior, the absence of certain social barriers which exist at home but not

so much in the Diaspora, and the inclusion of videotaping in the perfor-

mance of family ceremonies, which provides a catalyst for more expressive

performance.

NOTES

1. John Arthur, Invisible Sojourners: African Immigrant Diaspora in the

United States, (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 96.

2. Sherri Canon, Music, Dance, and Family Ties: Ghanaian and Senegalese

Immigrants in Los Angeles, Ph.D. Dissertation, (The University of Texas at

Austin, Department of Musicology/Ethnomusicology, 2005).

3. The church’s pastor references two Bible verses, James 5:14-15 and Mark

6:13, regarding the use of olive oil during prayer and worship. James 5:14-

15: 14. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the

church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name

of the Lord; 15. and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is

sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will

be forgiven him. Mark 6:13: And they were casting out many demons and

were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

4. Jonathan Friedman, Cultural Identity and Global Process, (London, Thou-

sand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1994), 28.

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5. The Adhan, or Call to Prayer:

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

Ash-hadu alla ilaha illa-llah.

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-Rasulullah.

Hayya ‘ala-s-Salah, Hayya ‘ala-s-Salah . . .

Hayya ‘ala-l-falah, Hayya ‘ala-l-falah.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

La ilaha illa-llah.

Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

Hasten to the Prayer, Hasten to the Prayer.

Hasten to real success, Hasten to real success.

Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.

There is none worthy of worship but Allah.

6. (21 May 2004, personal communication).

7. Deborah Heath, “The Politics of Appropriateness and Appropriation:

Recontextualizing Women’s Dance in Urban Senegal,” American Ethnolo-

gist, 21 no.1 (1994):88-104; 90.

8. Ibrahima Ba 2005, personal communication.

REFERENCES

Arthur, John. Invisible Sojourners: African Immigrant Diaspora in the United

States. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000.

Ba, Ibrahima. 30 September 2005. Personal communication.

Canon, Sherri. Music, Dance, and Family Ties: Ghanaian and Senegalese Immi-

grants in Los Angeles. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin,

Department of Musicology/Ethnomusicology, 2005.

Friedman, Jonathan. Cultural Identity and Global Process. London, Thousand

Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1994.

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Chapter Six

A Viagem Da Minha Vida/

The Voyage of My Life: Identity

Formation and Resettlement among

Angolan Women of Color in Toronto

Robert A. Kenedy

INTRODUCTION

This chapter explores identity and resettlement issues among Angolan

Lusophone (Portuguese speaking) women of color in Toronto. While

Lusophone immigrant groups have been studied,

much of the litera-

ture examines Lusophone women from Portugal.

Generally, scholarship

on immigration and settlement in Western countries tends to ignore the

experiences of migrant women of color, (Dua, 1999). Most Portuguese-

speaking groups seem to be homogenized into one community by Cana-

dians because of their common language. Those outside the Canadian

Lusophone community may not know the tensions that exist among

Lusophone groups and are often unaware of the history between Por-

tugal and Angola. Therefore, investigating the needs of Angolan women

is necessary in order shed light on their predicament, and educate oth-

ers about them. Although Angolan immigrant women are not as numer-

ous as the Portuguese, they remain a growing, contributing, and thriving

community.

Only one systematic study to date has focused on the Angolan

Diaspora in Canada.

This research attempts to fill the gap in the literature

about Angolan Lusophone women of color and their resettlement experi-

ences in Canada as well as how this process influences these women’s iden-

tity formation. By studying these women, it may be possible to gain a better

understanding of their experiences. It is necessary that research be com-

pleted on the experiences of these women in order to better understand

these women’s experiences. A study of Angolan minority women is cru-

cial as many of these women come to Canada as independent applicants,

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without families. The needs that immigrant women require in order to

overcome settlement and language difficulties are often ignored because of

the nature of Canadian immigration policies, (Giles, 21).

The influx of Angolan Lusophone women arriving in Canada with

various resettlement issues and challenges highlights the importance of

studying and understanding these migrants. This is especially important

as news reports of Canada’s deportation of Angolan refugees have cre-

ated concern in the Angolan community. The Department of Immigration

decided to send letters requesting Angolans that have applied for refugee

status in Canada between 1999 and 2001 to leave Canada.

The Cana-

dian government argues that Angolan refugees can no longer make claims

for refugee status in Canada as Angola is no longer at war (Sol Português

2004). After working hard to build new lives, the Canadian government is

now insisting that they be sent back to a country that is just beginning the

process of rebuilding after a bloody thirty year war. The continued deporta-

tion of Angolans merits the need for further study on Angolan immigration

and settlement experiences in Canada.

The literature regarding Lusophone and other African women’s reset-

tlement experiences focuses on various issues connected to migration and

issues regarding their work experiences. Giles, Messias and Lebert studies

focus on Lusophone groups and their settlement experiences.

Messias, Giles

and Toro-Morn’s investigate the relationships between migrant women and

their working experiences.

Franz’s comparative study examines the settle-

ment and work experiences of Bosnian refugee women in New York and

Vienna.

She specifically explored the mechanisms these women utilized in

order to survive in their new countries.

The study of migrant women’s transnational experiences is present in

Toro-morn’s study of Puerto Rican women in Chicago and Lebert’s study

of Angolans living in Toronto and in the United Kingdom. Kumsa’s

and

McMichael and Manderson’s

studies explore African refugee women and

how they negotiate identity. McMichael and Manderson concentrate on

how “. . . loss of social relationships as a result of civil war and displace-

ment contribute to women’s distress and sadness within the Somali com-

munity of Australia,” (88).While differences exist between Kumsa, Lebert,

McMichael and Manderson’s studies, as all authors study different Afri-

can ethnic groups, highlight African communities and explore the links

between settlement and issues of identity with Lebert exploring Angolans

in Diaspora.

The findings common to all studies were the difficulties experienced

by immigrants when adjusting and forming an identity in a new country.

This proved to be a challenging process of adjustment for the majority of

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the participants of all studies, (Giles, 2002; Franz, 2004; Messias, 2001;

Toro-Morn, 1995; Kumsa, 2002; Lebert, 1999; McMichael and Mander-

son, 2004).

Giles’ found that “. . . gender, race and class relations are associ-

ated with nationalisms and shape immigration policies and global ways of

working and living,” (17). It is this reason, according to Giles, why so little

attention has been paid to the lives and work of the immigrant women who

formed the majority of immigrant workers from Portugal during the height

of the Portuguese migration to Canada. She found that Portuguese women

were largely ignored by Canada’s immigration policy that resulted in prob-

lems of settlement that continue to persist today. She also found that these

immigrant women continue to be marginalized and ignored largely due to

the policies of immigration that brought them here for a better life. Giles

found many women adapted to these conditions, even more successfully

than others, as in the study of Franz.

Franz also found that women adapted more successfully than men.

She found Bosnian women in Austria did so because they responded to

the existing economic segregation and demands by creating networks with

other Yugoslav women and Austrian citizens. In New York City, female

Bosnian newcomers neither desired nor considered it necessary to form

these alliances with previous Yugoslav immigrant groups. As such, their

integration occurred along ethnic or local boundaries, (Franz, 2004). Simi-

lar to Franz’s study, Messias found that through daily life and work expe-

riences, immigrant women made efforts to forge, maintain, or recreate

contacts with values and perspectives from both Brazilian and American

society. These women found contacts to be crucial in rebuilding their lives

in a new country, and the maintenance of culture to be of utmost impor-

tance, as is Toro-morn’s study.

Toro-Morn noted that political economy had in fact forced many

of these working class women to migrate. Her participants discovered

themselves maintaining their Puerto Rican culture and identity by becom-

ing housewives, though many also worked out of the home as a result

of economic necessity. While all wives were placed in charge of womanly

duties “such as cooking and cleaning”(Toro-morn, 9), different strategies

developed along class lines within this context and married working class

women adapted to this new way of life. In contrast, middle-class women

felt different about work and familial obligations. They struggled over

their roles as mothers and wives, often rejecting traditional ideologies

about women’s roles. Their class position in fact afforded them options

not available to working class women such as hiring help to deal with

housecleaning and childcare. Their maintenance of cultural values helped

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these women in their settlement process and the maintenance of culture for

them was crucial. In short, Giles, Franz, Messias and Toro-Morn’s studies

suggest that working class women found ways to deal with their economic

situation and that their status was at times less than equal to their male

counterparts.

Kumsa found that escaping the geography of the third world does not

mean escaping the economic exploitation of the third world. Women still

found strong ties in cultural values and the importance of cultural main-

tenance in a new land. The women she studied were even oppressed in the

Western society in which they lived. Although they came here to escape

oppression, they encountered economic oppression also as many of the

positions afforded to them as women, were low-wage jobs. As in the stud-

ies of Giles, Franz, Messias and Toro-Morn, Kumsa’s study showed that

working class women are often exploited in the settlement process in their

new country.

Lebert found that Angolans are in fact a Diaspora, even in exile, yet

they did not admit it, (Lebert, 117). Though planning to return to Angola,

many of her participants still maintained strong cultural bonds to their

country. Lebert also showed that maintenance of cultural ties was impor-

tant for Angolans as it was for them in Kumsa’s study. McMichael and

Manderson found that despite instances of solidarity and supports, includ-

ing both formal and informal community services, Somali women have

an overwhelming sense of social networks that have eroded and become

fractured. This was also a significant source of sadness, distress, anxiety,

and depression for them. What these studies all have in common is that

they show that people who often move to a new land find social networks

important and the maintenance of them to be crucial in resettlement.

Though Franz’s study of Bosnian women in New York did not, the over-

whelming majority of immigrant groups revealed that without these ties

they would feel lost.

These studies are important in researching and reviewing issues and

variables for my study such as identity formation, resettlement, class, eth-

nicity, race, and gender. Through studying Angolans in Canada, the issues

outlined in the studies of exploitation of women, loss of familial support

and feelings of loneliness apply to all immigrant groups, regardless of wher-

ever they come from. The qualitative interview as employed by Giles, Mes-

sias, Toro-morn, Franz, Kumsa, Lebert and McMichael and Manderson is

relevant to this study. It seems that migrating women always appear to suf-

fer and be second-class citizens wherever they may go. The maintenance

of social ties may be crucial for immigrant women as they adjust to new

countries, (McMichael and Manderson, 2004).

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METHODS AND ANALYSIS

In order to understand the methodological issues associated with inter-

viewing women in this study, we will begin by reviewing methodological

issues of interviewing women with various migration experiences. Then,

the methodological and sampling issues in our study are discussed. Finally,

the analysis examines these women’s experiences.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE LITERATURE

Methodologically, it is commonly held that in order to investigate women’s

narratives of their migration experience, it is best to utilize a qualitative

interviewing method, (Franz; Giles; Kumsa; McMichael and Manderson;

Messias; Toro-morn). This is due to a feminist ethic that was present in all

the above studies that ensures the subjects would feel more comfortable in

this type of conversational interview. Reinharz (1993:69)

argues that this

is “because feminist research stems from the critical distrust of earlier non-

feminist research, and because much of this earlier work was conducted

using quantitative methods, a symbiosis has occurred between “feminist”

and “qualitative,” in the minds of many people.”

In studying immigrant groups, researchers often conduct in-depth or

focused qualitative interviews to extract personal stories and experiences

from their subjects. Giles’ study of Portuguese women in Toronto (from

1989 and 1992) used “61 qualitative interviews,” (5). It is also impor-

tant to mention that Giles examined quantitative data from the Canadian

census and the Portuguese Emigration Bureau in reporting the numbers

of Portuguese that emigrated from Portugal to Canada in her research. A

qualitative focused interview was also used in Messias’ study of Brazilian

working women living in the United States. Similar to the studies of Messias

and Giles, Toro-Morn interviewed Porto Rican women in Chicago from

March 1989 to July 1990, using the qualitative in-depth interview model.

By immersing herself in community activities and cultural events, she was

able to meet a network of women. Her interviews lasted from 1–3 hours

and were conducted mainly in Spanish and English (Toro-morn, 713). As

in the previous studies, Franz also utilized a qualitative focused interview

technique.

Differing from the other studies mentioned above, Kumsa used a flex-

ible qualitative guide with five themes to open up spaces for narration. She

conducted qualitative interviews with her participants from June to August

1998, over the telephone and held face-to-face conversations with two of

them, (Kumsa, 475–476).

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In the U.K., Lebert also conducted qualitative interviews as well as

unstructured conversations and participant observation. Scatzman and

Strauss define the qualitative participant observation method as “. . . speak-

ing of observations of actual situations. Referring directly to what is known

as the field method—a generic term for observing events in a natural situ-

ation.”

In Toronto, a preliminary phone conversation was followed by

an interview. As Lebert could not speak Portuguese, a translator was pres-

ent. The interviews were conducted in English, French, and Portuguese and

lasted between three and a half to ten hours, (Lebert, 17–18).

McMichael and Manderson used ethnographic research and con-

ducted in-depth qualitative interviews from August 2000 to July 2001, with

42 Somali women that entered Australia under the Refugee and Humani-

tarian Act. The interviews were carried out in Somali in the participant’s

homes with the assistance of a Somali community worker. Women selected

to participate were based on an extensive network of friends and relatives.

Common to all studies was the use of the qualitative interview, (Giles;

Messias; Toro-morn; Franz; Kumsa; Lebert; McMichael and Mander-

son). This method proved to be the most successful for all authors to be in

obtaining information from their participants. Because of this, it could be

said that when conducting interviews with such participants, a qualitative

interview is the best approach in data collection.

METHODS

For this study a semi-structured interview schedule with 61 open-ended

questions, was used to interview 11 Portuguese speaking Angolan women.

These women were interviewed primarily in Portuguese, and in some cases

using a combination of Portuguese and English. During the interviews these

women’s immigration experiences, their past personal histories, and per-

sonal adjustments to life in Canada were discussed. Follow up questions

were also asked in order to clarify points the participants made and explore

various issues regarding settlement and related issues. At times questions

were re-phased and clarified in order for participants.

In this study, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted, as in

the studies of Giles, Messias, Toro-morn, Franz, Kumsa, Lebert and McMi-

chael and Manderson. This method is also defined in the literature section

as “In-depth interviewing involves asking open-ended questions, listen-

ing to and recording the answers, and then following up with additional

relevant questions. On the surface this appears to require no more than

knowing how to talk and listen. Beneath the surface, however, interview-

ing becomes an art and science requiring skill, sensitivity, concentration,

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interpersonal understanding, insight, mental activity and discipline.”

This

method proved to be successful in gaining information from participants

and in increasing the comfort levels of participants during the interview

process. Each interview lasted approximately one hour and a half to two

hours and took place in participants’ homes, the Angolan Community

Center, Roberts Library at the University of Toronto and in coffee shops

around the city of Toronto. Participants consisted of both married and

unmarried women, with the majority of them currently pursuing a univer-

sity education. The interviews were all conducted in Portuguese, in order

to accommodate and make the participants more comfortable in discussing

the subject matter. The interviews were unstructured, in order to allow for

participants to respond freely to the questions being asked, without undue

pressure and lasted from 45 to 90 minutes.

All studies, Giles, Messias, Toro-morn, Franz, Kumsa, Lebert and

McMichael and Manderson, provided possible variables in order to exam-

ine in this study and also provided the source of the hypothesis. I examined

all these studies in order to provide more information and educate myself on

the issues facing migrating women before, during, and after the settlement

process in the country of destination. These studies provided a window and

a glimpse ino the lives of immigrant women and the issues that affect them.

The dependant variable in our study is identity formation. The main

independent variable in this study is resettlement. Other variables include

gender, ethnicity and race. Overall, resettlement influences the identity

formation of Angolan women. More specifically, it is hypothesized that

resettlement issues may have positive and negative influences on Angolan

women’s identity formation. Positive influences could include the construc-

tion of a new identity in a new country and the ability to start over again in

the new country of settlement. Negative aspects could include loss of famil-

ial ties, loss of confidence and feelings of homesickness.

SAMPLING THE LITERATURE

A common sampling technique for all studies was the use of snowballing

to gain participants. Snowball sampling is a non-probability sampling tech-

nique where “. . . researchers collect data on the few members of the tar-

get population they can locate, and then ask those individuals to provide

the information needed to locate other members of that population whom

they happen to know,” (Babbie and Benequisto, 166). This method proved

to be the most successful for the authors in gaining participants. Though

not clearly stated in her book, Giles’ sampling method probably con-

sisted of snowball sampling. Her sample consisted of “20 first-generation

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Portuguese women, 4 first generation Portuguese men, 4 second generation

men, and 16 Portuguese community workers,” (Giles, 2002,5). Messias uti-

lized informal networking and a snowball sampling method to obtain her

participants, (Messias, 3). Her sample consisted of “26 Brazilian women”

(Messias, 1) and she recruited participants “. . . within urban Brazilian

immigrant communities on the east and west coast,” (Messias, 3). As in

Giles’ study, Messias’ study focused on working class women. Giles’ sample

of working class women was similar to that of Messias and Toro-Morn’s

study. Toro-morn’s sample consisted of 17 married women. Eleven were

mostly working class, with little education that came to Chicago in the

early 1950s and 1960s. At the time of migration, most were married or

had children. The six professional women in the sample had all migrated in

the 1960s and had over 14 years education,” (Toro-morn, 714). A similar

study to Messias’ is the work of Franz that focused on Bosnian refugees liv-

ing in New York and Vienna. Her fieldwork for this study was conducted in

Vienna from November 1998 to March 1999 and in New York from May

1999 to September 1999. Though not specified, Franz also probably uti-

lized a snowball sampling technique in order to obtain participants. Franz

also did not indicate her sample size in her published study.

The studies of Kumsa, Lebert, and McMichael and Manderson all

deal with immigrants from Africa. In Kumsa’s study, she interviewed 16

Oromo refugee women who fled Ethiopia in the 1990s and resettled in

Western cities including: Berlin, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis, New

York and Toronto. The women’s parents had been killed, jailed, or fled

Ethiopia for embracing their Oromo identity and rejecting their Ethiopian

one. Lebert and Kumsa used a snowball sampling method to obtain their

sample. In Lebert’s case, she interviewed 13 Angolans living in Toronto and

surrounding areas, (Lebert, 9). Though nine participants resided in Toronto

and two in Ottawa, they were all linked with the community in Toronto

and in Portugal. McMichael and Manderson interviewed 42 Somali women

from August 2000 to July 2001. These women entered Australia under

the Refugee and Humanitarian Act. The interviews were carried out in

the participant’s homes with the assistance of Malyum Ahmed, a Somali

community worker. Most of the interviews were conducted in Somali

for whom Malyum not only interpreted but also added his own cultural

insight. Women selected to participate were based on an extensive network

of friends and relatives of Malyum, and relationships formed with women

by McMichael (2001)

in her capacity as a settlement support worker,

(McMichael and Manderson, 90). Though not specified in the study of

McMichael and Manderson one can deduce that the researchers utilized the

non-probability method of snowball sampling.

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All researchers used snowball sampling in order to obtain their

research participants. These studies also used primary and secondary data

to present the immigrant populations that were studied. It can then be said

that snowball sampling is the best method utilized in order to obtain par-

ticipants for these types of studies even if the sample size differed, as it did

in all these studies. Thus, it can also be said that the decision of the size of

the sample is usually left to the discretion of the researcher and the focus of

their research.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND THE SAMPLE

The types of sampling used in this study included the non-probability meth-

ods of purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling, which is based

on,“[a] purposive sample is one in which each sample element is selected

for a specific purpose . . . [c]onvenience sampling means using subjects

who are available to you

. . . [snowball sampling is based on] researchers

collect data on the few members of the target population they can locate,

and then ask those individuals to provide the information needed to locate

other members of that population whom they happen to know,” (Babbie

and Benequisto, 166).

This combination of sampling techniques was used due to the fact that

it was not easy to locate participants for this study. Therefore, once partici-

pants were located and interviewed, they were asked if they knew of others

who would consent to being interviewed. Participants were also succored

with the help of Patricia, a volunteer at the Angolan Community Centre in

Toronto, and also with the help of an Angolan graduate student. Even with

these contacts, it was extremely difficult to find participants due to the sen-

sitivity of the subject matter and due to the fact that the researcher was not

Angolan. The limited number of participants and the difficulty in obtaining

participants limits the representative of Angolan women. Participants were

obtained through purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling, as these

women were often reluctant to participate given the research subject and

focus.

One of the difficulties Lebert identified in accessing the Angolan com-

munity in Toronto was her inability to speak in Portuguese. It is crucial that

a study of these women in their mother tongue is completed; even with the

use of an interpreter, much valuable research could be lost as a result of the

lack of comprehension.

Many subjects were reluctant to participate if the Angolan graduate

student was not present. And even then, many participants were uncom-

fortable at times during the interview process with the subject matter of

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discussion. The participants consisted of 11 Angolan women between the

ages of 20–29 who were all landed immigrants but had come here initially

as refugees. The interviews occurred during the summer months of July and

August 2004. The sample was extremely difficult to obtain due to the mis-

trust of the participants towards the researchers and the bias towards the

researcher, as the researcher was not Angolan. By using a non-probability

sampling method to obtain participants, this at times limited the study and

could question the reliability. The snowball sampling method used did not

allow for representativeness but rather, only obtained available participants.

Even so, participants were reticent to provide information during the inter-

view process, as they felt uncomfortable, given the focus of the research

and subject matter. Many of the participants were also reluctant to provide

information, as the researchers were not of Angolan descent.

Given the fact that Angolans in Canada are currently undergoing a

refugee crisis, and the Canadian government has recently taken their ref-

ugee status away, the timing of this study and the subject matter could

have also affected its outcome. Many women chose not to participate in

the study, as they were in Canada as illegal refugees. Believing we were

from the government or from a government organization, many Angolan

women thought that they would be reported and deported if they partici-

pated in this research, as they were mistrustful. In future consideration for

such a study more community involvement is necessary in order to facilitate

obtaining a more representative sample. Participants were all now landed

immigrants, and none possessed refugee status, thus possibly biasing the

results because of this. Contact between the researcher and community is

important, as this is the key to obtaining an accurate sample. Employing

community members to conduct the interviews would facilitate this process

and improve and diversify research results.

Similar studies are currently being completed on the identity of Luso-

Africans in Portugal and in Brazil, as these are Lusophone countries, then

the participants’ comfort levels may be greater and this would allow for a

wider scope of both participants and feedback. As this research was taking

place, many Angolans’ refugee status is also being taken away due to the

fact that the Canadian government considers Angola no longer to be at

war, thus eliminating the need to claim refugee status in Canada. This pre-

vented many participants from taking part in the project as they are now

here under illegal status. Had this been the case, then perhaps the results

would have been different.

The subject matter used in this study was highly sensitive and of a

problematic nature at times. The study of personal identity-formation and

settlement issues provided problems as all subjects experienced some degree

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of discomfort while relating their experiences in this manner. The ethical

limitations were those of the subject matter most of all which provided a

high degree of discomfort to all participants. It was of a personal nature

and many participants became very emotional while discussing these issues.

Regardless of this, we proceeded with the research while being aware of

the discomfort of participants. All participants’ consent was voluntary and

they signed a form of informed consent agreeing to participate in the study.

Participants’ pseudo-confidentiality was guaranteed as only the researcher

knew the identity of the participants and in the study no names would be

used. Though we informed the participants several times they could stop at

any time if they wished, they still continued. Ethically to improve the study,

we could have stopped the study at the point of discomfort for the par-

ticipants. But the problem with this would be that at the start there was a

high degree of discomfort. Also, in such future studies, group introductory

sessions may be necessary in order to fully accommodate and answer to the

needs and concerns of all participants and address their questions in the

study. Debriefing could also be added at the conclusion of each interview

in order to discuss and address the problems that arose with participants

during the interviews.

Though the sample was limited and non-random, these interviews

yielded valuable findings concerning identity and resettlement. The more

challenging aspect of the methodology was locating women who were

interested in being interviewed. This location process, was at first difficult

and time-consuming. However, once contacts were made in the Angolan

community, through the community centre and those connected to these

Angolans, finding willing participants gradually became easier. Snowball

sampling facilitated the later part of the study in terms of finding various

participants. Generally, 50% of the potential participants refused to be

interviewed, as they thought that the researcher was working for the Cana-

dian government.

ANALYSIS

This qualitative analysis of Angolan immigrant women in Toronto explores

questions related to identity formation and settlement experiences. Using

“situational identity”

as a theoretical guide to investigating the settle-

ment process and identity formation, the “find” feature in Microsoft Word

was used to find key words such as settlement, family, home, and other

concepts. Once the interviews were translated into English, this process of

searching for key words led to discovering various themes related to iden-

tity and settlement. These themes were connected to other variable such

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as race, gender, and other issues in order to make sense of these women’s

experiences.

ANALYSIS OF THE FINDING:

SELF-IDENTITY AND SETTLEMENT

The notion of identity is often thought of in diverse and dynamic ways. In

applying the concept of identity to Angolan women, the changes they have

experienced, as the biggest change of settlement has had a profound impact

on their identity formation. Ira Silver discusses the notion of “self-identity”

that he defines “. . . the individual’s subjective sense of his or her biography

being continuous, coherent and unique.”

This notion of self-identity has

the possibility of being ever-changing as the events occurring in each per-

son’s life can directly influence and change the self-identity of the individual.

According to Gilroy self-identity “. . . provides a way of understanding the

interplay between our subjective experience of the world and cultural and

historical settings in which that fragile subjectivity is formed.”

Further-

more, Gilroy maintains that identity can be formed on the basis of “racial,

ethnic, regional [and] local” ties, “. . . and yet self-identity is always par-

ticular, as much about difference as about shared belonging,” (301). They

experienced what is known as a “situational identity” (Kenedy), which is

“. . . the way individuals view themselves and define their situation . . . as

a life circumstance,” (Kenedy, 118). As such, it can be argued that identity

provides a way of understanding the relationships between our individual

subjective experiences and the social settings. In short, with a new social

setting and a shift in personal circumstances may influence identity as well

as a person’s view and how they define a situation.

As identity may be

influenced by the life circumstances such as resettlement, this may influence

the identity formation of Angolan women.

As noted, the concept self-identity becomes almost a reflexive project,

an endeavor that we continuously work and reflect on. We create, maintain,

and revise a set of biographical narratives, the story of who we are, how we

came to be, and where we are now. Giddens and Mills speak of this and

Giddens comments upon this when he states, “The ‘identity’ of the self, in

contrast to the self as a generic phenomenon, presumes reflexive awareness.

It is what the individual is conscious “of” in the term “self-consciousness”.

Self-identity, in other words, “. . . is something that has to be routinely cre-

ated and sustained in the reflexive activities of the individual.”

The notion of self also changes, according to our “biography” or life

story. That is, the events of our lives shape our “selves.” Self-identity is

based on an account of a person’s life, actions and influences that makes

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sense to them, and which can be explained to other people without much

difficulty. It explains the past, and is oriented towards an anticipated

future, (Giddens, 32). This changing notion of the self presented itself in the

interviews with participants, as identity and settlement seemed in fact to be

two variables that were inexplicably linked together. Participants identified

experiences of settlement with personal growth and change, as in the case

of participant five who remarked that being an immigrant woman in Can-

ada “has made me confront challenges and become stronger.”

Similarly,

participant three noted that, “. . . it has made me vulnerable and strong

at the same time. Everything I have gone through is almost like a journey.

In order for me to get to the university where I am today, I needed to go

through the hardships and trials that I did. The sadness, loneliness and loss

of family ties was one of the hardest things I faced.”

As in Kumsa’s and McMichael and Manderson’s studies the theme

of isolation and loss of family ties was an outcome of this shift in identity,

and this was pointed out in all interviews. All participants also agreed that

they themselves had changed as a result of their immigration and settlement

experience proving this link to be a valid one. All participants revealed

that the immigration/settlement process had affected what they had gone

through. As most of the participants had come here independently, many

identified isolation as noted above as a consequence but also referred to

growth, as they had to face many of these challenges alone.

“It [being an immigrant woman] has affected me by making me more

alone . . . before I came from a large family and friends, now here having

no support network like back home it made me more of a loner. It also

affected how I am with people; it made me more mature and independent

as I came here and had to deal with many issues here by myself.”

Isola-

tion and lack of family ties were a remarked change in the identities of all

women as noted in the quote of participant nine. Feeling “alone” may be a

direct cause of the settlement process as was the “growth” experienced by

all participants.

All participants also agreed that they enjoy living in Canada. They

had lived in Canada four or more years with the most being six years.

When asked how do feel about living in Canada for example participant

two replied, “I really like living in Canada.”

As noted above the pro-

cess of settlement in a new country proved to be difficult, but rewarding at

the same time. All participants noted that the greatest negative challenge

was finding suitable housing in Toronto. Participant four pointed out “Just

finding a place here and learning the language has been extremely difficult.

Those two things are the things that stand out most in my mind. Also, feel-

ing isolated and alone without any family has been extremely difficult.”

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Participants also identified that having a prior knowledge of Eng-

lish before coming to Canada made the adjustment integration process

much easier. As participant one stated “. . . I spoke English already and

that wasn’t a barrier for me.”

Participant two noted: “The fact that I

knew English helped me a lot,” (Transcript of Interview with participant

two). This brings another point to light that a prior knowledge of English

is important as it eases the settlement process and lowers barriers for many

immigrant women.

The key theme of isolation again came into play as many of the par-

ticipants came to Canada alone without any family. This isolation was men-

tioned in all interviews as stated above and was also a key variable in the

new identity formation of these women in Canada, still, participants found

strong ties to cultural values and the importance of cultural maintenance in

their new country of Canada. The importance of maintaining their Ango-

lan identity or “Angolanness” (Lebert, 154) in Canada was also stressed

by all participants, though in different ways, suggesting that keeping this

component of their former selves was important and necessary during and

after the process of settlement in order to make the adaptation process

much smoother. All participants identified personal growth and change as

a result of settlement, thus creating a relationship between the change in

self (identity) and settlement. Participant three identified this change when

she stated, “I am more grown, mature and sure of myself” (Transcript with

participant three). This notion of changing identity was present in all inter-

views of the participants. As identity is created and changed depending on

the life and “activities” (Giddens, 57) of each individual, then the fact that

settlement impacted significantly on the identities of these women is not

surprising as settlement was a major change or “activity” that occurred in

their lives.

Although participants identified retaining their “Angolanness” (Leb-

ert, 154), to be important, all participants also thought that “Canadian-

ness” was also an important part of their new identities or new selves.

Participants also identified values associated with this “Canadianness” and

adapted these values into their new definitions of self, such as respect for

democracy and a sense of permanency. This presented itself in the case of

participant 11 when she stated: “Being Canadian to me means permanence

and no fear and democracy and a good life for my children. Although there

may be prejudices here, I do not fear for my life or for my family, and that

is important.”

This change in identity again came as a result of settle-

ment in Canada, thus linking again the variables of identity formation and

settlement. The importance of maintaining aspects of their former selves,

such as their Angolan identity, despite having gone through the process of

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immigration is a natural process of creating the new self, according to Gid-

dens as the self is ever changing and adapting.

This ever-changing process of identity identified by Silver and Giddens

represents the fluidity and explanation by which Angolan women’s identity

continues to grow and change because of their settlement experience. Gid-

dens also states “self-identity, then, is not a set of traits or observable char-

acteristics. It is a person’s own reflexive understanding of their biography.

Self-identity has continuity—that is, it cannot easily be completely changed

at will—but that continuity is only a product of the person’s reflexive beliefs

about their own biography,” (Giddens, 53). Giddens says that in the post-

traditional order, self-identity becomes a reflexive project—an endeavor

that we continuously work and reflect on. Giddens maintains that we cre-

ate, maintain and revise a set of biographical narratives—the story of who

we are, and how we came to be where we are now. As a result of the settle-

ment process, these women’s identities have grown, changed and developed

because their narrative and life story has changed as well. The concept of

identity is also related to the point of stigma, whereas participants identi-

fied the stigma of being a refugee woman as relating to their own identity.

Some participants identified a stigma associated with the term “refugee”,

as a term of shame, not wanting to be associated with it. This shame and

“stigma” of being a refugee is one that they preferred to do without. This

“stigma” will be discussed in the following section.

STIGMA

In his work on stigma and social identity, Erving Goffman (1963) makes

the important distinction between “virtual” and “actual” social identity. An

encounter with a stranger usually proceeds based on various assumptions

made of the stranger’s appearance, and these imputed characteristics can be

regarded as their “virtual social identity.” On the other hand, “actual social

identity” refers to the attributes and characteristics a person actually does

possess. Someone’s actual identity refers to who they really are and their

virtual identity refers to who they appear to be to others. An encounter

with a stranger usually proceeds based on various assumptions made of the

stranger’s appearance, and these imputed characteristics can be regarded as

their “virtual social identity.” On the other hand, “actual social identity”

refers to the attributes and characteristics a person actually does possess.

Goffman emphasized the fact that people are constantly displaying

characters, and expecting other people to take seriously the impression that

is fostered before them. People are asked to believe that the character they

see actually possesses the attributes he/she appears to possess. Goffman

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assumed that when individuals interact, they want to present a certain sense

of self that will be accepted by others. In Stigma, Goffman was interested

in the gap between what a person ought to be, “virtual social identity,”

and what a person actually is, “actual social identity.” Anybody with a gap

between these two identities is stigmatized as being different and abnor-

mal. One may have a “discredited stigma,” in which the fellow participants

are aware of the actor’s abnormality; or, one may have a “discreditable

stigma,” in which the individual’s differences are not readily discernible.

Stigma constitutes “a special discrepancy between virtual and actual

social identity . . . a special kind of relationship between attribute and ste-

reotype,” (Goffman, 12–14). Goffman distinguishes between two types of

stigma. “Discredited” stigma refers to types of stigma that are immediately

obvious or are already known, as opposed to “discreditable” stigma that

refers to characteristics that would produce stigma, but are not known

during the social interaction, (Goffman, 12–14). Discredited individuals

often build up a repertoire of coping behaviors and. strategies that are then

employed methodically in some sort of hierarchical order. For the stigma-

tized it is an important stage in the process of learning to socialize, and

may be regarded as a viable coping mechanism. Stigma management is not

restricted to public encounters, however and indeed the individual’s inti-

mates can become just the persons from whom she/he is most concerned

with concealing something shameful, (Goffman, 71).

An example of such stigma was encountered during the interview

process. After referring to participants as “refugees,” some participants

took offence at this and asked to be referred to as an “immigrant” rather

than as a “refugee.” Participant eight asked the interviewer “Please don’t

say refugee because I see myself as an immigrant and not refugee,”

sug-

gesting a relationship between, self-identity and stigma. Participant five

asked, “Please can you refer to me as an immigrant because refugee, there

is almost a shame attached to being a refugee. I see myself as an immigrant

woman and not as a refugee. It is not you, but refugee it almost means you

are poor and hungry, getting to Canada with nothing, and I immigrated

from Angola,” (Transcript of Interview with Participant five).

Participant nine noted, “I prefer immigrant woman to refugee as

there is almost secondary class attached to refugee and not to immigrant. I

came to Canada to settle and not to go back” Transcript of the researcher

referred to all participants as “immigrants” rather than “refugees.” All

these responses refer back to the Goffmanian notion of stigma as partici-

pants’ had negative notions of themselves when referred to as refugees, in

their preference for immigrant to be used instead. In his influential essay,

Goffman describes stigma as referring to “any bodily sign designed to

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expose something unusual or bad about the moral status of the signifier.”

On meeting such an individual, we “construct a stigma theory, an ideology

to explain his inferiority and account for the danger he represents, some-

times rationalizing an animosity based on other differences,” (Goffman,

18). As identity is dependent upon each individual’s life story or narrative,

such a stigma imposed on these women directly impacts upon how they

view themselves. This inferiority was clearly felt by these women in regards

to the term “refugee,” used during the interview. The image constructed

of the poor woman, coming to Canada without anything, was an integral

part of the new identity created by some participants. Goffman believed

that each type of stigma has a distinct effect on a stigmatized individual’s

behavior. Discredited people may try to compensate for the initial loss of

status from an audience, whereas a discreditable person may try to hide,

or worry about their secret becoming known by critical people. As these

women wished to gain and not lose status in their settlement and identity

formation, the use of such a negative term such as “refugee” hindered this

process and made them want to identify as “immigrants,” rather than as

“refugees.”

Stigma was also identified by participants from the community as a

result of the color of their skin. All participants routinely identified being

victims of racism, including racist and derogatory comments because of the

color of their skin. Participant six stated in this regard “. . . The Portu-

guese are really racist and the guys think I am a slut just because I am

black. They call me a puta [prostitute] all the time and treat me that way.

I think the Portuguese are really bad.”

Despite sharing a common lan-

guage and Lusophone identity, relations between the Angolan women of

color and the Portuguese seem to be of a stigmatized nature. Stigmatized

individuals assimilate the values of the dominant group, and as participants

identified that they at first felt the need to assimilate into the “Portuguese”

community because of a common language and as they are the dominant

Lusophone group in Toronto. Participants identified interaction between

themselves and the Portuguese in Toronto to be strained and uncomfort-

able, making them feel stigmatized and separate. In return, participants

retaliated with a strong dislike for the Portuguese community as a result of

this stigma. Goffman in this respect noted that people like actors on a stage

manage social cues to create and sustain an impression of who they are and

what they are doing all the time. Some people however are cast in roles that

constrain their capacity for projecting positive impression of themselves.

These people are stigmatized; that is, they are marked as fears what Goff-

man identified as a “spoiled identity.” Goffman asserted that stigmas are

socially constructed relationships. Historically stigmas were imposed on

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individuals in the form of physical marking or branding to disgrace them.

Such an individual is recast, not as a whole and normal but as a tainted and

aliened being apart from the rest.

GENDER RACE AND GENDER ROLES

Within this framework of settlement and identity, anti-racist feminist dis-

course addresses the issue of settlement as it focuses on women making

sense of their experiences in a new society. As a theory applicable to immi-

grant women of color, it provides the best theory applicable to the study of

their settlement experiences and how this has affected their formation of

identity. As women of color, Angolan refugee women also are faced with

the same migratory problems that many non-white immigrant women face.

Anti-Racist Feminist Theory presents the best theoretical approach for the

study of Angolan women, their identity formation, and settlement process,

as current mainstream feminist theory has failed to address the problems

and issues faced by non-white and ethnically diverse women, (Dua, 18). As

“women of color’s experiences with all aspects of gender, femininity, sexu-

ality, marriage, varies substantially from that of white women,” (Dua, 20)

this theory will help guide the research of non-white Angolan immigrant

women. Mainstream feminist thought typically ignores the needs of non-

white women, thus different factions within the feminist movement have

developed in order to support these other women who feel marginalized by

the movement, such as Angolan refugee women, (Dua, 17).

Anti-racist feminism can be used as an alternative means to under-

stand Angolan women and all other women of color. Dua identifies the

Anti-Racist Feminist movement and cites the current “third wave” of Anti-

racist feminist literature as “concentrating on interrogating mainstream

feminism, both theory and praxis for its role in perpetuating racial differ-

ence,” (Dua, 17). She also states that anti-racist feminist theory has built

on the “project of integrating race and gender by its second-wave predeces-

sors,” (Dua, 17). Anti-racist feminism could then be considered the most

rational approach needed in this study of Angolan women as it addresses

the marginalizations occurring in their lives in regards to gender, race, class

and ethnicity, which are all alternative variables in this study. As such, by

applying this theory to the different experiences of marginalized women, it

can also be argued that anti-racist feminists have developed a more inclu-

sive approach.

Calliste and Dei maintain “that critical anti-racist feminist discourse

“. . . explores the implications of racial, gender, class and sexual minori-

ties’ ways of making sense of their every day experiences.”

As Anti-Racist

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Feminist theory focuses on the experiences of women of color, the vari-

ables of identity and settlement, which are also part of these experiences,

are considered because of their relationship to each other. As a result of

settlement, it could be argued that the formation of identity of these women

also has changed. As such, identity may provide a way of understanding the

relationships between our individual subjective experiences and the social

settings. Therefore, identity formation is a key component when applying

Anti-Racist Feminist theory to the lives of Angolan women and exploring

how their sense of self as these women may have changed as a result of

resettlement.

According to Calliste and Dei, “. . . critical anti-racist feminism

locates the dialogue in the reality of women’s lives and at the intersection/s

of race, ethnicity, gender and class,” (15). This statement outlines the inde-

pendent variables of race, ethnicity, gender and class, that are considered

in this study. These variables are all key components of Anti-Racist femi-

nist theory and also comprise the alternative variables that are explored in

this study. Rather than identifying the separate impact of race, ethnicity

and gender on individuals’ lives, feminist anti-racist theory stresses the need

to develop understandings of how these forms of stratification intersect

and overlap. It is this overlap of race, ethnicity and gender, which will be

explored in this study.

As anti-racist feminist theory is comprised of these additional vari-

ables, then it could be said that it is the best approach to studying Ango-

lan women, as it not only presents the settlement/identity variable but also

addresses the issues of race, ethnicity and gender. Within this framework,

this study analyzes how these key principles of anti-racist feminist theory

and identity theory come to define a woman’s settlement experience and

sense of self in the new country where she now lives.

Feminist anti-racist theories focus on the ways in which individuals

are socially located within interactive race, gender, and class hierarchies.

Friedman notes that a “locational” approach in feminism is based on “rec-

ognition of how different times and places produce different and changing

gender systems and these intersect with other different and changing soci-

etal stratifications.”

Rather than identifying the separate impact of race,

gender and class on individuals’ lives, feminist anti-racist theory stresses the

need to develop understandings of how these forms of stratification inter-

sect and overlap. Bottero argues, for example, that “gender divisions are

both “social” and “economic,” which means that gender is not just addi-

tional to class, it also overlaps with class.”

The focus on the connected

nature of race, class and gender are key components of Anti-Racist Feminist

Theory. First, rather than possessing particular ethnicities, class positions

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and gender traits; individuals occupy social locations, which are relational

and shifting. Often gender and race thus intersect with each other as they

are inexplicably linked to the identities of women. As Razack argues: “it

is vitally important to explore in a historically and site specific way the

meaning of race, economic status, class, disability, sexuality, and gender as

they come together to structure women in different and shifting positions

of power and privilege.”

As pointed out by Anti-Racist Feminist theory, gender, race, and eth-

nicity were inexplicably linked in this study. Participants identified gen-

der, race and ethnicity at simultaneously as being one in the same in their

lives, linking them in turn to their own identities. For participants being

women and of color was the same. Gender was continuously identified as

an obstacle as pointed out by Participant seven: “My being an immigrant

woman, I found out, gave me fewer rights than men. Many men I know

had a far easier time in paperwork and jobs etc. than I did and it seemed it

was because they were men.”

Participant seven also identified that being

an immigrant woman “has made me work harder to get where I want to

be because as an immigrant woman you have to be better than men and at

the same time maintain your femininity and that is very hard,” (Transcript

of Interview with Participant seven). Maintaining the idea of “femininity”

was important to most participants though an interesting observation was

that some of the participants identified that had they been men of color

than they would have had a much harder time in Canada due to prejudices

against colored men. Participant one thought that had she been a man she

would have been judged “Worse, definitely worse,” (Transcript from Inter-

view with participant one). Participants identified that being of women

and of color also put them at a disadvantage. As Participant 11 stated” it

has made me work hard (being an Angolan woman) to fight the prejudices

against women of color. The color of my skin does not dictate who I am

and what I can do and many people believe that,” (Transcript of Interview

with participant three).

Since gender and race are key components of anti-racist feminist the-

ory, the participants’ notion of gender and identity and race and identity

are inexplicably linked together. In fact, Feminist Anti-racist theory focuses

on the ways in which individuals are socially located within interactive race

and gender hierarchies. Rather than identifying the separate impact of race,

gender and class on individuals’ lives, feminist anti-racist theory stresses the

need to develop understandings of how these forms of stratification inter-

sect and overlap together. Race and gender for Angolan women seem to be

almost one in the same as they felt they could not separate their perceptions

of themselves as women and themselves as women of color. By thinking in

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this way, this also links the variable of gender/race to that of identity/settle-

ment as through these changes in perceptions of gender/race, the identity/

settlement variable was also affected. All participants identified that keep-

ing their Angolan identity in Canada was important to them. To some this

meant through language and culture and to others this meant passing it on

to their children. Participant three stated, “. . . I think it is important to

maintain this identity because it was the one I was raised with and the one

I hope to pass on to my children”(Transcript of Interview with participant

three). To others, an Angolan identity meant rejecting the patriarchal cul-

ture in which they were raised. Ethnicity and identity seemed to be clearly

linked. An example of this occurs in the interviewed with participant 11

when she states, “To me to be Angolan is an individual thing. It means to

be proud of where you come from, to have a sense of equality, of justice

and, of peace for all. It means to have respect for your fellow man and not

to belittle them” (Transcript of interview with participant 11). Almost all

participants identified themselves as “Angolan”. Some participant s iden-

tified themselves as “Canadian,” while others maintained an ethnicity of

“African Canadian.” This change in identity may have occurred as a result

of the settlement and identity formation process.

While some participants felt “Angolan,” other clearly shed this ethnic

identity for a broader “African-Canadian” one. This shift in some cases or

maintenance of ethnicity in others also shows the relationship between the

variable of ethnicity to the identity formation/settlement variable. As in the

studies of Giles, Toromorn, Franz and Messias, the maintenance of cultural

ties and ethnicity was crucial in the settlement process for Angolan women

as well as the women in these studies.

RELIGIOSITY

The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology defines religiosity as “the quality

of being religious.”

As such, the devoutness or “religiousness,” being a

characteristic or phenomenon in the lives of others, makes a direct impact

on our identities. Religiosity is a multi-faceted word with many implica-

tions, which makes describing religion or religiosity extremely difficult

and often subjective. For some, being religious means simply attending

church, for others it includes specific beliefs and practices such as prayer,

rituals, and accepting certain values and morals. This ambiguity makes

operationalizing religiosity difficult, even in this study. As a result, many

narrowly define their religiosity, or commitment to religion simply as

church attendance. The most recent attempt to square the circle can be

found in the work of Hervieu-Léger (1993)

, who endeavors to integrate

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the best of both emphases through the concept of religious memory. The

specificity of religiosity lies in a particular mode of believing, in which

the idea of a chain of memory is crucial. Religiosity becomes therefore

“the ideological, symbolic and social device by which the individual and

collective awareness of belonging to a particular lineage of believers is

created, maintained, developed and controlled.”

The aim is to include

more than the beliefs and practices of universally acknowledged world

faiths but to avoid widening the agenda so far that it is difficult to distin-

guish the specifically religious from any other meaning system. In Europe,

the discussion relating to dimensions of religiosity takes a different form.

The principal feature of the late twentieth century appears to be the per-

sistence of the softer indicators of religious life (that is, those concerned

with feelings, experience, and the more numinous religious beliefs) along-

side the undeniable and at times dramatic drop in the hard indicators

(those that measure religious orthodoxy, ritual participation, and institu-

tional attachment). These are the findings of the European Values Study, a

source of empirical information for a growing number of societies.

Cur-

rently, social scientists are in general agreement that religious commitment

varies across all religions, and that religious commitment may manifest

itself in different ways within the same religious tradition. Good research

attempts are now being made to come to terms with belief, practice, and

self-perception in determining the relative effect of “religiosity” on behav-

ioral and attitudinal measures.

Not surprisingly, religiosity was a major factor in the lives of these

women. All participants identified religion or belief in a particular reli-

gion, as affecting the decisions they made in their lives and in helping shape

their identity as women. All women also came from Roman Catholic back-

grounds with participant 11 actually converting to Judaism, as a result of

marriage. All women also identified a belief in God and maintained that

religion was a major factor for them in their lives and that religion also

influenced the decisions they made in their lives. Religiosity had a clear

correlation to identity formation identity/settlement in this respect, as par-

ticipants also identified the fact that their faith had helped them overcome

the difficult passages in their lives, including their immigration experience.

Their religiosity clearly affected their perceptions of themselves and who

they thought themselves to be. As in Peña and Frehill’s (1998, 621)

study,

where religiosity is “empowered” so is the case with all participants in this

study. Religion became a key component for overcoming settlement diffi-

culties as it provided a point of strength and guidance to many participants

in the study. The new formation of self in a new country and the difficul-

ties and challenges associated with this were often overcome because of

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religious belief in God, as identified by respondents. This belief often acted

as a moral compass for several other participants, thus helping guide and

shape their new selves in the settlement process.

CONCLUSION

This qualitative analysis of Angolan immigrant women in Toronto explored

the main variables of identity formation and settlement experiences. Utiliz-

ing semi-structured interviews, this investigation focused on immigration

experiences, past personal histories, and how non-white Angolan women

have adjusted to life in Toronto. The dependant variable in this study was

identity formation and the main independent variable in this study was set-

tlement. In reality after analyzing participants’ interview responses it was

discovered that in fact these two variables were often thought of as one

unique variable as all participants identified that new identity formation

occurred as a result of settlement in Toronto. Other variables included gen-

der, ethnicity and race and participants also identified that these variables

indeed affected their settlement/identity formation. Settlement did indeed

influence the identity formation of Angolan women. The construction of

a new identity in a new country and the ability to start over again in the

new country of settlement were positive changes identified by participants.

The loss of familial ties, loss of confidence and feelings of homesickness

were negative aspects of this combination of variables identified by partici-

pants. The weaknesses apparent in this exploratory study include the lim-

ited research time frame of four months, the small number of participants,

the subject matter, sample and the sampling technique. Many potential par-

ticipants on learning about the focus of the study suspected the researcher

to be employed by the Ministry of Immigration and therefore refused to

participate, as they were illegal refugees in Canada.

In order to improve this study, we would increase the sample size by

allowing more time and also hiring someone from the community to con-

duct these interviews. As there was no funding available, we had to resort

to snowball sampling in order to gain participants. Also, the difficulty in

obtaining participants even by these methods would make this study diffi-

cult to replicate in the future. If this study were to be replicated, more com-

munity involvement is necessary in order to gain more participants. Thus,

clear guidelines would be established with the community beforehand in

order to alleviate the difficulties that occurred during this study. Future

research of the Angolan women is crucial, but this cannot be completed

without community support, thus any future research must include much

community involvement in order to be successful. Overall, this study may

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have specific methodological limitations, but it does reveal an identity for-

mation related to resettlement.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Special thanks go to my research assistance, Diana Reis. Her dedication,

insight, and work ethic were instrumental to the final product.

NOTES

1. W. Giles, Portuguese Women in Toronto: Gender, Immigration and Nation-

alism, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002).

2. F. Nunes, Portuguese Canadians from Sea to Sea: A National Needs Assess-

ment, (Toronto. Portuguese Canadian National Congress, 1998).

3. Joanne Lebert, Negotiating Angolanness in Diaspora, Thesis (M.A.), (York

University, 1999).

4. Fernando Cruz Gomes, “Deportacao de Angolanos de Toronto,” [The

Deportation of Angolans from Toronto] Sol, Portugues, April 16, 2004.

5. Giles, 2002; Lebert, 1999; D.K. Messias, “Transnational Perspectives

on Women’s Domestic Work: Experiences of Brazilian Immigrants in the

United States, Women and Health. 33 no. 1/2 (2001): 1–29.

6. Messias, 2001; Giles, 2002; M.I. Toro-morn, “Gender, Class, Family and

Migration: Puerto Rican Women in Chicago,” Gender and Society 9 no. 6

(1995): 712–726.

7. B. Franz, “Bosnian Women in (Re) Settlement: Gender Relations and Social

Mobility.” Feminist Review 73 (2003): 86–103.

8. M.K. Kumsa, “Negotiating Intimacies in Globalized Space: Identity and

Cohesion in Young Oromo Refugee Women.” Affilia 17 (2002): 471–496.

9. L. Manderson and C. McMichael, “Somali Women and Well-Being: Social

Networks and Social Capital Among Immigrant Women in Australia.”

Human Organization 63 no. 1 (2004): 88–99.

10. S. Reinharz, “Neglected voices and excessive demands in Feminist

research,” Journal of Qualitative Sociology, 15 no. 1 (1993): 69–76; 69.

11. Scatzman and Strauss in E. Babbie, and L.Benequisto, Fundamentals of

Social Research, (Scarborough: Thomson/Nelson, 2002): 308.

12. M. Q. Patton, How to use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation, (Newbury

Park, CA: Sage, 1987), 108.

13. L. Manderson and C. McMichael, “Somali Women and Well-Being: Social

Networks and Social Capital Among Immigrant Women in Australia,”

Human Organization 63 no. 1 (2004): 88–99.

14. Diane Kholos Wysocki, Readings In Social Research Methods, 2nd edition,

(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2004), 157.

15. R. Kenedy, Fathers for Justice: The Rise of a New Social Movement in Can-

ada as a Case Study for Collective Identity Formation, (Ann Arbour, MI:

Caravan Books, 2004).

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16. Ira. Silver, “Role Transitions, Objects and Identity,” Symbolic Interaction

19 no. 2 (1996): 1–20, 3.

17. P. Gilroy, “Diaspora and the Detours of Identity,” Woodward K. (ed.) Iden-

tity and Difference, (London: Sage/Open University, 1997), 301.

18. E. Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, (Engle-

wood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1963).

19. A. Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Mod-

ern Age, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991), 37.

20. Transcript of Interview with participant five.

21. Transcript of Interview with participant three.

22. Transcript of Interview with participant nine.

23. Transcript of Interview with participant two.

24. Transcript of Interview with participant four.

25. Transcript of Interview with participant one.

26. Transcript of Interview with participant 11.

27. Transcript of Interview with participant eight.

28. Excerpt from interview with participant nine.

29. A. Calliste, and G.D Dei, Anti-Racist Feminism: Critical Race and Gender

Studies, (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2000), 15.

30. S. Friedman, Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of

Encounter, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), 5.

31. W. Bottero, “Clinging to the Wreckage? Gender and the Legacy of Class,”

Sociology Today 45 no. 2 (1998): 469–490, 470.

32. S. Razack, Looking White People in the Eye, (Toronto: University of

Toronto Press, 1998), 12.

33. Transcript of Interview with participant seven.

34. A. Johnson, Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, (London: Blackwell Pub-

lishing, Incorporated, 2000), 278.

35. Danièle Hervieu-Leger, La religion pour mémoire. (Paris: Cerf., 1993).

36. G. Davie, “Religion and Modernity,” Postmodernity, Sociology and Reli-

gion, (ed.) K. Flanagan and P. Jupp, (London: Macmillan, 1996): 101–

117,110.

37. D. Barker, et al., The European Values Study 1981–1990, (London: Euro-

pean Values Study, 1993).

38. L. Frehill, and M. Peña, “Latina Religious Practice: Analyzing Cultural

Dimensions in Measures of Religiosity,” Journal for the Scientific Study of

Religion 37 no. 4 (1998):620–635, 621.

REFERENCES

Angolan Sisters Celebrate Asylum Safely in Canada, Teens Hope for Reunion with

Their Mother (2004, April 13). Globe and Mail [Toronto]. p.1.

Babbie, E. and L.Benequisto. Fundamentals of Social Research. Scarborough:

Thomson/Nelson, 2002.

Barker, D. et al. The European Values Study 1981–1990. London: European Values

Study, 1993.

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Bottero, W. “Clinging to the Wreckage? Gender and the Legacy of Class.” Sociol-

ogy Today 45 no. 2 (1998): 469–490.

Calliste, A. & G.D Dei. Anti-Racist Feminism: Critical Race and Gender Studies.

Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2000.

Davie, G. “Religion and Modernity.” Postmodernity, Sociology and Religion. (ed.)

K. Flanagan and P. Jupp. London: Macmillan, 1996: 101–117.

Deportação de Angolanos. [Angolan Deportation] (2004, April 16) Sol Português,

[Toronto], p.3.

Dua, E. Scratching the Surface, Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought. Toronto:

Women’s Press, 1999.

Franz, B. “Bosnian Women in (Re) Settlement: Gender Relations and Social Mobil-

ity.” Feminist Review 73 (2003): 86–103.

Frehill, L. and Peña M. “Latina Religious Practice: Analyzing Cultural Dimensions

in Measures of Religiosity.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 37 no.

4 (1998):620–635.

Friedman, S. Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Giddens, A. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age.

Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991.

Giles, W. Portuguese Women in Toronto: Gender, Immigration and Nationalism.

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Gilroy, P. “Diaspora and the Detours of Identity.” Woodward K. (ed.) Identity and

Difference. London: Sage/Open University, 1997.

Goffman, E. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood

Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Gomes, Fernando Cruz. “Deportacao de Angolanos de Toronto.” [The Deportation

of Angolans from Toronto] Sol, Portugues, April 16, 2004.

Hervieu-Leger, Danièle. La religion pour mémoire. Paris: Cerf., 1993.

Johnson, A. Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology. London: Blackwell Publishing,

Incorporated, 2000.

Johnson, Allan G. The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: a User’s Guide to Socio-

logical language. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2000.

Johnson, W.A. et al. The Sociology Student Writer’s Manual. Upper Saddle River,

N.J. Pearson Education, 2004.

Kenedy, R. Fathers for Justice: The Rise of a New Social Movement in Canada as

a Case Study for Collective Identity Formation. Ann Arbour, MI: Caravan

Books, 2004.

Kumsa, M.K. “Negotiating Intimacies in Globalized Space: Identity and Cohesion

in Young Oromo Refugee Women.” Affilia 17 (2002): 471–496.

Lebert, Joanne. Negotiating Angolanness in Diaspora. Thesis (M.A.), York Univer-

sity, 1999.

Liu, T. “Teaching the Differences Among Women from a Historical Perspective:

Rethinking Race and Gender as Social Categories.” Women’s Studies Interna-

tional Forum 14 no. 4 (1991): 265–276.

Manderson L. and C. McMichael. “Somali Women and Well-Being: Social Net-

works and Social Capital Among Immigrant Women in Australia.” Human

Organization 63 no. 1 (2004): 88–99.

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Marshall, Gordon. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. London: New York. Oxford

University Press, 1998.

Messias, D.K. “Transnational Perspectives on Women’s Domestic Work: Experi-

ences of Brazilian Immigrants in the United States. Women and Health. 33

no. 1/2 (2001): 1–29.

Nunes, F., Portuguese Canadians from Sea to Sea: A National Needs Assessment.

Toronto. Portuguese Canadian National Congress, 1998.

Patton, M. Q. How to use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA:

Sage, 1987.

Razack, S. Looking White People in the Eye. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,

1998.

Reinharz, S. “Neglected voices and excessive demands in Feminist research.” Jour-

nal of Qualitative Sociology, 15 no. 1 (1993): 69–76.

Silver, Ira. “Role Transitions, Objects and Identity.” Symbolic Interaction. 19 no. 2

(1996): 1–20.

Toro-morn, M.I. “Gender, Class, Family and Migration: Puerto Rican Women in

Chicago.” Gender and Society 9 no. 6 (1995): 712–726.

Wysocki, Diane Kholos. Readings In Social Research Methods, 2nd edition. Bel-

mont, CA: Wadsworth, 2004.

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Part II

African Refugees

and Policy Implications

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197

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Chapter Seven

The Making of a Modern Diaspora:

The Resettlement Process

of the Somali Bantu Refugees

in the United States

Omar A. Eno and Mohamed A. Eno

INTRODUCTION

A refugee is an individual with a national origin no longer enjoying the

protection of the national government and who had not acquired the

nationality of the host country. Thousands of Somali refugees are scattered

all over the world waiting to acquire the citizenship of their respective

host nations, as part of the process in the making of a modern Diaspora.

According to the 2002 world refugee survey,

there are 40 million dis-

placed people throughout the world, of whom 15 million are asylum seek-

ers. In addition, the prospect of life and liberty in the United States has

attracted immigrants and fortune seekers from all over the world. How-

ever, about 13,500 Somali Bantu refugees currently being resettled in the

United States are among those persons forced either into exile or internally

displaced because of the ongoing regional war in southern Somalia. The

Somali Bantu regions were seized and are under the control of the warring

nomadic militiamen, thus forcing the Bantu to flee because of well-founded

fear of persecution. Prior to their acceptance into the United States for

resettlement, the Bantu refugees were willing to resettle anywhere in the

world because their war wrecked homeland (Somalia) was not an option

for them.

The over 13,500 Somali Bantu refugees in the United States are also

in the making of a modern Diaspora. This is the largest African group

ever granted a non-forced migration to resettle in the US as a persecuted

“minority” group. The so-called regional war in Somalia, which began

in 1991, has led to the collapse of the social system and governmental

structures. In the face of this situation, millions of Somalis took refuge

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in parts of the country as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and in the

neighboring countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen, seeking

asylum and a safe haven. Most of the Somali Bantu refugees crossed into

the neighboring boarder of Kenya where the United Nations High Com-

mission for Refugees (UNHCR) has established camps.

Among the most

affected groups by the Somali inter- and intra-tribal regional war are the

Somali Bantu who inhabit in the inter-riverine valleys and in the interior,

off Juba and Shabelle rivers (Eno, 2002). The Somali Bantu are considered

a “minority” group in southern Somalia whose members are ethnically

and culturally distinct. They are openly discriminated against and deroga-

tively detested as inferior people by the dominant-clans, Somali nomads.

During the Somali regional war, thousands of Bantu farmers were robbed,

raped, and murdered. After an exhausting struggle of advocacy for reset-

tlement by concerned individuals, in 1999, the United States Congress

approved the resettlement process of about 13,500 Somali Bantu refu-

gees from Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya. The first batch

of new settlers began arriving into the United States in mid 2003, while

the process is currently approaching completion because over 12,000 of

those refugees have already reached the US. It is likely that for the remain-

ing batch of refugees the resettlement process will be concluded by the

year 2006.

This chapter addresses the underpinning factors of the following

questions; 1) Why are the Somali Bantu people the most victimized com-

munity by the warring factions? 2) Why is the Somali war confined to the

south including the Bantu regions, while the provinces of the nomadic war-

ring factions are relatively peaceful and calm? The chapter also observes

the existing relationship between the Somali dominant clans (nomads)

in the US and the newly arrived Somali Bantu refugees. Relevantly, we

shall also examine whether their relationship and interactions in the Dias-

pora has changed/improved. Our observation regarding Bantu—Nomad

relationship is partly incited by the existence in the past of imbalanced

association of the two groups, which was based on a superior attitude

and self-ennoblement by the Somali nomads and an inferior social sta-

tus, which they (nomads) created for the subjugated Bantu population.

Methodologically, the primary research used in this study is mostly eth-

nographic. The empirical data collection includes oral tradition, oral his-

tory, personal interviews, and written materials. Before we proceed to the

main body of this chapter, the following is a brief historical overview on

the background of the Somali Bantu, their origins and their place within

Somali society.

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

OF THE SOMALI BANTU AND THEIR SOCIAL STATUS

IN SOUTHERN SOMALIA

This study focuses on the southern territory that was colonized by Italy,

also referred to as the southern regions. In southern Somalia, there are two

groups of Bantu origin who are sedentary farmers, and, locally known as

Jareer (Lit. “kinky hair”). The first group resides along the banks of the

Shabelle River and is believed to be the indigenes of that region, the Shabelle

river valley. During the Somali war, a large number of them are believed to

have taken flight to Yemen, and continue to stay in refugee camps there to

date.

The second group of Bantu, which resides along the banks of Juba

River valley, and known as Wazigwa, took refuge to the neighboring bor-

ders of Kenya, under the mandate of the United Nations High Commission

for Refugees (UNHCR). As we emphasized earlier, the first group of Bantu

along the Shabelle River valley composes of the autochthons to their current

location of abode, their residence in this territory preceding both the early

arrival of the Galla/Oroma and the later migration of the dominant nomadic

Somalis, which many scholars have described as a more recent movement.

However, the second group of Bantu along the Juba River valley

consists of the descendants of ex-slaves, originally imported from south-

east Africa by Arab/Swahili commercial planters and later sold to local

Somali slave traders early in the nineteenth century. They were specifically

brought from regions such as Tanganyika, Pemba, Zanzibar, Mozambique,

and Malawi, to the coastal cities of southern Somalia, such as Brava, Kisi-

mayo, Marka, and Mogadishu (O. Eno, Abolition of Slavery). They were

exploited and used as slave laborers in the commercially oriented planta-

tions overseen by a combination of Arab/Swahili and Somali merchants.

They were imported into Somalia to grow grain and other food products

to be exported to the then expanding population of the Omani Empire in

the East African Coast and to the markets of southern Arabia and the Mid-

dle East.

Slaves were also used as means of transportation for the move-

ment of merchandise such as Ivory from the southern Somali interior to the

coastal cities. They were as well exploited in the thriving weaving textile-

industry in the Banadir area, particularly in the city of Marka. After dwell-

ing in southern Somalia for almost two centuries, some of the Wazigwa

people vividly remember their ancestral country of origin and how they

were transported into Somalia.

According to Cassanelli, around 1903, Salemi, who was a runaway

slave in Somalia, sought refuge and the protection of the Italian abolitionists,

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according to Salemi, he was captured on the Mrima coast of Tanganyika

with about 40 companions by Arab traders of Sur.

Then, Salemi and his

companions were transported into Somalia through the port city of Marka

two decades ago. According to the Bantu oral traditions, the Wazigwa peo-

ple left their country of origin (modern Tanzania) because of several years

of severe and consecutive famine and droughts and because of the prospect

to work on a fertile land in southern Somalia as laborers.

Subsequently,

the Omani-Arab merchants, who assured to take the Wazigwa to their res-

cue in a fertile land where famine and drought had never been a concern,

duped them into slavery.

However, other scholars believe that some of the

Wazigwa people might have deliberately sold their children and themselves

off because of persistent droughts, which affected Tanganyika early in the

nineteenth century. As we enlightened earlier, the Arab-Omanis brought

them (the Bantu) to Somalia and later sold them to local Somalis along

the coastal cities as slaves to meet the increasing demand for labor to grow

grains, particularly sorghum, maize, and sesame seeds.

After a few years of being entrapped in Somalia as slaves, the Bantu,

particularly the Wazigwa, decided to rebel against slavery. They escaped

and established a safe haven and a maroon society with an impenetrable

defense along the banks of Juba River valley, locally known as Gosha.

Thus, Gosha became a safe haven and an independent polity for all run-

away slaves; later it was dismantled by the Italian colonialists who took

over Somalia in 1890s as part of their colonial domain. Up until late in the

19th century, the Banadir coastal cities of Somalia were under the domain

of the Arab-Omani Sultanate of Zanzibar. Subsequently, Italy purchased

the Banadir coasts and immediately established a military might to be reck-

oned with and became part of its European colony in the Horn of Africa.

In addition to the slave labor, though, the Somali nomads treated

the Bantu people callously. As Hess notes in his report, drawn from infor-

mation obtained from Italian archives, “. . . slaves were harshly treated,

often kept in manacles and fetters, overworked, and underfed.”

Several

Somali Hawiye sub-clans of nomadic origin in the interior such as the

Gaaljael, the Wadan, the Bimal, and the Mobilen had owned slaves for

farming purposes. Since the aforementioned groups possessed the nomadic

Somali’s traditional disdain for agriculture, they viewed owning slaves was

a necessity for labor and for survival.

The above-mentioned groups not

only owned slaves, but they were also inhumanely harsh to their subjects.

This inhumane treatment was noted by colonial officers who reported,

“Slaves and their wives, being laborers, were housed miserably in small,

half-roofed huts, with their usual food [of] parched Indian corn and fish

from the river.”

In the first decade of the 20th century, Italy abolished

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slavery in southern Somalia. Immediately after the abolition, the European

colonial regime introduced a coerced labor system, which indiscriminately

conscripted the emancipated Bantu ex-slaves, the runaways, and the Bantu

indigenes who were all exclusively used in the Italian agricultural scheme

(Menkhaus 1989). Unlike in West Africa, where slave treatment was more

passive, in the sense that slaves somehow resigned to their servile status

but silently struggled to resist and to create more room for him/herself,

east Africa, slaves were harshly treated so they rebelled. According to our

perception, all of these harsh treatments and poor living conditions might

have been responsible for the slave rebellion that has taken root in south-

ern Somalia.

A heroine by the name of Wanakucha coordinated the mutinous

operation. The reason behind the rebellion was to return to their respec-

tive countries of origin in southeast Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, and

Malawi). Unfortunately, it was an arduous and impossible journey by foot,

so the leader, Wanakucha, decided to settle them in a place known as Gosha

(Forest), which is located along the Juba River, a settlement where their cur-

rent name of Heer-Goleet (people of the forest) derived. They cleared the

forest and established new abodes and farming lands for survival as well as

a strong defense mechanism against the pursuing ex-slave masters, Somali

nomads. By the 1940s, there was the rise of a Somali national movement

against Italian occupation, which demanded independence for Somalia. The

Bantu sided with the Somalis (ex-slave masters) to resist against the Italian

colonialists where Nassib Bunde (leader of Gosha at the time) was arrested

by the Italians and later died in a colonial prison.

In 1960, Somalia obtained its independence from Italy and it was the

hope of every Somali to prosper under an independent Somali flag. Unfor-

tunately, that was not the case for the Somali-Bantu people, who were and

still are discriminated against and kept languishing at the bottom rung of

the social strata

because of the stigma of slavery, which is still haunting

them. In October 1969, the army ousted the Somali civilian government and

the late Siyad Barre became the head of the Military Regime. In 1991, after

21 years of Siyad Barre’s military dictatorship under an autocratic regime,

a militia group overthrew Barre, because the Somali people were dissatis-

fied with the political leadership of the military junta. Subsequently, a new

armed wing from the same dominant clan had emerged. This new militia

group, consisting mainly of the Hawiye clan family, known as the United

Somali Congress (USC), actually overthrew Siyad Barre’s military govern-

ment.

From 1991 to date, the militia groups who ousted Siyad Barre’s

Military Regime could not form a legitimate and viable government that

could be recognized by all Somalis and by the international community.

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To the despair of the Bantu people, the replacement of the military

regime did not result in freedom and justice. Instead, it resulted in the

replacement of one tribal dictatorship with many militia dictatorships, and

a continuance of the macabre injustices

and land prowling of the highest

degree. Therefore, Somalia continues to suffer from anarchic and uncom-

promising de-facto governments based on warlordism. As a result of that,

many Somalis were hit hard by that painful “civil war,” the most affected

among them being the Somali Bantu who were raped, robbed and killed

by various militia groups from dominant clans. In Somalia, the Bantu were

viewed as the African Diaspora from southeast Africa (Mozambique, Tan-

zania, and Malawi) to another African nation, Somalia. Consequently, after

almost two centuries of abuse and discrimination in Somalia, and having

been treated as inferior stock of humans by the Somali nomads, in 2003,

a new Diaspora journey for the Bantu has begun, but this time to the US.

For elaboration, the following is a description of the social imbalances,

economic exploitation, and resource control subjected to the Bantu by the

nomadic clans that claimed “nobility” for themselves.

THE PLIGHT OF THE SOMALI BANTU POPULATION

The potential plight of the Somali Bantu community has been predicted

in the 1960s by a team of scholars called The International Committee of

Urgent Anthropological and Ethnic Research: “For all we know, the future

of the group [Bantu] as an entity ethnically and culturally distinct from the

dominant Somali [nomad] may well be in grave danger from the moment

the Italian administration withdraws from Somali land.”

That premoni-

tion is evidently supported by the fact that from 1991 to current, the inter-

clan and intra-clan war among the nomads has caused a total collapse of

the Somali nation, intensifying the agony of the Bantu community in partic-

ular. Simultaneously, the country continues to remain in a state of anarchy,

which is intertwined with intricacies of clan rivalries led by several unruly

warlords aiming for the control of Bantu resources.

In view of this circumstance, the question that instantly comes to

mind is; how is it conceivable that a nation such as Somalia, whose people

supposedly belong to a “homogeneous society,” sharing one language, one

religion, and one culture, could disintegrate so severely and remain so irrec-

oncilable? A section of the scholarship has suggested that the motive for

the Somali regional war was embedded in power struggle, clan rivalry, per-

sonalities, greed, and in the legacy of the Cold War. Others have portrayed

their views as due to inequitable distribution of resources that were very

limited in nature. However, in this chapter, we argue that among the main

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ingredients that precipitated Somalia’s regional war and the current politi-

cal turmoil are entrenched vehemently in urban resources. These resources,

in our belief, do not only consist of monetary grants and foreign aid from

the international community as the case is often purported by certain schol-

ars, but likewise involve potential local capital such as land, labor, water,

harbor control, and the enabling environment that provides access to their

exploitation.

Although the impact of national politics on a locally produced resource

is a common phenomenon to a diverse population in Africa, even the so-

called “homogeneous” society like the Somalis is not immune. In order to

control the national resources, the warring militia groups from the nomads

have expropriated the agricultural fertile land between the rivers Juba and

Shabelle in southern Somalia, in other words the Banadir and its environs.

This land belongs to Somalia’s victims of war and non-partisan groups, such

as the Bantu and others. From independence in 1960 to date, the nomadic

groups who arrogated to themselves the right to govern Somalia, and abro-

gated the democratic system at will, utterly dominated Somalia’s sociopoliti-

cal as well as socio-economic system, thus leaving no room for inclusiveness

or a turn-taking system in the nation’s leadership. The “minorities” in

southern Somalia particularly the Bantu, are victimized because of vari-

ous reasons: one, they are the most vulnerable group in southern Somalia

because they are not armed like the militia nomadic groups whose culture

is embedded in belligerence. Another factor that makes the Bantu victims

is that they are non-partisan; they opted to remain impartial in the ongo-

ing tribal feud in the south. They choose not to support any of the war-

ring nomadic clans or sub-clans. In addition to the aforementioned reasons

regarding the Bantu victimization, is their ethnic composition and physical

feature (the Negroid look), which places them distinctly from that of the

nomadic groups. Due to these circumstances, their status became subjuga-

tion and as an inferior stock of humans of slave ancestry. Above all, the

most significant raison d’être is their ownership of the most arable, most

fertile, and most habitable agricultural land in the entirety of the Somali

peninsula. On the other hand, the Bantu are traditionally known to be the

most laborious and productive people in Somalia. In sum, the two rivers

(Juba and Shabelle), which run parallel in Bantu regions, provide an abun-

dant source of water for irrigation and livelihood, with potential to sustain

and develop the whole inter-riverine south, if not the country at large.

For all practical purposes, therefore, a combination of the above-mentioned

dynamics places the minorities particularly the Bantu in a precarious and

susceptible situation, because the Somali nomads have acquired the guns,

weapons that the Bantu spurn as tools subversive to human development.

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Without any consideration to Somali society’s sufferings, almost every

Somali leadership wasted the nation’s scarce resources on nonsensical and

unjustifiable avenues, such as tribal defense and the security of the late life-

president and his family. Although the infrastructures established in Bantu

areas are undeveloped, even those developed around the nomadic groups

such as schools, hospitals, and roads, the state bureaucracy allowed them

to become rundown. However, this trend should not obscure the reality

that state officials had access to better facilities abroad. With influence and

availability of state resources, their children were safely tucked away into

expensive foreign institutions,

while the children of ordinary Somali citi-

zens are discriminated and abandoned to decay in the squalid ghettos of

Buur Koroole, Boon Dheere, Buulo Eelaay, Buulo Tiinka and Baraaka Cab-

doow, in Mogadishu.

It is appropriate and safe to say that the Somali

Bantu felt (and still feel) like foreigners in their own homeland after being

alienated ethnically from political participation in all post-colonial admin-

istrations, and presently surrounded by violent armed gangs from the

Cushitic nomads.

For a Somali Bantu, acquired or inherited status such as being a King,

Queen, Prince, Princess, or as an elite of outstanding academic performance

and wisdom, do not put him at par with his/her peers in the society. As

long as the Bantu’s physical features resemble those of the Negroid looking

Africans, and as long as the quality of his/her hair texture is Jareer (kinky),

then with all intents and purposes he/she falls in the undesirable race of

those humans considered as descendants of slave ancestry, Adoon (slave).

Catherine Besteman noted “. . . the [Bantu] category is equated with “Afri-

can”—and thus slave—ancestry, as distinguished from the (mythical) “Ara-

bic” ancestry of [nomadic] Somalis.”

To the contrary, regardless of one’s ancestral background, lack of edu-

cation, and less contribution to national development, as long as the texture

of one’s hair is soft like that of the Cushitic Somali, hence Jileec (lit. soft

hair), one automatically qualifies for ascription as the descendant of a pedi-

gree from Arabian “nobility.” Nobility that the world is mystified to deter-

mine its exact origin, as Mukhtar elucidates, “Although Somalis claim they

are homogeneous, the exact origin of their race remains mysterious.

Due

to the aforementioned social classification and physical labeling amongst

Somali society, purported particularly by the nomads, the identity of the

indigenous Bantu people along the river valley areas in southern Somalia

was distorted as “imported slaves” because of their physical resemblance

(Negroid) to the ex-slave Bantu, a status that is undesirable phenomenon

in Somali society. As Eno states, “The Negroid features of the Bantu soon

became a distinct identity where people with such features were classified

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as slaves and subjected to a variety of discriminatory practices regardless of

where they came from. As a result, for the majority of slave owning groups,

Negroid features became synonymous with inferior status,” (O. Eno, Land-

less Landlords, 138).

It is also noteworthy to envisage that, in Somalia, identity shapes one’s

place in society and gives one a sense of belonging amongst Somalis. In

fact, if one belongs to a powerful sub-clan or clan, it earns one status and

other exceptional privileges. Identity also bears the potential to opportune

one with an unprecedented access to the looting of the national economy,

top political position, and high quality education, which the Bantu people

were exempted due to their derogatively tainted identity classifying them all

as imported slaves with Negroid physical properties. Although our study

delving into a Somalo-Italian conspiracy against the Bantu is not conclu-

sive, suggestions have it that the Somali nomads and the Italian colonialists

deliberately smudged the authenticity of the majority of the Bantu people

along the river valley into an ambiguous ethnic origin, with the intention to

deny them their primordial citizenship as first class citizens.

As Besteman

highlights, “. . . the origin of the reer Shabelle [Bantu] people of upper Sha-

belle is unclear, [even though] they are not connected so overtly with a slave

past,” (Besteman 1999, 186).

The plight of the Somali Bantu includes their paradigmatic denial to

political participation and the marginalization against them upon parlia-

mentary representation. In 2002–2004, when the Somalis were forming an

interim government in Kenya, all the nomadic Somali clans were allocated

an appropriate and equal number of representatives in the parliament.

However, the Bantu and other “minority” groups were denied equal rep-

resentation as non-qualifiers, hence a connotation of non-Somaliness (Eno,

M. 2005). Discriminatorily, a dubious committee composed of exclusively

nomads engineered an infamous strategy based on which they formulated

an unequal and inequitable allocation of the parliamentary seats, commonly

celebrated as 4.5 (four—point—five) Clan Power Sharing Formula. In other

words, all the so-called four pastoral and agro-pastoral clans Darod, Dir,

Hawiye, and Digil-Mirifle were each given one full representation whereas

the minority and Bantu people were entirely lumped together to share half

representation, hence 0.5 (point five). The group that was given half rep-

resentation or literally half-Somali status, (minorities and Bantu) consists

of the few communities in Somalia that did not take up arms against any

clan during the Somali regional war; put in another way, they refrained

from committing any atrocities against the society. Deplorably, according

to the nomadic culture, these peace-loving communities do not qualify for

full/equal representation, in either parliament or government, since they did

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not arm themselves to indulge in the dehumanization that shrank the entire

south Somalia to graveyards. Ridiculous though it may sound, in order to

qualify for equal representation (according to nomado-cultural pastoral

democracy), and full status of Somaliness, these marginalized communi-

ties should have first committed against humanity crimes commensurate to

those meted out by the nomads themselves.

According to Rasheed Farah, from an outcast minority group, Soma-

lia needs, “A state that recognizes and appreciates Somalia’s cocktail and

conglomerate culture and traditions, where ethnic fairness and justice are

the moral basis, where people are judged by the content of their charac-

ter, not by the community and clan they belong to. Consequently, fairness

and justice can secure the normative structure for a new egalitarian sys-

tem in which Somalis of every ethnic background are treated and valued

equally.”

We may reveal that the reality on the ground in southern Somalia is

quite different from the myth of homogeneity and egalitarianism, a mythi-

cal knowledge often promulgated by the Somali nomads. It is also worth-

while mentioning that there are no intermarriages or intermingling between

the nomads and the Bantu because of clan and class stratification. The lack

of intermarriage between the two communities prevented from building a

common family bond and compassion between them during difficult times.

For example, militiamen loyal to certain nomadic warlords have been forc-

ing Bantu farmers, including women and children in the fertile zone of the

inter-riverine region, to work on plantations without any compensation

save a meager diet of boiled beans consumed once a day, and only after

work. Not only are these people denied their rightful earnings, but they are

also turned into slaves, denied and subverted of their person-hood because

there are no blood-ties to bridge the racial gap. The warlords and few for-

eign companies benefit from the sweat and travail of the forced laborers

from the farming communities. The victims are confined to semi-prison

camps guarded over by the de-facto authority group, the militia. These poor

Bantu farmers exist in the shadow of oppression, isolation, and exploita-

tion, leading a perturbed life of perpetual intimidation. Stories of humilia-

tion, horror and ill treatment in Somalia are not isolated incidents though.

Numbers are hard to come by, but estimates exceed that thousands upon

thousands of this community are antagonized, killed, raped and maimed as

daily routine.

The warring nomads target the Bantu population for no other rea-

son than that they did not fit in the Somali nomad’s framework of Somali-

ness. However, that framework is often faulty, as Kusow postulates that

although Somalis are often portrayed as a self-same nation, that notion

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itself downplays and sometimes violently oppresses the aspirations of oth-

ers.

From Aw-Dhegle to the banks of Bu’aleh, where most local farming

settlers are unarmed, militiamen who have abandoned the camel nomadic

life are oppressing these communities. Indeed, these young nomads have

never acquired a skill for trade or to earn an income in urban cities, except

being Morian (armed youth gangs), who are attached to and take their

orders from their clan leaders although the only associable characteristics

of leadership in their portfolio rests only in that of killer-ship, (Eno, M.

2005).

In 1992, during the Somali tribal war, some warlords and their mili-

tia refused all humanitarian relief supplies that were meant to be delivered

to the most devastated and hunger-stricken areas, namely the inter-riverine

region of Somalia. This resulted in an astounding number of deaths due

to starvation of nearly 300,000 people, mainly women and children. As a

result of this manmade disaster and destruction in the inter-riverine areas,

mortality and malnutrition rates reached a peak in Baidoa (the city of

death), and its surroundings, turning the region into “one big graveyard.”

The Somali nomadic warlords’ actions show clearly that, at present, Soma-

lia’s main problem is not solely due to clan rivalry but to the murderous

ambitions of the war criminals (warlords).

THE SOMALI REGIONAL WAR

AND THE WREST CONTROL OF BANTU LAND

Unlike others who categorize the Somali conflict as a “civil war,” in this

chapter we take a different direction by calling it a “regional war” between

multifarious Somali clans and sub-clans that are contending for the control

of local and international resources. First, the war in Somalia is utterly con-

fined in the south, while other regions of the nomads are relatively experi-

encing calm and tranquility. Secondly, those quiet nomadic regions have in

fact either declared regional autonomy or seceded as an independent state

such as the Republic of Somaliland in the north, the autonomous region of

Puntland in east-central, and others awaiting just the slightest opportunity

to announce their self-autonomy.

As we read in many academic texts, journals, and newsletters, Somalis

are a predominantly nomadic society with a traditionally nomadic way of

governing. Colonialists, however, introduced the concept of state through

their cities where societies were often sedentary. Then, the question that begs

for an answer is, why is the world astounded with the lack of a central gov-

ernment in Somalia, knowing that from independence to date, the Somali

state was utterly controlled and dominated by the nomadic groups? Yet,

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the concept of a state is the creation of settled societies

and is no way a

suitable institution for the nomads whose traditional system of governance,

coded ‘pastoral democracy’, has failed the country. From this background,

we may hypothesize that the current chaotic situation in southern Soma-

lia is, veritably, as a consequence of the visionless nature of long-enduring

schemes of nomadic governance and their inept socio-political system of

democracy (O. Eno, 2004).

Regrettably, the southern regions became the battlefields for the con-

tending warlords for resources. Amazingly though, it is the very nomads

from the far and strange regions who are fighting amongst themselves for

the control of southern regions while the real owners of the region (minori-

ties) are pushed to the side because of being unarmed! From Somalia’s inde-

pendence in July 1960, the minorities particularly the Bantu were excluded

from the political process, economic opportunities, and educational

advancement. Therefore, when the war broke out in 1991 in the south,

they had neither the trained youth to protect the community nor the will to

acquire weapons and thus became sufferers thus losing everything includ-

ing their land.

Land looting and economic exploitation in the Inter-riverine and

coastal areas of Somalia have a long-standing history throughout the

period of Italian colonization down to the period of civil anarchy. Eager to

exploit the agricultural potential of southern regions, the Italian colonial

government set up a settler-based plantation system and development strat-

egy, with large land concessions made to Italian settlers, particularly in the

Lower Shabelle, a region near the capital and the coast. While individual

settlers were given long-term leaseholds, the state remained the proprietor

thereby retaining ultimate property rights.

In October 1993, an issue of

African Rights by Rakiya Omaar and Alex de Waal documented the looting

of land from its Bantu owners, which reached unprecedented levels; they

said, “This ‘land looting’ was more comprehensive and far-reaching than

any that had gone before; it reached to even the most inaccessible areas

along the two rivers. Again, land was acquired by a mixture of purchase,

bribery, threat, and outright violent seizure. The legislation for co-operatives

was grossly abused as a method of land looting. The beneficiaries were,

once again, elites connected with the government.”

Lee V. Cassanelli,

an associate professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and an

occasional consultant to the United States Department of State on Somali

affairs, has written numerous papers asserting that a major aspect of the

Somali crisis that has been largely overlooked by many journalists and ana-

lysts is the intense contest for land being waged in the country. The major

battlegrounds of the current civil war are located where armed militias are

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competing for control of southern Somalia’s most productive assets—irri-

gable land, port facilities, and urban and peri-urban real estate. While jour-

nalists (and even many Somalis) continue to frame the current struggle in

terms of competing warlords and clan factions, what is at stake is really

access to the country’s material resources. The allocation of land and water

rights will almost certainly remain a critical and contentious issue in Somali

reconstruction.

According to Menkhaus, past exploitation of agricultural land in the

Juba valley region and incidents of land expropriation have caused the dis-

placement of thousands of the traditional farmers including the Bantu who

practiced farming for generations. Some of the major products that are har-

vested for export are banana, grapefruit, and others, from which the gains

are not distributed equitably by the state. Menkhaus further warns that

because of the abundance of agricultural wealth in the Bantu regions, it

is not likely the situation will change any time soon. In fact, the region is

attracting more Somali nomads and outside investors, [which diminishes

the prospect of the Bantu people ever regaining their land].

John Prendergast also notes that the Bantu land was being manipu-

lated by the state itself. Land tenure laws were manipulated, abrogating

individual and group ownership and expropriating all land to the state,

such that the country’s controlling powers [nomads] were also able to con-

trol some of the country’s best land.

Therefore, land tenure in southern

Somalia remains a critical issue, which has been described by one Somali

official as “a ticking time bomb.” It is among the issues that led to the cur-

rent chaos in Somalia and yet continues to remain at the root of much of the

fighting in the south, as Omaar and De Waal confirm, Clan-based militias

have ravaged the country, but the commonest reason for their war is land.

Evidence from an aid official supports the aforementioned view; describing

the Bantu and other farmers as historically the most affected populations in

the river valley region, while further characterizing the Bantu as “great sur-

vivors.”

Even prior to the war, Menkhaus noted many poorer Juba valley

communities, especially in Gilib and Jamame districts, no longer subsisted

on the staple maize dish (soor), instead eating boiled green bananas (moos),

earned in exchange for plantation labor, (Menkhaus, 1994).

Reviewing the episode of land misappropriation and land looting in

Somalia in his chapter entitled “Land Rush in Somalia”, Ahmed Qassim

Ali

discusses, “. . . how tenure policies enacted by both colonial and post-

colonial regimes led to the total alienation of land from its original owners

. . .” as he details in depth on what he describes “. . . the unjust land ten-

ure processes that begun (sic) during the Italian Colonial Administration,

and adopted and later intensified by the successive post-colonial Somali

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regimes.” In the south, the nomadic clans have looted at will almost all the

Bantu plantations and more than half of the mainly cultivable land most

suitable for agricultural production “without any due process,” (Ahmed,

2004). Due to this manmade disaster and destruction in Inter-riverine

areas, mortality and malnutrition were at a peak in Lower Juba, according

to Abdi Aden of Oxfam-UK, characterizing the southern region as “one big

graveyard.”

The inter-riverine community in Somalia has been the prime

victim of looming atrocities, genocide, and massive human rights abuse.

Yet, they refrained from retaliating, because retaliation would only make a

bad situation worse. Nor has it ever been part of the inter-riverine tradition

to mutilate, kill, and torture the unarmed, especially women and children

(M. Eno, 2004). Despite the fact that the Bantu were kept at the bottom

layer of Somali society, Luling writes that: “Among the effects of the pres-

ent disaggregation of Somali society, has been the emergence of these people

[Bantu], or at least some of the more politically conscious of them, claiming

their rights as a community and determined to speak with their voice.”

To that end, we foster the notion that this could probably be the beginning

of the end of the Somali dogmatic clan supremacy and its willy-nilly policy

towards the Bantu and other communities in Somalia.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE SOMALI BANTU REFUGEES IN THE

US AND THE REACTION OF THE HOST COMMUNITY

The Somali Bantu refugees have arrived in the US with high expectations.

Adaptation to the new culture was anticipated as among the major chal-

lenges. Their adaptation process, however, is comparable to the earlier

experience of the Nuer, Sudanese community in Minnesota, who were fast

enough in their acculturation to the US everyday life.

To facilitate through

the process, the US government engaged experts to train the US service pro-

viders in the various host states as a preparation measure for this immense

resettlement program.

The resettlement of the Somali Bantu reminds one of its contrasts with

the Hmong community who had been resettled in the US in the 1970’s. The

commonality between these two communities (Somali Bantu and Hmong)

lies in their social paradigm that (a) both have experienced a long history

of discrimination as low status people, (b) agronomic culture dominates as

their predominant mode of living, and (c) literacy levels of both communi-

ties is low and hence face similar linguistic challenges in the job market, for

further reading see.

In order to enhance adaptation, it was suggested that prior to their

arrival in the US, the Bantu should undergone a cultural orientation

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program in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The International Organization for

Migration (IOM) is the agency mandated to conduct the orientation pro-

gram during which the refugees are familiarized with aspects of the Ameri-

can culture and way of living.

The resettlement of the Bantu has attracted a mixed reaction from the

American community. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans

welcomed the initiative with tremendous willingness to support in the pro-

cess, an insignificant number of anti-immigration people expressed concern.

As experts later discovered, the negative sentiments of the anti-immigration

and whit-supremacist groups particularly focusing on this case was as a

result of misinformation depicting the Bantu as primitive people. The mis-

information, which was quoted from non-expert sources/individuals with

little knowledge about the Bantu, was later addressed by experts such as

Omar Eno and Dan Van Lehman through successive orientation programs

in seminars and workshops for members of the US resettlement agencies.

Contrary to the negative depiction of the Bantu as an extremely back-

ward community “incapable of opening a door”, the experts have brought

into the limelight the various skills many of the Bantu have acquired in

trades such as auto-mechanics, electricians, masons, and carpenters, albeit

through informal apprenticeship system traditional in Somalia. This revela-

tion has to a considerable extent helped diffuse the negative picture smeared

on the Bantu.

The US refugee service providers have stated the Bantu immigrants’

fast adaptation to their environment and to the American culture and gen-

eral way of living. Some have expressed surprise over the fast pace of adap-

tation, admitting, “We were over-prepared,” an undertone of the effects of

the earlier misinformation. The service providers remain unequivocal about

the Bantu’s eagerness for employment regardless of the entry-level although

poor English proficiency, like the Hmong, poses a major challenge to the

adult Bantu. The outcome of ESL (English as a Second Language) classes

has proven tremendous success, with many of the host states reporting pos-

itive adult participation. A report elaborates that almost all Bantu learn-

ers are performing well in their ESL classes while school-age children go

to school regularly. The Bantu realize that in order to break through their

obstacles in the job market, they have to improve their English language

proficiency. But like the Hmong have experienced, transportation stands as

one of the major obstacles to employment.

Notwithstanding the cultural predominance in agriculture, the Bantu

in the US have displayed skepticism about farming. Unlike the Hmong

who have established distinguished agricultural entrepreneurship, the

Somali Bantu are yet to overcome the stigma associated with farming in

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their homeland, Somalia, a mode which was utilized as a mechanism to

disadvantage them socially as well as psychologically. They gauge their

preference between education and agriculture from the perspective of their

Somali experience, thus education as their prime choice in the US rather

than engage in farming.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SOMALI NOMADS

AND THE SOMALI BANTU REFUGEES IN THE US

Overall, the relationship between the Bantu population and the nomads in

Somalia can be categorized as the served (nomads) and the server (Bantu), in

other words master-servant relationship. The nomads have always dictated

to the Bantu what to do and when to do because of their dominance of the

governing institutions within Somali society. To substantiate our argument

we may quote Rakiya Omaar and Alex de Waal who, during their research

trip to Bantu villages in southern Somalia, after the militias took over the

country, witnessed this scene, “In one Bantu village in the lower Giuba,

our interview with the village headman was broken up by the Hawiye man

[nomad] who claimed he had ‘liberated’ the village plantation and who

ordered ‘his’ Bantus not to speak to outsiders without his permission. ‘I am

your master now,’ he shouted, as he manhandled the elder away from us. ‘I

will come back and kill you if you do this again.’ Throughout the research,

farmers were both passionate about the subject of land tenure, and fright-

ened of letting their identities be known,” (Omaar and de Waal 1993).

Unlike the popular perception, which portrays Somalis as a homo-

geneous society, we contend that Somalis are composed of diverse com-

munities of multiple historical and cultural backgrounds. Thus Somalia as

a nation, should harmonize the wealth and strength embedded in the diver-

sity that held together people from different cultures, traditions, and lan-

guages. For example, the nomadic Somali administrations, especially Siyad

Barre’s military regime, have deliberately stifled all the non-nomadic social

languages, dialects as well as accents, among them the Jido, the Dabare, the

Bajuni, the Barawa, the Tuni, the Shikhal-Gendershe, the Shanshiye, the

Yibir, and others. Although the two major languages are Maay and Max-

aaa, the nomads predominantly speak a dialect of Maxaa, while southern-

ers particularly the Bantu speak predominantly Maay.

However, the ruling

nomadic class standardized their own version of the Maxaa language and

“sub-standardized” the Maay language and other versions of the Maxaa

dialects such as spoken in the regions from Hiran down to Lower Jubba.

In the United States, although there are some positive signs of col-

laboration between the Somali Bantu and the Somali nomads, it would

The Making of a Modern Diaspora 213

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

be dangerous, irrational, and even naive to assume that the relationship

between these two groups is smooth and cordial. The relationship between

the Somali Bantu (the oppressed) and the Somali nomads (the oppressor)

in the United States is still ambiguous, because of the infamous culture of

subjugation prevailing in Somalia against the Bantu.

As they say, Rome was not built in one day; accordingly, a mutual

relationship between these two groups cannot be built overnight either. We

hope that the bridge to better relations between the nomads and the Bantu

in the United States will be improved gradually. The Somali Bantu are com-

ing to the United States under the American P-2 immigration status, which

is preserved for persecuted minority groups. Because of this, there was much

discussion surrounding what role, if any, the Somali refugees (nomads) now

in the United States—many of whom are from the dominant political clans

that have, and continue to, persecute the Bantu in Somalia—would play in

the resettlement of the Bantu. As we emphasized above, in Somalia and in

the refugee camps in Kenya, the Somali Bantu were always condescendingly

told what to do by the dominant clans. Since their arrival in the United

States that contemptuous notion has been reversed because the Somali

Bantu do now feel that they are in the US, where all men of all ethnicity

should be equal. As a result, the Bantu have already started forming their

own communal organizations under their own leadership. The Bantu have

also agreed to work with the nomadic Somali clans, but only at a mutual

and equal level with separate community organizations. Thus, the relation

between these two groups is somewhat not alarming but the desire to work

separately and equally is evident on the Bantu side (Eno, O. 2004).

Upon arrival at the airport, it is likely that the sponsor, staff mem-

ber of a resettlement agency, and a translator meet the Bantu refugee fam-

ily. In the event of a nomadic caseworker or translator, the Bantu refugee

families either request a Maay speaker or keep low profile until they reach

their destination or their host’s home. Upon first arrival at a United States

airport, several Bantu express their shock at being received by an Af Maha-

speaking Somali from one of the politically dominant “nomadic” clan

members. Anyhow, the relations between these two communities have not

changed dramatically because the Somali nomads still feel “superior” to

the Bantu while the Somali Bantu are still incredulous about the Somali

nomads although they are the social workers engaged in helping them.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, after almost two hundred years of living in southern Soma-

lia, the Wazigwa/Bantu people are denied respect and the right to be equal

214 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

to their nomadic counterparts. They are denied access to the basic necessi-

ties of life; therefore, they continue to feel as foreigners in their own home-

land. The war in Somalia, which has uprooted this community from their

habitat, is utterly based on resource control; whoever succeeds to seize and

control the majority of southern agricultural regions is likely to win the

struggle, since as a matter of reality the agricultural produce of the south

feeds the rest of Somalia. We conclude, therefore, that the war in Soma-

lia is not a civil war with participation by all member clans of the larger

Somali society, nor has it engulfed traumatically in the nomads’ regions and

towns as it has devastated southern Bantu land. It is, due to its tribal and

geographical nature, rather a regional war targeting the acquisition of the

fertile Bantu territory, rendering the Bantu victims in multiple spheres.

NOTES

1. World Refugee Survey 2002/2003 Table 1, key Statistics. This information

was prepared by US Committee for Refugees; available at www.refugee.

org/data/wrs/03/stats/sskeystatistics.pdf.

2. M. Eno, “The Plight of the Somali Refugees in Kenya,” Paper Presented at

the African Studies Association, Washington DC, 2002. (Unpublished).

3. Dan Van Lehman, Interview in Portland-USA, 2004.

4. O. Eno, “The Abolition of Slavery and the Aftermath Stigma: The Case

of the Bantu/Jareer People on the Benadir Coast of Southern Somalia,” in

Gwyn Campbell (ed.), Abolition and its aftermath in Indian Ocean Africa

and Asia, (London/New York: Rutledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2005);

hereafter cited in text as Abolition of Slavery.

5. Robin Hallet, Africa to 1875, (Surjeet Publications: First Indian Reprint,

1989); Robin Hallet, Africa Since 1975, (Surjeet Publications. Second

Indian Reprint, 1999); Virginia Luling, “Colonial and Postcolonial Influ-

ences on a South Somali Community,” Journal of African History, vol. 3

no.4, (1976) 491–511; Virginia Luling, Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-

State Over 150 Years, (London: HAAN, 2002); Ioan M. Lewis, Peoples

of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, Saho, (London: International African

Institute, 1955); E. Cerulli, Somalia: Scritti vari editi ed inediti, Vol II.

(Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello stato, 1959).

6. Virginia Luling, (This information was extracted from Guillain. P. 537)

cited in Luling’s thesis. “The Structure of Southern Somali Tribes.” Ph.D.

Thesis, University of London. (Unpublished, 1971).

7. Lee V. Cassanelli, “The Ending of Slavery in Italian Somalia,” in Miers,

Suzanne and Roberts, Richard (eds.) The End of Slavery in Africa, (Madi-

son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988): 308–331.

8. Kenneth J. Menkhaus, “Rural Transformation and the Roots of Underde-

velopment in Somalia’s Lower Jubba Valley,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of

South Carolina. (Unpublished, 1989).

The Making of a Modern Diaspora 215

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

9. Vinigi L. Grotanelli, “I Bantu del Giuba nelle tradizioni del Wazigwa,”

Geographica Helvetica, vol. 8 (1953); 249–260.

10. Lee V. Cassanelli, The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the His-

tory of a Pastoral People, 1600–1900; (Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl-

vania Press, 1982); Menkhaus, 1989.

11. Robert L. Hess, Italian Colonialism in Somalia, (Chicago: University of

Chicago Press, 1966).

12. Angelo Del Boca, Gli Italiani in Africa Oriente, 1st ed. (Arnoldo Monda-

dori, Roma, Bari, 1992).

13. Lt. Christopher, “On the East Coast of Africa,” Journal of the Geographi-

cal Society v. 14 (1844).; Robecchi L. Bricchetti, Dal Benadir. Lettere Illus-

trate alla Societa’ Antischiavista d’Italia, (La Tipografia Societa’ Milano:

Editrice, 1904).

14. Femi J. Kolapo, “Documentary “Silences” and Slave Resistance in West

Africa During the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade,” (Unpublished, 2002).

15. M. Eno, “The Homogeneity of the Somali People: A Study of the Somali

Bantu Ethnic Community,” PhD Dissertation, St Clements University, 2005

(Unpublished).

16. O. Eno, “Somalia’s City of the Jackals: Politics, Economy, and Society in

Mogadishu (1991–2003),” in Steven Salm and Toyin Falola (eds.), African

Urban Spaces: History and Culture, (University of Rochester Press, 2005).

17. Mohamed A. Eno, “Warar Qubane ah” Wargeyska RUNTA, bogga 4aad ,

5–20 Juun, 1996.

18. (BICUAER 1960)

19. Omar A. Eno, “ ‘Landless Landlords, and Landed Tenants’: Plantation

Slavery and the Bantu People in Southern Somalia (1840–1920),” in Abdi

M. Kusow (ed.), Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism

and the Crises of the Nation-State in Somalia, (Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea

Press Inc., 2005); hereafter cited in text as Landless Landlords; Eno, M.

1996. see also Lee V. Cassanelli and Catherine L. Besteman, The Struggle

for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War, (London: Haan

Publishing, 1996).

20. The International Cooperation Administration, “A Study of the Inter-River

Economic Exploration—The Somali Republic,” (Washington 25 D.C.

Unpublished, 1961).

21. M. Eno, “Understanding Somalia Through the Prism of Bantu-Jareer Lit-

erature,” in Ahmed, Ali J. (ed.), The Road Less Traveled: Reflections on

the Literatures of the Horn of Africa, (Tren, NJ: Red Sea Press, 2006).

22. Aden Bilal Awad. Interview in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2003.

23. Catherine L. Besteman, Unraveling Somalia: Race, Violence, and the

Legacy of Slavery, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999),

116.

24. Mohamed H. Mukhtar, “Islam in Somali History: Fact and Fiction,” in

Ali Jimale Ahmed (ed.), The Invention of Somalia, (Lawrenceville, NJ: The

Red Sea Press Inc, 1995).

25. Ismail Alio Bahar. Interview in Jeddah-Saudi Arabia, 2002.

216 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

26. O. Eno, “Somalia’s Recovery and Reformation: Transcending the Rhetoric

of Clan Politics.” Paper Presented at the Annual conference of the African

Studies Association in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Unpublished, 2004).

27. Rasheed Farah. Interview in San Diego-USA, 2006.

28. Marian Aweis. Interview in Nairobi-Kenya, 2003.

29. Abdi M. Kusow, “Preface,” Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested

Nationalism and the Crises of the Nation-State in Somalia, in Abdi M.

Kusow (ed.), (Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press Inc, 2005).

30. Jamal M. Haji. Interview in Portland-USA, 2006.

31. M. Eno, “The 14th Somali National Reconciliation Conference,” Paper

presented to a Masters Class, Portland State University, 2004).

32. S.S. Chhabra, Fundamentals of Demography, (Surjeet Publications, 2001).

33. Ismail Alio Bahar, 2003.

34. I. Abdi Samatar, “Structural Adjustment as Development Strategy: Bananas,

Boom, and Poverty,” Economic geography, Vol. 69, No. 1, African devel-

opment (Jan., 1993), 25–43.

35. R. Omaar, and Alex de Waal, “Land Tenure, the Creation of Famine, and

Prospects for Peace in Somalia,” (London: Africa Rights, Discussion paper,

no. 1, October 1993).

36. L. Cassanelli, “Current Issues and New Directions,” (Unpublished, 1993).

37. Kenneth J. Menkhaus, “Somalia task force, paper # 3,” (Unpublished,

1994).

38. John Prendergast, “The Gun Talks Louder than the Voice,” (Unpublished,

1994).

39. John Prendergast, “The Guardian” London, Feb. 25, 1994

40. Bourgeois William, MSF-Belgium in Kismayu, (Unpublished, 1994).

41. Ahmed Q. Ali, “Land Rush in Somalia” in Abdi M. Kusow, (ed.) Putting

the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the Crisis of the

Nation-State in Somalia, (Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press, 2005), 155.

42. Abdi Aden, Interview in Mogadishu, 1994.

43. Virginia Luling, “The Origins of the ‘Jareer’ People of the Shabelle: The

Implications of Some Rituals,” Paper presented at the Somali Inter-Riverine

Studies Conference at Sidney smith Hall, (Canada: University of Toronto,

unpublished, 1994), 3.

44. Jon D. Holtzman, Nuer Journeys Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Min-

nesota, (Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 2000).

45. Lo T. Fungchatou, The Promised Land: Socioeconomic Reality of the

Hmong People in Urban America (1976–2000), (Wyndham Hall Press,

2001).

46. Dan V. Lehman, and Omar A. Eno, The Somali Bantu: Their History and

Culture, 2002; available at www.culturalorientation.net/bantu/.

REFERENCES

Ali, Ahmed Q. “Land Rush in Somalia” in Abdi M. Kusow, (ed.) Putting the Cart

Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the Crisis of the Nation-State

in Somalia. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press, 2005.

The Making of a Modern Diaspora 217

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Besteman, Catherine L. Unraveling Somalia: Race, Violence, and the Legacy of

Slavery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Besteman Catherine L., and Cassanelli, Lee V., The Struggle for Land in Southern

Somalia: The War Behind the War. London: Haan Publishing, 1996.

Bricchetti, Robecchi L., Dal Benadir. Lettere Illustrate alla Societa’ Antischiavista

d’Italia, La Tipografia Societa’ Milano: Editrice, 1904.

Bulletin of the International Committee of Urgent Anthropological and Ethnic

Research: 28–29. N 3. 1960, with the help of UNESCO.

Cassanelli, Lee V. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a

Pastoral People, 1600–1900, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,

1982.

———. “The Ending of Slavery in Italian Somalia,” in Miers, Suzanne and Roberts,

Richard (eds.) The End of Slavery in Africa. Madison: University of Wiscon-

sin Press, 1988: 308–331.

———. “Current Issues and New Directions.” (Unpublished, 1993).

Cassanelli, Lee V. and Besteman, Catherine L. The Struggle for Land in Southern

Somalia: The War Behind the War. London: Haan Publishing, 1996.

Cerulli, E. Somalia: Scritti vari editi ed inediti, Vol II. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico

dello stato, 1959.

Chhabra, S.S. Fundamentals of Demography. Surjeet Publications, 2001.

Del Boca, Angelo. Gli Italiani in Africa Oriente, 1st ed. Arnoldo Mondadori, Roma,

Bari, 1992.

Eno, Mohamed A. “Warar Qubane ah” Wargeyska RUNTA, bogga 4aad , 5–20

Juun, 1996.

———. “The Plight of the Somali Refugees in Kenya.” Paper Presented at the Afri-

can Studies Association, Washington DC, 2002. (Unpublished).

———. “The Predicament of the 14th Somali National Reconciliation Conference

and the IGAD Factor,” Seminar Paper Presented to the Somali Bantu, 2003.

Participants at the SNRC, Sports View Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya.

———. “Forgetting the Fundamentals of a Successful Reconciliation,” Paper pre-

sented at the African Studies Association meeting in New Orleans, USA,

2004.

———. “The 14th Somali National Reconciliation Conference.” Paper presented to

a Masters Class, Portland State University, 2004.

———. “The Homogeneity of the Somali People: A Study of the Somali Bantu Ethnic

Community,” PhD Dissertation, St Clements University, 2005 (Unpublished).

———. “Understanding Somalia Through the Prism of Bantu-Jareer Literature,” in

Ahmed, Ali J. (ed.), The Road Less Traveled: Reflections on the Literatures of

the Horn of Africa. Tren, NJ: Red Sea Press, 2006.

Eno, Omar A. “ ‘Landless Landlords, and Landed Tenants’: Plantation Slavery and

the Bantu People in Southern Somalia (1840–1920),” in Abdi M. Kusow (ed.),

Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the Crises of

the Nation-State in Somalia. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press Inc., 2005.

———. “The Abolition of Slavery and the Aftermath Stigma: The Case of the

Bantu/Jareer People on the Benadir Coast of Southern Somalia,” in Gwyn

Campbell (ed.), Abolition and its aftermath in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia.

London/New York: Rutledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2005.

218 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

———. “Somalia’s City of the Jackals: Politics, Economy, and Society in Mogadishu

(1991–2003),” in Steven Salm and Toyin Falola (eds.), African Urban Spaces:

History and Culture. University of Rochester Press, 2005.

———. “The Untold Apartheid Imposed on Bantu/Jareer People,” in Hussein M.

Adam and Richard Ford (eds.), Mending Rips in the Sky: Options for Somali

communities in the 21st Century. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press, Inc.,

1997.

———. “Somalia’s Recovery and Reformation: Transcending the Rhetoric of Clan

Politics.” Paper Presented at the Annual conference of the African Studies

Association in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Unpublished, 2004).

———. “Sifting Through a Sieve: Solutions for Somalia,” in Jorg Janzen. (ed), What

are Somalia’s Development Perspectives?: Science Between Resignation and

Hope? Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, 2001.

Fungchatou, Lo T. The Promised Land: Socioeconomic Reality of the Hmong Peo-

ple in Urban America (1976–2000). Wyndham Hall Press, 2001.

Grotanelli, Vinigi L. “I Bantu del Giuba nelle tradizioni del Wazigwa.” Geographica

Helvetica, vol. 8 (1953), 249–260.

Hallet, Robin. Africa to 1875. Surjeet Publications. First Indian Reprint, 1989.

———. Africa Since 1975. Surjeet Publications. Second Indian Reprint, 1999.

Hess, Robert L., Italian Colonialism in Somalia. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1966.

Holtzman, Jon D. Nuer Journeys Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota.

Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

Kolapo, Femi J. “Documentary “Silences” and Slave Resistance in West Africa Dur-

ing the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade.” (Unpublished, 2002).

Kusow, Abdi M. “Preface,” Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested National-

ism and the Crises of the Nation-State in Somalia, in Abdi M. Kusow (ed.),

Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press Inc, 2005.

Lehman, Dan V., and Eno, Omar A. The Somali Bantu: Their History and Culture.

2002. available at www.culturalorientation.net/bantu/.

Lewis, Ioan M. Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, Saho. London: Interna-

tional African Institute, 1955.

Lt. Christopher. “On the East Coast of Africa.” Journal of the Geographical Soci-

ety. v. 14 (1844).

Luling, Virginia. (This information was extracted from Guillain. P. 537) cited in

Luling’s thesis. “The Structure of Southern Somali Tribes.” Ph.D. Thesis, Uni-

versity of London. (Unpublished, 1971).

———. “Colonial and Postcolonial Influences on a South Somali Community”

Journal of African History, vol. 8 no.1, (1976).

———. “The Origins of the ‘Jareer’ People of the Shabelle: The Implications of Some

Rituals.” Paper presented at the Somali Inter-Riverine Studies Conference at

Sidney smith Hall. University of Toronto,Canada, (Unpublished, 1994).

———. Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-State Over 150 Years. London: HAAN,

2002.

Menkhaus, Kenneth J. “Rural Transformation and the Roots of Underdevelopment

in Somalia’s Lower Jubba Valley,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of South Caro-

lina. (Unpublished, 1989).

The Making of a Modern Diaspora 219

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

———. “Somalia task force, paper # 3,” (Unpublished, 1994).

Merryman, Nancy H. “Women’s Welfare in the Jubba Valley: Somali Socialism and

After,” in Catherine Besteman and Lee V. Cassanelli, (eds.) The Struggle for

Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War. Colorado: Westview

Press, 1996.

Mukhtar, Mohamed H., “Islam in Somali History: Fact and Fiction,” in Ali Jimale

Ahmed (ed.), The Invention of Somalia. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press

Inc, 1995.

Omaar, R. and de Waal, Alex. “Land Tenure, the Creation of Famine, and Prospects

for Peace in Somalia,” (London: Africa Rights, Discussion paper, no. 1, Octo-

ber 1993).

Prendergast, John. “The Gun Talks Louder than the Voice,” (Unpublished, 1994)

———. “The Guardian,” London: February 25, 1994.

Samatar, I. Abdi, “Structural Adjustment as Development Strategy: Bananas, Boom,

and Poverty.” Economic Geography, Vol. 69, No. 1, African development

(Jan., 1993), 25–43.

The International Cooperation Administration. “A Study of the Inter-River Eco-

nomic Exploration—The Somali Republic,” Washington 25 D.C. (Unpub-

lished, 1961).

William, Bourgeois. MSF-Belgium in Kismayu, (Unpublished, 1994).

ORAL INTERVIEWS WITH THE AUTHORS

Dan Van Lehman. Interview in Portland-USA, 2004

Ismail Alio Bahar. Interview in Jeddah-Saudi Arabia, 2002

Rasheed Farah. Interview in San Diego-USA, 2006

Marian Aweis. Interview in Nairobi-Kenya, 2003

Aden Bilal Awad. Interview in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2003

Jamal M. Haji. Interview in Portland-USA, 2006

Abdi Aden. Interview in Mogadishu, 1994.

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

221

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Chapter Eight

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration:

Nigerians’ Attitudes to the American

Diversity Visa Lottery Program

Elizabeth Augustus and Preston Augustus

INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines Nigerians’ attitudes towards transatlantic migration

through the American Diversity Visa Lottery program. Data for the study

was collected with the use of structured questionnaires using a large sample

size. The results of the study reveal that the proportion of those attempting

the American Diversity Visa Lottery is very high among Nigerians who are

less than fifty years of age. 82% of the respondents indicate that the program

should continue while 81% state that the absence of facilities encourages

migration through the American Visa Lottery program. 86% of the respon-

dents are also favorably disposed to the fact that the American Diversity Visa

Lottery program provides opportunities for self-development and 87% agree

that transatlantic migration provides career development. The probit regres-

sion model further shows that respondents’ age and number of attempts are

inversely related to attitude at 0.27 and 0.32 respectively. However, marital

status, educational level and income are significant variables influencing the

respondents’ attitudes to the American Visa Lottery program. The results of

the study provide useful data and general information, and should impact

the development of policies both by Nigeria and the United States.

Human migration in a general sense denotes any movement of groups

of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wander-

ers.

Another definition asserts that human migration simply means any

movement by humans from one locality to another, often over long dis-

tances or in large groups.

One basic inference from these definitions is that

human migration entails an act of movement from one’s own country to

another country or one region to another.

There is nothing new about migration. Different people from places

all over the world have migrated from one place to another due to diverse

222 African Minorities in the New World

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reasons: wars, pestilence and disease, famine, drought, trade, search for

knowledge, religious calling, ethnic conflicts or clashes, love of adventure

and many others. For instance, the Europeans went to Africa in search

of raw materials/markets to sustain their economies; to seek slaves to be

carried to America, the West Indies and the Caribbean. The importation

of Arabs and Indians to the Southern African countries to build railways

across the Southern African countries is also a form of migration. Recent

hostilities (political, ethnic and genocidal) in African countries are forcing

people to migrate, as in the examples of Rwanda, South Africa, Sierra-

Leone, Liberia, Eritrea and Sudan. Thus, Africa with more than fifty

nations and six hundred ethnic groups has about one-third of the world’s

refugees.

In recent years, thousands of Nigerians have taken to migration. The

civil war (1967–1970) caused the migration of many Nigerians to Amer-

ica, Britain, Germany and some African states such as Cameroon, Gabon

and Ghana. Presently, it is not war but economic decline that has put large

numbers of Nigerians on alert to take the next opportunity to fly out of the

country. Other reasons include lack of security, political intolerance leading

to killings and assassination, lack of admission into higher institutions for

the youth, lack of jobs for graduates, insensitivity of the ruling class to the

plight of the ordinary man, and religious intolerance among others.

The focus of this chapter is voluntary transatlantic migration, which

can be described as a willing movement of people across the Atlantic Ocean.

The study is particularly interested in determining the attitudes of Nigeri-

ans to the American Visa Lottery program and the factors responsible for

their migration to the United States.

AMERICAN DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY PROGRAM

The federal government of the United States, from 1988 to 2006, ran a

diversity lottery program that awards 50,000 visas to nationals of a special

list of designated countries that are deemed “under-represented” in the cur-

rent legal immigration system. The winners of the visa lottery are granted a

visa to enter the United States, lawful permanent residence status (the cov-

eted green card), and the recipients eventually qualify for naturalization.

The purpose of the American green card visa lottery, as stated by the lot-

tery literature, is to expand the nationalities that make up the USA. Hence,

citizens of countries that are already well represented in the US population,

such as England and Mexico, do not qualify for the lottery. Since there are

far more people who want green cards in the US than green cards allowed

by law, the fairest way to deal with it is to run a lottery.

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration 223

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Some people say that the American visa lottery is neo-colonialism,

asserting that it has warped the reasoning of Nigerians as most in “big”

jobs at home are now cleaners, office messengers, park-guards, day and

night watch people, taxi drivers and laborers in the country of sojourn.

Others regard it as a blessing and believe that it brings benefits to immi-

grants, their families, communities, home and host countries alike. It is

important to note that transatlantic migration, when managed well, brings

benefits to immigrants, to their families, to their old and new communities,

to sending and receiving countries alike.

THE CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE

Attitude is generally viewed differently by two schools of thought, the men-

talist and the behaviorist. The mentalist sees attitude as mental and neural

state of readiness; that is, attitude cannot be directly observed but must be

inferred by the subject’s introspection. Thus, attitude is defined as a hypo-

thetical construct, used to explain the direction and persistence of human

behavior by reference to relatively stable and enduring disposition in peo-

ple. Attitudes cannot be directly observed. A person’s thoughts, process-

ing system, and feelings are hidden. Therefore, attitudes are latent, inferred

from behavior. A common expression of attitude is an opinion.

Expressing

a behaviorist view, it has also been observed that attitude or disposition is

simply overt, an observable response to social situations. It is thus regarded

as a dependent variable. In essence, no one needs to observe, tabulate and

analyze overt behavior.

A working definition describes attitude as feeling, outlook and belief

about a concept. It is on these criteria that we value and judge that particu-

lar concept (attitude affects behavior; hence affects feeling). Attitudes are

also defined as a mental predisposition to act that is expressed by evalu-

ating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Individu-

als generally have attitudes that focus on objects, people or institutions.

Attitudes are also described as being attached to mental categories. Mental

orientations towards concepts are generally referred to as values. Attitude

then comprises four components, cognition, affect; behavioral intentions

and evaluation. Simply described, cognitions are our beliefs, theories,

expectations, cause and effect beliefs, and perceptions relative to the focal

object.

Affective component refers to our feeling with respect to the focal

object such as fear, liking or anger. Behavioral intentions are our goals,

aspirations, and our expected responses to the attitude object. Evaluations

on the other hand are often considered the central component of attitudes.

224 African Minorities in the New World

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In other words evaluations consist of the imputation of some degree of

goodness or viciousness to an object. When one speaks of a positive or

negative attitude toward an object, one is referring to the evaluative com-

ponent. Evaluations are therefore functions of cognitive, affect and behav-

ioral intentions of the object.

In the same vein, attitudes are further defined as a disposition or ten-

dency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea,

object, person, situation). They encompass, or are closely related to, our

opinions and beliefs and are based upon our experiences, (Law, 1–4). Since

attitudes often relate in some way to interaction with others, they repre-

sent an important link between cognitive and social psychology. First major

theories of attitude change, developed in the framework of Hull’s learning

theory, were provided and oriented towards the effects of persuasive com-

munications.

According to the Hovland et al theory, changes in opinions

can result in attitude change depending upon the presence or absence of

rewards. That is, the acceptance of a new opinion resulting in attitude for-

mation is dependent on the incentives.

One basic inference from these explanations is that attitude uniquely

influences people’s behavior and decisions. Moreover, reinforcement or

reward determines positive disposition or attitude. To this end, this chapter

seeks to determine Nigerians’ attitudes to transatlantic migration through

the American Diversity Visa Lottery program.

METHODOLOGY

The study was carried out in Oyo State, Nigeria. This state is located in

the heartland of the Yoruba people and shares the distinctive high urban-

ization characteristic of the other Yoruba speaking states in the South-

western Nigeria.

This area, however, is densely populated with a large

number of immigrants from other parts of the country. Study samples

were selected using a large sample size technique of N greater than or

equal to 30. Data was collected through the use of a structured ques-

tionnaire, which elicited information from one hundred and twenty-nine

respondents.

METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS

The administered questionnaires were thoroughly examined for accuracy.

Frequency distribution, percentages, and probit regression models were

used to describe and summarize the data.

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration 225

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RESEARCH QUESTION

Is attitude towards AVL influenced by socio-economic characteristics?

HYPOTHESIS

There is no significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics

and attitude towards AVL.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS

Table 1 presents the personal characteristics of the respondents. Thirty-

eight percent of them are between the ages of 30 and 39 years, with a mean

age of 38 years. The proportion of those attempting the American Visa

Lottery (AVL) is very high among the people who are less than 50 years of

age. A majority of the respondents are males, (53.5 percent), married (50.4

percent), and with at least three children (38.8 percent). The socio-cultural

demand on married men as heads of the household might be responsible for

this trend. About 88 percent of the respondents are Christians as against

few Muslims and traditional worshippers. The notion that western coun-

tries are mainly Christians could explain this pattern of distribution. A

higher proportion (83 percent) of the respondents had basic educational

qualifications such as a Higher National Diploma, Bachelor, Masters, and

Doctoral degrees. The prevailing underemployment and unemployment

situations could be responsible for middle and high level manpower par-

ticipation in AVL. Similarly, a majority of the respondents are civil servants,

followed by students, in proportion of the different occupational catego-

ries. Respondents with an annual income greater than or equal to 200,000

are 22 percent, with a larger proportion of 70.5 percent not indicating their

annual income. About 86 percent of the respondents belong to the Yoruba

ethnic group which may be due to the fact that the study was carried out in

a Yoruba area.

AVL ATTEMPT VARIABLES

From Table 2, about 54 percent of the respondents have tried the AVL, with

a majority on their second attempt. Eighty two percent also indicate that

the program should continue while 81 percent indicate that the absence

of facilities encourages migration through AVL. About 46 percent of the

respondents, however, stated that with improvement in the home coun-

try they would be willing to return. Increasing awareness and chances of

226 African Minorities in the New World

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Table 8-1. Frequency Distribution of Respondents’ Personal Characteristics

Variables Frequency Percentages

Age

Less than 20 2 1.6

20–29 40 31.0

30–39 49 38.0

40–49 23 17.8

50–59 13 10.1

60–69 2 1.6

Sex

Male 69 53.5

Female 60 46.5

Marital Status

Single 64 49.7

Married 65 50.4

Number of Children

1–3 50 38.8

4–7 13 10.1

Ethnicity

Yoruba 112 86.8

Hausa 6 4.7

Igbo 8 6.2

Religion

Christianity 114 88.4

Islam 8 6.2

Traditional 7 5.5

Educational Level

Primary School 4 3.1

Secondary School 12 9.3

National Certificate 6 4.7

Higher National Diploma 40 31.0

BSC/BA 25 19.4

Med/MSc 22 17.1

PhD 11 8.5

Occupation

Civil servant 83 64.3

Students 21 16.3

Business men 4 3.1

Nursing 2 1.6

Armed Forces 8 6.2

<200,000 10 7.7

Income >200,000 28 21.8

Non response 91 70.5

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration 227

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being selected might be responsible for the high percentage of respondents

attempting AVL.

RESPONDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS AVL

Table 3 presents the attitudinal dispositions of respondents to the AVL

program as measured on a 3-point Likert type scale of agree, undecided

and disagree. Respondents are favorably disposed to items such that AVL

provides opportunity for self development (86 percent), career develop-

ment (87.6 percent), skill acquisition (79.8 percent), exposure (86 percent)

employment (85.3 percent) and better conditions of living (80.6 percent).

On the other hand, respondents disagree with views that the AVL program

is exploitative (30.2 percent), dehumanizing (35.7 percent), violates human

rights (31.8 percent) or is discriminatory (26.4 percent).

ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE

OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS AVL

The probit model seeks to explain the attitude of Nigerians to AVL as a

result of the socio-economic characteristics and AVL attempt variables. The

Table 8-2. Distribution According to AVL Attempt Variables

Variables Frequency Percentages

Attempted AVL

Yes 69 53.5

No 55 42.5

Number of Attempts

First 4 3.1

Second 115 89.1

Third 2 1.6

Fourth 2 1.6

Not yet 6 4.7

Program Continuity

Yes 106 82.2

No 10 7.8

AVL Encouraged

by Poor Facilities

Yes 105 81.4

No 12 9.3

Willingness to Return

if Facilities Improve

Yes 59 45.7

No 37 28.7

228 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

probit model has a good fit and it is significant at 5 and 10 percent respec-

tively. The Chi-Square value of the Likelihood ratio is 595.88 at p = 0.00

which implies that the model is of good fit and consistent with theory. Sig-

nificant variables that can be used to predict the probability of the attitude

towards AVL are the age of respondents (t = –2.62), number of attempts

(t = –2.25) and attempted AVL (t = 2.54). Of these 3 variables, age and

number of attempts are inversely related to attitude. At 10 percent, marital

status (t = 1.81), educational level (t = 1.79) and income (t = 1.88) are sig-

nificant. The magnitude of the probability that these variables would influ-

ence attitudes towards AVL are represented by the corresponding values of

the regression coefficients as shown in Table 4.

Table 8-3.

Attitudinal statements Agreed Undecided Disagreed

Provides opportunity for self development 111 (86.0) 12 (9.3) 4 (3.1)

Provides opportunity for Career development 113 (87.6) 8 (6.2) 6 (4.7)

Provides opportunity for Skill acquisition 103 (79.8) 15 (11.6) 7 (5.4)

Provides opportunity for Exposure 111 (86.0) 8 (6.2) 6 (4.7)

Provides opportunity for Employment 110 (85.3) 9 (7.0) 4 (3.1)

Provides opportunity for Better conditions of

living

104 (80.6) 14 (10.9) 9 (7.0)

Provides opportunity for Welfare 98 (76.0) 20 (15.5) 9 (7.0)

Provides opportunity for Social services 97 (75.2) 20 (15.5) 8 (6.2)

Provides opportunity for Social security 85 (65.9) 15 (11.6) 23 (17.5)

Provides opportunity for Self actualization 76 (58.9) 29 (22.5) 18 (14.0)

Provides opportunity for Educational

development

100 (77.5) 9 (7.0) 14 (10.9)

Provides opportunity to Generate income 102 (79.1) 17 (13.2) 8 (6.2)

Creates better sources of information 93 (72.1) 16 (12.4) 12 (9.3)

Improves remittances 75 (58.1) 25 (19.4) 25 (19.4)

Improves linkages with people 81 (62.8) 25 (19.4) 19 (14.7)

Promotes interaction with people 71 (55.0) 34 (26.4) 22 (17.1)

It is exploitative 55 (42.6) 29 (22.5) 39 (30.2)

It is dehumanizing 31 (24.0) 48 (37.2) 46 (35.7)

It violates human rights 54 (41.9) 30 (23.3) 41 (31.8)

It subjects migrants to second class

citizenship

63 (48.8) 36 (27.9) 26 (20.2)

It promotes discrimination 48 (37.2) 43 (33.3) 34 (26.4)

It jeopardizes equal rights 48 (37.2) 42 (32.6) 27 (20.9)

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration 229

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

CONCLUSION

The results of this study have clearly shown that Nigerians give credence to

the American Visa Lottery basically on economic grounds. Many Nigerians

regard it as an “open door” to wealth, new opportunities, and new ways

of becoming affluent and self-reliant. Based on the findings of this study,

however, it is recommended that Nigeria’s government should diversify its

economy. The mono-cultured economy in which oil is the mainstay of the

foreign exchange earning should be reconsidered. The country should stop

the wasteful burning away of her gas reserve but harness it for produc-

tive purposes within and (without) economic earnings. Welfare packages in

the form of “free education” for all citizens at least to the secondary level

should be adequately and tenaciously put in place. Likewise, compulsory

basic literacy education should be vigorously pursued to eradicate illiteracy

among the populace because Nigeria is still one of the e-nine countries with

the highest population of illiterates in the world.

Table 8-4. Probit Regression Model

Variables

Regression

coefficient

Standard

Error

t = value

Intercept –1.4090 0.033 –2.25**

Age –0.0750 0.048 0.277

Sex 0.0130 0.068 1.817*

Marital status 0.1250 0.057 1.52

Number of children 0.0880 0.058 –0.34

Religion –0.0200 0.013 1.79*

Educational level 0.0240 0.011 –0.321

Occupation –0.0035 0.000 1.88*

Income 0.0000 0.031 –0.583

Ethnicity –0.0185 0.527 2.54**

Attempted AVL 0.1340 0.023 –2.62**

Number of attempts –0.0610 0.053 –0.312

Program continuity –0.0167 0.577 0.278

Poor facilities 0.0160 0.033 –0.068

Improved home country –0.0023

595.8800

DF 113 0000

P 0.0000

230 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Along with the private sector and other stakeholders in the country,

basic infrastructural facilities such as water, uninterrupted electricity sup-

ply, food, cheap but decent accommodation and health services should be

made available to the masses, even if only for a token. There should also

be a new orientation for the youths and elites to develop new attitudes

for the love of their country and for its development. Adequate measures

should be taken to protect the future of the working class after retirement.

The government should also note that many brains from the academy and

other professions have been lost to immigration. Moreover, the spirit of

patriotism is ebbing as nobody seems to bother about the plight of our best

people. However, migrants who have benefited and gained from host coun-

tries should be patriotic enough to come home and build their fatherland.

Every effort should be geared towards the promotion and well-being of

their country of origin. Hence, the recommendations have special implica-

tions on the Nigerian government and its citizenry, for a better and ideal

Nigeria.

NOTES

1. Pacific Island Travel: “Human Migration.” available at http://www.pacific

island travel.com/nature_gallery/humanmigration.htm/.pp4.

2. “Human Migration.” available at http://www.mywiseowl.com//articles/

human _ migration.

3. Encyclopedia Britannica: “Human Migration.” 1911 available at http://en.

wikipedia.org/wiki/human_migration.

4. Hoerder Duk, Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millen-

nium, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002).

5. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Origins of the black Atlantic World page

1 available at http://www.unc.edu/depts/africafam/anniversary conferene/

baw.htm.

6. Anna O. Law, “The Diversely Visa Lottery—A Cycle of Unintended Con-

sequences in United States Immigration Policy,” Journal of American Ethic

History, (summer 2002); 1–4.

7. C. Hovland, I. Janis and H. Kelley, Communication and Persuasion, (New

Haven, CT: Yale, 1953).

8. O.O. Adelore, “Language Learning Attitudes among Selected Ethnic

Groups in Adult Literacy Programs in Nigeria,” unpublished Ph.D thesis,

(University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2000).

REFERENCES

Adelore, O.O. “Language Learning Attitudes among Selected Ethnic Groups in

Adult Literacy Programs in Nigeria.” unpublished Ph.D thesis, Nigeria: Uni-

versity of Ibadan, 2000.

Voluntary Trans-Atlantic Migration 231

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Anna O. Law. “The Diversely Visa Lottery: A Cycle of Unintended Consequences in

United States Immigration Policy.” Journal of American Ethic History. Sum-

mer 2002; 1–4.

Augustus, E. O. “Health Literacy and Instructional Strategies: 17 Study Among

Adult Learning’s in Oyo State, Nigeria.” Paper presented at the African

Health and Illness Conference, University of Texas, Austin March, 2005.

Duk, Hoerder. Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium.

Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911. “Human Migration.” available at http://en.

wikipedia. org/wiki/human_migration.

Fasold, L. The Socio-Linguistics of Society. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984.

Hovland, C., I. Janis and H. Kelley. Communication and Persuasion, New Haven,

CT: Yale, 1953.

“Human Migration.” available at http://www.mywiseowl.com//articles/human_

migration

Oladele, I.O. “Communication links in Research—Extension—Farmers Interface in

South Western Nigeria.” Journal of Extension Systems 1.18 (2002). available

at http://www.jesonline.org.

Pacific Island Travel: “Human Migration.” available at http://www.pacific island

travel. com/nature_gallery/humanmigration.htm/.pp4.

Richard, W. Scholl. “Attitudes and Attitude Change.” University of Rhode Island,

2002. available at http://www.cba.uri.edu/scholl/notes/attitudes/htm.

“Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Origins of the black Atlantic World.” p. 1.

available at http://www.unc.edu/depts/africafam/anniversaryconferene/baw.

htm

Triandis, H. “Attitudes and Attitudes Change.” New York: Wiley, 1971. available

at http://tip.psychology.org/attitude.html.

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

233

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Chapter Nine

Managing the Migration of Health-

Care Workers toward the Transfer of

Knowledge, Skill and Professionalism

Oladapo Augustus

INTRODUCTION

The migration of health-care workers for various reasons is considered

inevitable for now, and is posing great challenges to both source coun-

tries and destination countries. Research has shown that about 65 percent

economically active migrants who have moved to developed countries are

classified as “highly-skilled.” The highly skilled health professionals so

recognized among this group of the health-care workforce are physicians,

dentists, pharmacists and nurses. The health care systems of a nation are

of crucial importance both to their economy and to the well being of their

citizens. There is therefore the quest in many developing nations for strate-

gies to fully enjoy the impact of modern rapid innovation and the diffusion

of health technologies from developed nations. The continuing disparities

in working conditions, management of health systems and professional

development between richer and poorer nations offer a great deal of “pull”

towards the more developed nations.

This chapter considers the factors affecting, and the challenges of

migration of health-care workers with reference to both the giving and the

receiving countries. It further seeks to prove that proper management of

the migration of healthcare workers can be mutually beneficial to both the

country of origin and the country of destination. To this end, the chapter

attempts to identify certain forms of temporary migration that could be

strategically designed for the evolution of a well-managed health system

in the immigrants’ countries of origin. The role of international organiza-

tions in delivering adequate technical support to developing countries, in

advising the management of international migration flows and in promot-

ing intergovernmental cooperation to achieve the set goal is highlighted

in this chapter. Also, the chapter draws attention to the proposition that

234 African Minorities in the New World

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international migration of health professionals on temporary basis has a

proven ability of facilitating the transfer of knowledge, skill and profession-

alism for the enhancement of the quality of health care delivery system of

the affected developing nations.

The economic, political, cultural, and religious relationships between

nations have been identified as a notable catalyst for international migra-

tion. International migration also has a significant role to play in strength-

ening such interrelations among nations whether they are developing,

developed or with economies in transition. Experience has shown that an

increase in the number of people migrating is significant for many resource-

poor countries because they are losing their better-educated nationals to

richer countries. Stilwell, B. et al. claims that around 65% of all economi-

cally active migrants who have moved to developed countries are classified

as “highly skilled.”

His study further states that highly skilled profession-

als are generally assumed to have completed tertiary education and to have

a professional job. In terms of the health care workforce, this refers to phy-

sicians, nurses, dentists and pharmacists. The loss of these highly skilled

health professionals is likely to have a lasting negative effect on the health

care delivery system of their countries of origin.

Not much research has been undertaken on the migration of health

professionals worldwide. Among the most current research undertaken by

WHO in this field was in the mid-1970s when Meija et al

found that 6%

of physicians and 5% of nurses were living outside their country of birth.

These researchers admitted that it was difficult to obtain qualitative data

on the effects of migration on people and health systems. These difficulties

in obtaining reliable qualitative and quantitative data probably account for

the dearth in this area.

Data from countries that recruit or accept health

professionals (destination countries) appear to be more reliable than data

from the home countries of the professionals who travel to work abroad

(source countries). Despite the limitations of this data, it is still possible

to be assured of the important trends in migration of health-care profes-

sionals. The number of people migrating has never been higher than it is

now and the majority of migrants are highly skilled.

Little is known about

whether migrants return to their home countries because it is more difficult

to collect information about emigrants than immigrants.

FACTORS AFFECTING MIGRATION

OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Though it is evident that many factors may generally influence people to

migrate, the individual’s perception of the importance of these factors varies

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers 235

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

to make their impact personal and circumstantial. Therefore, in the final

analysis, the decision to migrate is essentially a personal one. The decision

to migrate is based on a person’s evaluation of the push factors and the pull

factors: push factors include negative home conditions that compel one to

emigrate while pull factors are the positive attributes perceived to exist at a

new location where one wants to immigrate.

There are many factors affecting migration of health-care work-

ers with reference to both the source and the destination countries. One

major factor that influences migration of highly skilled health workers is

the greater career opportunities made available at the country of destina-

tion. Many health workers have migrated to more economically developed

nations because of the high unemployment in the health-care labor market

in their home country (Bach S 2003). There are also new developments in

the health care labor market that affect to a large extent the international

movements of health workers. Among these are the new communication

technologies that provide opportunities for jobs and visas to be applied for

internationally through electronic access.

There are also some governmental and private organizations under-

taking recruitment exercises for health workers from resource-poor coun-

tries to fill vacancies in economically viable countries. For instance, both

the United States of America and the United Kingdom have anticipated

large short falls in the number of nurses they will need over the next ten

to twenty years and have considered overseas recruitment as the proba-

ble solution to the problem.

However, since this is not a general problem

affecting all health professionals, it can be said that the global labor market

for health workers is not homogeneous, as it clearly shows that some fac-

tors affect different health professionals in different ways.

Another factor affecting the migration of health-care workers is the

possibility for better career success based on opportunities made available

for such in the destination country. Career success factors have been iden-

tified to include pay and benefits, opportunity for continuing education

and job flexibility.

The achievement of career success following success-

ful completion of basic training is an important goal for all professionals.

Career success defined as the perception of an individual’s employment

achievement over time is pivotal to one’s decision to either remain in one’s

home country or to migrate to another country with better career success

opportunities.

External and objective measures of career success are pay and posi-

tion attainment.

Other measures described as internal and subjective are

the possession of human capital assets like education (Melamed, 1995),

job satisfaction

, job flexibility (Melamed, 1995), how an individual’s

236 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

job impacts social roles,

personal characteristics like ethnical (ethical?)

practice

and interpersonal factors like receiving respect or recognition

(Peluchette, 1993). Continuing disparities in working conditions and pay

between richer and poorer countries offer a great deal of pull towards more

developed countries.

Migration is also significantly influenced by social networks through

which the emigrants inside destination countries will offer support to their

colleagues in their home countries by informing them of new employment

opportunities and assisting them with social and cultural assimilation.

Another factor that influences migration is how tight the conditions

are for obtaining visas and work permits to migrate to the destination

countries. These conditions may be relaxed for certain health professionals

to encourage their migration to nations where they are needed.

It is a basic fact that migration of health workers is primarily depen-

dent on the demand for them in the destination country. Consequently the

shortages of health-care personnel in some destination counties (such as the

United States and United Kingdom in particular) have a significant impact

on the flow of health-care workers to such countries. It has been predicted

that the flow of health workers from developing countries to developed

countries is likely to continue or even grow unless there is a commitment

from developed countries to train more health workers to meet their own

needs instead of recruiting from overseas.

If otherwise the labor market in

the destination country is saturated, the migration of highly skilled health-

care workers will decrease because individuals are more likely to migrate

when they are reasonably sure they will find suitable employment in a des-

tination country.

The disparity in the levels of development between developed nations

and developing nations also encourages migration of health care workers to

developed nations. The two parameters of development that are of special

interest to health workers are (i) The level of Health Technology (ii) Stan-

dard of living.

Level of Health Technology

Things that are essential for human existence are done and achieved in dif-

ferent ways in different nations depending on their levels of technology.

The technical industry is not static but dynamic (progressing). There are

technical means and skills characteristic of a particular civilization, nation

or period that put them far ahead or far behind others. There are techni-

cal methods employed in a particular field of industry or art in a nation

that elevates such a nation to a position of honor in that area of “techno-

logical excellence.” In any nation where scientific procedures are carried

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers 237

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

out using the best universally acknowledged technical methods, such sci-

entific feats will create in such a nation an environment most conducive

for her rapid industrialization and economic growth. This is a major factor

that has earned such nations with high level of technology the privilege of

being recognized as developed nations and of attracting immigrants from

other nations to come and borrow from their wealth of technology. It is

also in this regard that there is a general quest in many developing nations

for strategies to fully enjoy the impact of the rapid innovation and diffu-

sion of health technologies from developed and technologically advanced

nations. An example of such innovation is Telepharmacy as a new method

of dispensing drugs to patients. The method centers on the use of electronic

information and communication technologies to dispense medications and

provide medicine information and pharmaceutical care when distance sepa-

rates the patient from the pharmacist. One of the proven ways of achieving

the goal of a well managed health system in the immigrants’ countries of

origin is to ensure that short-term migration of health workers to such tech-

nologically advanced nations leads to the diffusion of recent innovations in

health technologies on their return.

Standard of Living is a function of the level of development in a coun-

try and is measured by factors such as the amount of personal income, levels

of education, food consumption, life expectancy, availability of health care,

ways natural resources are used, level of technology and others. Countries

with high levels of urbanization and industrialization that enjoy high mate-

rial standards of living are referred to as developed countries. Countries

with lower levels of progress and prosperity are considered less developed

or underdeveloped countries. Countries showing evidence of economic,

social and political progress are termed developing countries. Some mea-

sures of development include: National product per person e.g. sum total

of all goods and services produced in a nation in one year divided by the

total population; occupational structure of the workforce e.g. percentage of

the labor force employed in manufacturing (developed) versus agriculture

(less developed); consumption of electricity per person; transportation and

communication facilities per person e.g. the per capita index of telephones,

railroads, roads, and radios; standard of living e.g. literacy rates, caloric

intake per person, infant mortality, life expectancy.

CHALLENGES THAT MIGRATION OF HEALTH WORKERS

POSE TO THE IMMIGRANTS’ COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

Human migration and settlement are for the most part linked to the avail-

ability of the resources that guarantee high quality of life. All nations have

238 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

the potential to grow or decline based upon the health and utilization of the

economy, which provides resources needed for the personal and collective

development of the inhabitants.

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON THE MIGRATION

OF HEALTH WORKERS

Humans affect environment and environment affects humans. The devel-

oped nations are so called because of the positive ways their citizens inter-

act with and affect their environment. The environment in this regard refers

to all factors, circumstances and conditions (social, moral, spiritual, eco-

nomic, physical, technological, political, cultural, aesthetic), which can

influence the competence, productivity and commitment of health profes-

sionals. The health professionals and the government of their home coun-

try must therefore take up the challenge to provide an environment that is

most conducive for an ideal professional practice. All the factors affecting

the environment must be constantly monitored and clearly tailored towards

wielding a positive influence on the retention of health-care workers in

their home countries for optimum productivity. Instead of adopting per-

manent migration as a defeatist solution to problems rendering the home

environment non-conducive for productive and profitable practice, health

professionals should offer services that would guarantee a transformed

environment needed for a well managed health system.

MANAGING THE MIGRATION

OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS

International migration of health workers, if well managed, can have posi-

tive impacts on both the source and the destination countries. It also has

the potential of facilitating the transfer of knowledge, skill and profession-

alism from technologically advanced nations to developing nations.

It is of primary importance to have good record and information sys-

tems about the health-care workforce in a nation, and this should include a

database on migration. This would serve as a good basis for any meaning-

ful planning. One way of ensuring reliability of available data is for both

the source and the destination countries to agree on a regular exchange of

data on migration of health-care workers.

In order to manage the migration of health-care workers effectively,

there is need for governments and other private organizations to develop

strategies that will control the flow of health workers between countries.

Each country will have to develop strategies relevant to its own situation

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers 239

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

to control and manage the issue of migration. It is a known fact that the

migration of health-care workers cannot be well managed without great

consideration and attention given to the factors that influence the devel-

opment of health systems of a nation. The inter-dependence of these two

closely inter-woven issues should be appreciated and considered for their

mutually beneficial management. A well-managed health system will guar-

antee a well-managed migration of health-care workers and vice-versa. It is

therefore necessary for a nation that intends to manage migration of health-

care workers for the achievement of a well-managed health-system to adopt

a policy and design strategies that will ensure proper retention, recruitment,

deployment and development of health workers.

Lack of adequate investment in health-care systems by the govern-

ments of developing countries, resulting in low wages and poor work-

ing conditions, has been identified as a major factor that pushes many to

migrate. Therefore financial and non-financial incentives are important to

motivate health workers both to do a good job and to want to remain with

their present job. Such incentives include training, study leave, provision of

needed modern facilities for efficient practice and provision of basic neces-

sities of life to retain staff in rural areas.

The analysis given by Vulicic M.

et al

has further shown that wage differentials between source and desti-

nation countries are currently so large that reducing them by small amounts

is unlikely to affect migration flow. In this circumstance, therefore, consid-

eration should be given to other factors such as working conditions, health

management systems and professional development as important incentives

to retain professionals in their countries of origin.

The intended long-term effect of well-managed international migra-

tion is to make the option to remain in one’s country a viable one for all

people. Sustainable economic growth, with equity and development strate-

gies that are consistent with this aim, are a necessary means to that end.

Therefore, all efforts to achieve sustainable economic and social develop-

ment toward ensuring a better economic balance between developed and

developing countries should be strengthened.

The countries of origin and countries of destination can also initi-

ate bilateral and multilateral agreements to encourage cooperation and dia-

logue in order to maximize the benefits of migration to those concerned

(the migrants) and increase the likelihood that migration has positive con-

sequences for the development of both sending and receiving countries.

Examples of such are:

(i) Agreements could be initiated between governments of two

nations whereby regulatory frameworks would be designed to

240 African Minorities in the New World

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control and unify the training, recruitment and deployment of

health professionals in both nations. This will allow the two

nations recognize each other’s qualifications and make it easier

for health professionals to move from one nation to another and

continue working in the same field (Stilwell, B. et al 2004).

(ii) Opportunities could be offered to health-care workers from devel-

oping nations to work in developed nations for limited periods of

time for which temporary visas are granted, or such offer could

be through institutional agreements to take or exchange workers.

This type of scheme is being tried with some measure of success

between the United Kingdom and South Africa.

(iii) A scheme could also be arranged between the source country

and destination country to encourage skilled health professionals

from the source country to work in the destination country on

a rotational basis going for three years or so and then returning

(Buchan, J et al 2003).

(iv) There could be an agreement between countries specifying that

the destination country will invest in institutions in the source

countries so that, in effect, some source countries will act as pro-

viders of health-care personnel for destination countries by train-

ing a surplus of health workers.

(v) Governments of countries of destination could consider the use

of certain forms of temporary migration, such as short-term

and project-related migration of health workers, as a means of

improving the skills of nationals of countries of origin, especially

developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

(vi) Governments of destination countries are encouraged to engage

in technical cooperation to aid developing countries in addressing

the impact of international migration by exchanging with them

information regarding their international migration policies and

the regulations governing the admission and stay of migrants in

their territories. This is in agreement with the regulation given

by the international convention on the protection of the rights of

all migrant workers and members of their families (International

conference report on population and development 1994).

(vii) Governments should cooperate with international and non-

governmental organizations and research institutions by support-

ing the gathering of data on flows and stocks of international

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health-care migrants and on factors causing their migration, as

well as monitoring international migration of health profession-

als. They should also help to identify and execute strategies to

ensure that migration contributes to the development and inter-

national relations of the countries affected.

(viii) Sufficient encouragement should be given to international orga-

nizations in their role to deliver adequate support to developing

countries, advise in the management of international migration

flows and promote intergovernmental cooperation through, inter

alia, bilateral and multilateral negotiations, as appropriate.

Studies have shown also that the decision to migrate may be influenced by

family wealth. When professionals from poorer countries migrate to richer

countries, they often do so with the intention of sending a portion of their

wages back to their families, (Connell, J. 2002). Therefore the governments

of countries of origin wishing to foster the inflow of remittances and their

productive use for development should adopt sound exchange rate, mon-

etary and economic policies, facilitate the provision of banking facilities

that enable the safe and timely transfer of migrants’ funds and promote the

conditions necessary to increase domestic savings and channel them into

productive investments. Thus the government can enhance the potential

contribution that expatriate nationals can make to the economic develop-

ment of their countries of origin.

CONCLUSION

It is of great importance that both the source and destination countries

devise strategies to facilitate the re-integration process of returning health-

care migrants. Governments of countries of origin are to facilitate the return

of health-care migrants and their re-integration into their home communi-

ties and to devise ways of using their knowledge and skills.

Governments of countries of origin should collaborate with countries

of destination and engage the support of appropriate international organi-

zations in promoting the return on a voluntary basis of qualified health-care

migrants who can play a crucial role in the transfer of knowledge, skill and

technology. Countries of destination are also encouraged to facilitate the

return of health-care migrants to their home countries by adopting flexible

policies such as the transferability of pensions and other work benefits.

It is pertinent at this point to quote from the personal experience of a

Nigerian emigrant,

married with children, who had returned to her home

242 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

country. An excerpt from her unpublished write-up reads thus: “Emigra-

tion (from developing countries to the developed) is not uncommon and

in fact has been on the increase since 1990s. From personal experience it is

not a bad thing if it results in the ultimate return of the emigrant to his/her

home country to transfer skills acquired over time in a developed country.

I left Nigeria in the late 1980s and was in the U.K for well over ten years

rising through the ranks. I have now returned to Nigeria, and I am not only

using the skills gained, I am transferring them to others.”

Returning to one’s home country can sometimes pose even more chal-

lenges. Having been away, you then face some of the same challenges you

faced in the host country. You need to adapt to the new environment and

be accepted. Finance may not be a pressing problem, but you may need a

job and it may not be so easy to find your feet especially because quite often

it is not what you know but who you know that matters. There are not

yet mechanisms to adopt new-comers regardless of their skills and experi-

ence into Nigeria. If however those hurdles are crossed, there is a lot to be

gained from the return of an emigrant. You are able to put in what you

gained. Personally, as a clinical pharmacist, the skills gained have helped

my country in some of the following ways:

1. My local community has gained a lot because they found that

the way I practice is quite unique. I not only use the clinical skills

acquired to assist them, but I also collaborate with other mem-

bers of the healthcare team on their behalf, which is not too com-

mon here, but what I am used to.

2. The exposure gained abroad has made it quite easy for me to

give good presentations, especially with the multi-media projec-

tor. This was transferred to a company I worked for. When I got

there, presentations were done with over-head slides. I trained the

Marketing Group and encouraged the Company to buy a multi-

media projector. This is what is now used for their presentations.

3. I have been able to train several other pharmacists in clinical

pharmacy and I have a mentorship program.

4. I am working with some friends abroad with the aim of network-

ing and training other pharmacists based in Nigeria. The trans-

fer of skills is the key thing. We have an NGO and one of the

key objectives is to have a vehicle for cross-country training and

skills transfer. Several people abroad have responded positively

with a willingness to transfer the skills and knowledge gained.

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers 243

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To conclude, I have found that emigration is not necessarily a

bad venture especially when and if people in developing countries

have something to offer their counterparts abroad.

NOTES

1. B. Stilwell, K. Diallo, P. Zurn, Dal Poz, O. Adams, and J. Buchan,

“Developing 1: 8 and Practical Challenges,” available from: http//www.

human-resources-health.com/content/1/1/18 Human Resources for Health

(Online Journals) 2003.

2. A. Meija, H. Pizurki, and E. Royston, “Physician and Nurse Migration:

Analysis and Policy Implications,” (Geneva: World Health Organization,

1979).

3. K. Diallo, “Data on the Migration of Health-Care Workers: Sources, Uses,

and Challenges,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82 (2004):

601–7.

4. W. J. Carrington, and E. Detragiache, “How Big is the Brain Drain?”

(Washington [DC]: International monetary fund; 1998) [IMF Working

Paper Wp/98/102].

5. A. Findlay, “From brain exchange to brain gain: policy implications for

the UK of recent trends in skilled migration from developing countries,”

(Geneva: International labor office; 2002) [International migration paper,

No 43].

6. J. Buchan, , T. Parkin and J. Sochalskin, “International Nurse Mobility:

Trends and Policy Implications,” (Geneva: World Health Organization,

2003). WHO document WHO/EIP/OSD/2003.3.

7. T. Melamed, “Career Success: The He-Moderating Effect of Gender,” Jour-

nal of Vocational Behaviour 47 (1995): 35–60.

8. T. A. Judge, J. W. Boudreau, and D. Bretz Jr., “Job and Life Attitudes of

Male Executives,” Journal of Applied Psychology 79 (1994): 767–782.

9. M.E. Poole, J. Langan-Fox, and Omodei, “Sex Differences in Perceived

Career Success,” Gen. Soc. Gen. Psycho Monograph 117 (1990):155–175.

10. J.V.E. Peluchette, “Subject Career Success: The Influence of Individual

Differences, Family, and Organization Vanables,” Journal of Vocational

Behavior 43 (1993):198–209.

11. P. Tharenou, D. Conroy, and S. Latimer, “How Do You Make It To The

Top?: An Examination of Influences on Women and Men Managerial

Advancement,” Academy of Management Journal 37 (1994): 899–931.

12. B. Stilwell, K. Diallo, P. Zurn, M. Vujicic, O. Adams, and Dal Poz,

“Migration of Health-Care Workers from Developing Countries: Strategic

Approaches to its Management,” Bulleting of the World Health Organiza-

tion 82 (2004):595–600.

13. T. Martineau, K. Decker, and P. Bundred, “Briefing Note on International

Migration of Health Professionals: Leveling the Playing Field for Develop-

ing Country Health System,” (Liverpool: Liverpool School of Tropical Med-

icine, 2002); E. Thomas-Hope, “Skilled Labor Migration from Developing

244 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Countries: Study on the Caribbean Region,” (Geneva: International Labor

Office, 2002), [International Migration Papers, No 50]; J. Connell, “The

Migration Skilled of Health Personnel in the Pacific Region,” 2002 Report

of Study Commissioned by WHO. (Western Pacific Region Office, WHO,

2002).

14. Stilwell et al 2004; P. McDonald, and R. Kippen, “Labor Supply Prospects

in 16 Developed Countries. 2000–2050,” Population and Development

Review 27 (2001): 1–32.

15. B. Stilwell, “Health Workers Motivate in Zimbabwe,” (Geneva: WHO,

2001) [Internal Report for the Development of Organization of Health

Care Delivery]; S. Wibulpolprasert, “Inequitable Distribution of Doctors:

Can it Be Solved?” Human Resources for Health Development 3 (1999):

2–22.

16. Vujicic M. et al (2004).

17. “Population, Development and Education,”International Conference

Report on Population and Development held in Cairo 5–13 September,

1994.

18. United Nations population Division, Populations Database, 2002; avail-

able at www.esa.un.org\unpp.

19. F. Lorenzo, “Nurses Supply and Demand in the Philippines,” (Manila: Uni-

versity of the Philippines, Institute of Health Policy and Development Stud-

ies, 2002).

20. F. Oduniyi, “My Personal Experience as An Emigrant Who Has Returned

to Her Home Country,” unpublished paper, 2006.

REFERENCES

Awases, M., A. Gbary, J. Nyoni, and R. Chatora. “Migration of Health Profession-

als in Six Countries.” Reports Brazzaville: WHO Regional Office for Africa,

2003 [Draft report].

Bach, S. “International Migration of Health Workers: Labor and Social Issues.”

Geneva: Sectoral Activities Program, International Labor Office, 2003 [wp.

209].

Buchan, J., T. Parkin and J. Sochalskin. “International Nurse Mobility: Trends and

Policy Implications.” Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003. WHO doc-

ument WHO/EIP/OSD/2003.3.

Carrington, W. J. and E. Detragiache. “How Big is the Brain Drain?” Washington

[DC]: International monetary fund; 1998 [IMF Working Paper Wp/98/102].

Chen, R.M. “The Evolution and Training of Asian Medical Graduates in the United

States.” American Journal of Psychology 135 (1978): 451–453.

Connel, J. “The Migration Skilled of Health Personnel in the Pacific Region.” 2002

Report of Study Commissioned by WHO. Western Pacific Region Office,

WHO, 2002.

Desole, D.E., P. Singe and J. Roseman. “Community Psychiatry and the Syndrome of

Psychiatric Culture Shock.” Social Science and Medicine 1 (1968): 401–418.

Diallo, K. “Data on the Migration of Health-Care Workers: Sources, Uses, and

Challenges.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82 (2004): 601–7.

Managing the Migration of Health-Care Workers 245

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Findlay, A. “From brain exchange to brain gain: policy implications for the UK of

recent trends in skilled migration from developing countries” Geneva: Inter-

national labor office; 2002 [International migration paper, No 43].

Garza-Guerrero, A.C. “Culture stock:It’s Mourning and Vicissitudes of Identity.”

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 22 (1974): 408–429.

Judge, T. A., J. W. Boudreau, and D. Bretz Jr. “Job and Life Attitudes of Male Exec-

utives.” Journal of Applied Psychology 79 (1994): 767–782.

Lorenzo, F. “Nurses Supply and Demand in the Philippines.” Manila: University of

the Philippines, Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, 2002.

Martineau T., K. Decker, and P. Bundred. “Briefing Note on International Migra-

tion of Health Professionals: Leveling the Playing Field for Developing Coun-

try Health System.” Liverpool: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 2002.

McDonald, P. and R. Kippen. “Labor Supply Prospects in 16 Developed Countries.

2000–2050.” Population and Development Review 27 (2001): 1–32.

Meija, A., H. Pizurki, and E. Royston. “Physician and Nurse Migration: Analysis

and Policy Implications.” Geneva: World Health Organization, 1979.

Melamed, T. “Career Success: The He-Moderating Effect of Gender.” Journal of

Vocational Behaviour 47 (1995): 35–60.

Oduniyi, F. “My Personal Experience as An Emigrant Who Has Returned to Her

Home Country.” unpublished paper, 2006.

Peluchette, J.V.E. “Subject Career Success: The Influence of Individual Differences,

Family, and Organization Vanables.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 43

(1993):198–209.

Poole, M.E., J. Langan-Fox, and Omodei. “Sex Differences in Perceived Career Suc-

cess.” Gen. Soc. Gen. Psycho Monograph 117 (1990):155–175.

Stilwell, B., K. Diallo, P. Zurn, M. Vujicic, O. Adams, and Dal Poz. “Migration of

Health-Care Workers from Developing Countries: Strategic Approaches to its

Management.” Bulleting of the World Health Organization 82 (2004):595–

600.

Stilwell, B. “Health Workers Motivate in Zimbabwe.” Geneva: WHO; 2001 [Inter-

nal Report for the Development of Organization of Health Care Delivery].

Stilwell, B., K. Diallo, P. Zurn, Dal Poz, O. Adams, and J. Buchan: “Developing 1: 8

and Practical Challenges.” available from:http//www. human-resources-health.

com/content/1/1/18 Human Resources for Health (Online Journals) 2003.

Tharenou, P., D. Conroy, and S. Latimer. “How Do You Make It To The Top?: An

Examination of Influences on Women and Men Managerial Advancement.”

Academy of Management Journal 37 (1994): 899–931.

Thomas-Hope, E. “Skilled Labor Migration from Developing Countries: Study on

the Caribbean Region.” Geneva: International Labor Office, 2002. [Interna-

tional Migration Papers, No 50].

Wibulpolprasert, S. “Inequitable Distribution of Doctors: Can it Be Solved?”

Human Resources for Health Development 3 (1999): 2–22.

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

247

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Chapter Ten

African Immigrants’ Families and

the American Educational System

Cecilia S. Obeng

INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines the experiences of African immigrant families in

American Educational institutions and the different strategies used by

these families to cope with the system. The study uses qualitative meth-

ods and is done within the frameworks of analytic induction and constant

comparison analysis (Strauss; Goetz and LeCompte; Bogdan and Biklen)

and Van Maanen’s

impressionistic ethnographic tradition. The study

demonstrates that African immigrants face considerable challenges relat-

ing to adaptation into the school system in their acquisition of the neces-

sary professional competence needed to gain assess to high paying jobs.

The study concludes that cultural differences and being “foreign”

put the

immigrants at risk and contribute to problems in adaptation and proper

assimilation.

African presence in the United States dates back to the times of slav-

ery when black peoples of African descent were transplanted into the new

world. According to Frazier, voluntary migration of Africans into the United

States started around the 1860s when Cape Verdean sea-men came to the

States to work mostly on cranberry bogs and textile mills. African emigra-

tion to the United States continued, but in smaller numbers when compared

to those of the Europeans. However, recent reports on African immigrants

indicate that because of poor economies and wars in some of the countries

of Africa, black Africans are migrating to the United States in numbers even

greater than in the slave trade period. These reports cite United States Cen-

sus Bureau figures as indicating that about fifty thousand Africans enter

the United States yearly. Roberts (2005) quotes Kim Nichols, co-executive

director of the African Services Committee, which directs newcomers to

health care, housing and other services in the New York region, as saying

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that the report represents only people who enter the country legally. The

report estimates that the actual number could be four times the official

figure.

Although the U.S. is known to be one of the countries where many of

its inhabitants are immigrants, newly arrived immigrants face many chal-

lenges upon their arrival, especially in connection with adaptation and with

getting the education needed to gain access to high paying jobs, (Aong-

has, 2002). These immigrants from all over the world come with different

cultural and educational backgrounds, and with different family patterns.

African immigrants are no exception; they face cultural differences which

definitely put them at risk of having problems with adaptation.

Researchers have identified adaptation as playing an important role

in students’ academic performance, (Aonghas, 2002). The academic success

of immigrants is tied to proper adaptation to the majority culture.

War-

ner and Srole (1945) note that immigrants of European descent have fewer

problems than other immigrants adapting or assimilating to the majority of

the people in the United States once they learn the language.

Since Africans are coming into the United States in large numbers and

are likely to face challenges because of cultural differences relating to family

systems, healthcare, and education, among others, research on such immi-

grants will help the African families, educators, and policy makers address

the challenges that are bound to occur.

Regarding family systems, for example, due to the collectivist nature

of African societies, African immigrants may come to the United States

with large families (nuclear and extended—nephews, nieces, and cousins)

and this hinders the giving of effective and undivided individual attention

to their own children. This is because in African societies such extended

family members are not seen as ‘outsiders’ and are required to be treated

in the same way as members of one’s nuclear family. In Africa, other

extended family members who may be financially and socially capable

may be called to assist when there are such large families. However, given

the geographic distance such help will be physically impossible. The large

family immigrant parents or guardians therefore tend to be exclusively

stuck with the burden of taking care of their families. The pressure of

work and the need to provide for their families exacerbate the burden

faced by such families.

With regard to healthcare, a considerable difference obtains between

perceptions about disease causation and disease management in that

whereas Africans view disease as caused by both organic and supernat-

ural sources, most mainstream Americans attribute disease causation to

organic or physical sources. For example, whereas depression is viewed

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as being caused by (evil) spirits and is therefore treated by spiritual means

in most African (Ghanaian, Togolese, etc.) cultures, its causation is attrib-

uted to emotional or mental sources in the West and is therefore treated

through the administration of mental health drugs and psychological

counseling.

AIMS

The main object of this chapter is to examine the experiences of African

immigrant families in American Educational institutions. In particular, the

chapter examines the challenges that the immigrants face in the school sys-

tem and the strategies that they employ to deal with such challenges.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The study employs qualitative methods in its design. With regard to the

qualitative method, the data collection technique stems from several meth-

odological traditions. The work is done within the frameworks of analytic

induction and constant comparison analysis (Strauss, 1987 Goetz and

LeCompte, 1984; Bogdan and Biklen, 1982; Van Maanen’s, 1988) impres-

sionistic ethnographic tradition.

The analytic induction and constant comparison methods used in this

study involved grouping respondents’ narratives into categories based on

identification of particular issues or themes and examining the connection

between those issues. In particular, the experiences of African immigrant

families (in the American educational system) were grouped into categories

based on their characteristic similarities or differences.

Van Maanen’s ethnographic impressionism, which requires research-

ers to assume a native point of view and try to be “emic” rather than

“etic” is also used in this research. Using this research model will help me

to refrain from imposing my ideas on the respondents. Thus, allowing the

respondents’ voices into the research will help me to get their interpreta-

tions of their own actions and experiences, and will subsequently enable

me to develop a more in-depth understanding of their experiences. Such an

understanding and knowledge of their experiences and needs will help me

to make realistic recommendations to various stakeholders namely (par-

ents, educators, students, and the community) as well as similar popula-

tions in the same social context.

An important reason for employing qualitative analysis is that it will

enable us to hear the real voices of the research consultant.

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METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE METHOD

The participants who took part in this study were thirty-eight African

immigrants who lived in Indiana and Virginia. The idea of using fami-

lies in which the parents were born in Africa was to ensure that the

information collected was authentically African-oriented. Data collec-

tion for the study was done by this author (the principal investigator)

and three graduate students. The principal investigator and a graduate

assistant started the interview in Indiana (Bloomington and surround-

ing towns), and when the number of eligible participants was difficult

to find (because there are only a handful of African immigrants living

in the Bloomington area), the state of Virginia was added as a data col-

lection site because of the large number of African immigrants residing

in that state. An added advantage of using Virginia was that it was the

home state of my second research assistant. This made data collection

feasible and relatively easy since she could contact some of the research

consultants via phone and was also seen as a member of the larger com-

munity. Data collection in Virginia went on very smoothly and lasted

only a couple of weeks.

After the data were collected, a third research assistant with training

in transcription was hired to assist with the transcription and codification

of the data.

PROCEDURE

The study involved personal interviews and the answering of close-ended

and open-ended questions. The principal investigators and one gradu-

ate assistant identified common themes and issues. Those themes and

issues were used to find out the experiences of African immigrants in the

American Educational system from the perspective of these immigrants

and the factors that influence their education. All three graduate assis-

tants involved in this research had previous interview experience and were

well vested in interview techniques. The interviews were conducted in

participants’ homes from June to December 2005 for forty-five to ninety

minutes. Some participants were asked to fill in questionnaires and oth-

ers were interviewed by phone. Some of the interviews were audio taped,

others were written by the interviewers and the participants. Various non-

verbal communication behaviors such as nodding the head, using various

gestures, and different kinds of facial expressions were written down by

interviewers.

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FINDINGS

The findings for the research are in themes which provide a picture of the

immigrants’ experiences in the United States school system. The themes dis-

cussed are: bullying, children’s homework supervision and general academic

performance, disciplinary issues, cultural alienation and cultural crossing,

benefits gained by the immigrants from the United States Educational Sys-

tem, and a determination of what motivates the immigrants and their chil-

dren to be successful. We begin with bullying.

BULLYING

A majority of the African immigrants who participated in this study

believed that their children had been bullied either on their way to school

or within the school. For the children in elementary schools, some respon-

dents believed that the bullying took place on their way to school especially

when they were waiting for the bus or when they were on the bus. Also,

parents of some of the elementary age children and some middle school

and high school students reported some form of teasing at the initial stages

when they were admitted into the schools. This is what one participant

reported: “I think they were kind of making fun of them and the children

were very aggressive because of that. They were fighting all the time. People

were calling him all kinds of names.” Some parents with children in the

middle schools believed that their children were bullied in the Locker room.

One parent said, “Because he was thin they made him carry their school

books in the locker room and also called him gay.”

Another parent said the boys: “used to kick his backpack—the book,

whatever; the backpack had a cartoon on it. Scooby-Doo cartoon. And

he would be kicking it until eventually everything in it got off. And after

that he started ridiculing him that “you are so stupid that you can’t even

fix your own bag?” An observation of the transcripts shows that although

there were instances of bullying involving name-calling, lampooning, and

teasing of the immigrant children, such bullying occurred outside of the

classroom. This could be due to an effective administration of the school

system.

HOMEWORK SUPERVISION

AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Almost all the participants interviewed for the study said they made sure

that their children’s homework was done and on time. The families with

252 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

the father in the home were most likely to supervise the homework of the

children. With respect to families in which the father did not live with them,

the respondents indicated that at least the father called and asked the chil-

dren whether they were doing their schoolwork.

Concerning the academic performance of the African immigrant chil-

dren, few parents (less than 5 percent) reported that their children were

not doing well at all. Those who reported that their children were doing

well said although compared to their classmates their children were doing

great, they still wanted the children to do better. One parent said: “Ha ha

ha; not how I want him to perform academically. But here in America he

is doing very well compared to his classmates, I mean, compared to his

mates, he’s doing extremely well. He gets almost all “A” but not as well as

I want him.”

Other parents also said the following about their children’s home-

work: “It’s almost part of my homework everyday.” “I check whether he’s

done his homework by asking “Did you finish your homework? Are all

your assignments done? and things like that.” Finally, a close attention to

the transcripts shows that almost all the parents interviewed cared about

what their children will do in the future. They also have high expectations

for their families, especially their children. The parents also wanted their

children to have high paying jobs in the future and as a result warned or

impressed upon them the need to work hard. The parents also talked about

the children’s future plans together with them. One mother said: “When he

was ready to go to college, we would talk about stuff; what his goals were;

what he wanted to do.”

Another mother said: “We talked about her future plans on a regu-

lar basis.” From the above excerpts, we can conveniently argue that there

was a high degree of parental involvement in the daily social and academic

lives of the children. Such an involvement and support augured well for the

children’s social and emotional development and acted as a strong support

network for the children.

IN SCHOOL SUSPENSION AND OTHER PROBLEMS

Although almost all participants surveyed for this research appreciated

teacher support and believed that most American teachers are friendly and

helpful, a majority of the people reported that they have had problems with

the school system. These are some of the good things said about Ameri-

can teachers: “My son had a good experience when he was in elementary

school. When we arrived, the teacher assigned him somebody, a kid, who

was very nice, and he was in our neighborhood. And this kid literally took

African Immigrants’ Families and the American Educational System 253

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care of my son until when he got settled. And they are even still friends

today.” “The younger one has always had very good experience with the

teachers;” said another family member.

In contrast to the above compliments, some African immigrants noted

that some teachers in the schools sent them notes about problems that

either did not exist or were at best imaginary. Some of them complained

about their children being picked upon among a group of children for a

problem that they did not cause.

Here are some of the comments that some of the participants made:

“If you are from Africa, you can get into trouble. I can give you an

example, why I’m saying this; there was something in the hall, some

place in the school anyway, somebody threw candy on the floor, and

there was a lot of noise. I’m told the kids were just unruly or some-

thing like that. Then the teacher came, it was the math teacher, the 10th

grade math teacher at high school, the kids were supposed to go back

to classes. I think it was a short break or something like that. So, they

were supposed to go back, and they were hanging on and not going

back. With this commotion, the teacher comes out. And then she picks

my son and said, “You are the one who threw away the candy on the

floor,” this and this, this and this. And he said, “I didn’t.” She took him

to the office, or in fact, she said he should go to the office. He refused.

And then, later, I think she called the principal or somebody else, and

then he was taken, and was suspended. So, I went to the school and

I told them they are not going to suspend my son for something that

he did not do. And I told, told them plainly that I think this is racism.

Yes, because did you see him throw the candy? No. Was he the only

child that was there? No. Why pick on him? There were other kids that

were there with him. I mean, he could have played a role in that, but

why do you pick up on him. He was suspended. But I told them “no”

he wasn’t the only person who was there why suspend him only? The

day that he came home with that letter, he was the only one that was

suspended. And when I went to the school to ask, they said they were

still investigating, but he’s the only one, because he refused to get to the

office of the school. My son claimed that “he didn’t want to go because

he was mad because it was Miss T. who picked me, because she hates

me. That’s why she picked on me. There were all the other kids that she

knows, but she didn’t pick them up. We were all there as a group.”

This is what another respondent from another family said about

something that happened at school:

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“I just don’t understand why this happened to me or why this is hap-

pening to me. One thing I found confusing, I received a letter from

the school saying my child had “touched” another child. Honestly it

just said, “touched” and, I didn’t know what “touched” meant and

so forth, but since I realized it was a bad thing, I ended up having to

discipline my own child. I know they don’t allow beating, but I had to

beat him. That’s what I did—hit him somehow, really just to make him

realize that I wouldn’t really tolerate such report. Whatever “touched”

meant, that was it. I didn’t go to school. My problem really is trans-

port. I wish I could have gone there, but having to wait for the bus and

so forth, it takes so long, and I don’t have much time. And, so I didn’t

go to the school I just wrote a note to say I just disciplined the child

and I told him not to touch other students.”

The mother explained that her eight-year old child was allowed to go back

to the school the following day when the mother sent the note because they

realized that the touching was not from a bad motive but from cultural

differences. From the culture where the child was coming from it did not

mean anything when one child touches another child at that younger age.

From the above excerpts it may be argued that the disciplinary issues

faced by the immigrant children are mainly due to cultural differences and

parents reporting about some teachers being overzealous and sometimes

determined to find scapegoats and hence picking on some of the immigrant

children. To avert such crises, it is important for both the parents and the

school system to learn each other’s culture and to become tolerant of one

another’s genuine mistakes instead of resorting to scape-goating and taking

actions that could be interpreted as stereotyping.

CULTURAL ALIENATION AND CULTURAL CROSSING

Almost all the participants who came to United States with their children

from their native countries have observed some form of cultural alienation

in the form of how their children dress up, their language, and their man-

nerisms. These changes, some families believed, would be admired when

they go back to their native countries. One family noted that their chil-

dren would be respected even by teachers by being proficient in English

and French, and the way they speak. The family noted that their children’s

“accent is just American” and “dresses like people in America.”

Other families had problems with cultural alienation and commented

that this is a big concern and may be a problem when they go back home.

This is exactly what one family member said: “Even the way they ask

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questions, as an African you know the question “why” doesn’t really come

very easily when you talk to your mother or somebody elderly. But, I think

she has that character of asking why anytime she talks to any adult.” The

problems some families had were how their children will adjust in their

home country with the teaching styles where you have to communicate with

the teacher the way the teachers want. A family member noted that: “Back

home, children are expected to be quiet, to be seated, and so forth. Now,

of course that bothers me because that’s definitely going to hurt them and

they are going to be ridiculed the way they dress up and talk.” Other fami-

lies were also worried about the type of pants that their children wore—

the type that they described as always “falling down.” They felt that such

pants may not be viewed with much respect if worn back in Africa. There

were few respondents who thought their families were fine in both cultures

because they knew what to do in both cultures. One woman commented:

They “behave in a certain way when they are in the U.S. When they get

home, they will know that they have to do things in a different way.”

From the above excerpts and comments, it could be argued that most

parents were worried with respect to their children crossing completely into

mainstream American culture, since they felt that such a cultural crossing

might pose the problem of alienation when they return home to Africa. For

the few parents who felt there was no cause for concern, their hope was

based on the assumption that the children will be able to adjust to the Afri-

can culture upon return without any difficulty whatsoever and that initial

blunders upon return would be viewed as normal given their being away in

the United States.

BENEFITS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

AND GOOD/MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES

Concerning the educational system, most of the respondents had posi-

tive things to say. In particular, some emphasized the opportunities that

their children have in the schools to better themselves, the enviable edu-

cational resources available to students with special needs, and the sheer

volume of books and other materials put at the disposal of students in the

United States—things which most of them indicated were non-existent in

Africa. With respect to the opportunities in the schools, one woman noted:

“Here in America we have more opportunities to study. And back home,

I don’t think I will have this courage to go to school.” Others thought

their children had had excellent years in the school system from Kinder-

garten through 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and so on. Those who had

children with special needs believed that the school system provided the

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necessary and sufficient educational materials for an effective education of

their children.

Some parents expressed optimism that because of the rich educational

resources, their families will surely have a successful academic future. One

parent commented: “The equipment that the corporation has invested in

him due to his special needs is amazing. I mean, they spent over 20,000

dollars just for a single student. And, we are really appreciative of it.” Some

families also believed the work that they do in the schools is amazing and

that some of the teachers are really effective because they really care for

and about their students. Some families in which one or both parents were

also students had many good things to say about American college profes-

sors. Most of the African immigrants believed that American college pro-

fessors are extremely good. The participants believed that they have very

well qualified professors and very good facilities. Others also believed that

technology makes doing research easier in the American educational sys-

tem than in Africa. One participant commented: “There are books, good

libraries and so on and all those are very positive things that make personal

development of the student.”

The respondents also believed that they were having fun in their

departments. One respondent commented: “As far as my department is

concerned, I like them, because I find that it’s really as a second home.

No problem, really, I mean it is a good place. I liked it. People were very

helpful.” Another said: “I have had many good experiences being in this

system; things have gone better. I’ve had fellowships and count myself a

blessed person.” Some African immigrant parents had some problems with

their professors. These were mostly about giving them low grades in their

assignments and quizzes on which they believed that they had performed

better. The above stretch of utterances form the respondents and the com-

mentaries about them point to the fact that despite the problems faced by

African immigrants, they do appreciate the support they receive from the

teachers/professors and the overall American Educational system. Specifi-

cally, they see the system as offering opportunities for them to build suc-

cessful careers and a future for them and their children.

DETERMINATION OF WHAT MOTIVATES

OR KEEPS THE IMMIGRANT FAMILIES GOING

African immigrants have wide varieties of goals or strategies that keep

them going in the American educational system and their daily living in

general. Some families always advised or encouraged their children to ask

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questions if they did not understand anything at school. One father said:

“If you don’t understand something, ask your teachers.” Another family

said they encouraged their children not to give up but rather keep on try-

ing and never give up until they succeed. Some of the research participants

believed in maintaining a high level of motivation to attain success in life.

Others believed friends and humor had kept them going. There are some

African Immigrants interviewed who believed that extra curricular activi-

ties, strong family ties (making everybody feel important in the family),

the love of life, and the spirit of togetherness as African immigrants kept

them going most of the time. One mother said; “it is important to let your

kids have high self esteem, my kids have a lot of self esteem and that helps

a lot.”

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The themes identified in this study suggest that most African immigrants

surveyed for the study are performing well in their schools in terms of aca-

demic work. This good work could be attributed to good parental supervi-

sion of students’ homework, good family ties, and the encouraging words

that parents give to their children. Strategies like parents telling their chil-

dren to ask their teachers any time that they do not understand anything in

school may have contributed to this success.

Another factor that may have contributed to the success of the immi-

grants interviewed for this study was the fact that some of them did not

want to see any letter grade on their children’s report card other than an

“A.” The parents’ high expectations literally forced their children to study

hard. From the participants’ responses, we also observe that the high

achievement being made by the African immigrants could be attributed to

the collaborative work being done in these families. Almost all the families

said they worked together for the benefit of their children, the students.

Each family emphasized the fact that they wanted their children to achieve

the best in life.

Another important finding about these African immigrant families is

that most of the families had a father, a mother, and kids. The families with

both biological parents and their children formed a majority of the fami-

lies surveyed for the study. There were some families living with extended

family members but the way they addressed and related to the adults in

these families suggested that they were so close knit that there was no way

an outsider could tell that such families were extended and not nuclear.

Another finding about these families is that even when the father did not

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live with them and was in Africa, such women were still married and had

input from the father somehow. There were very few families in which

the parents were divorced. Such couples divorced after their immigration

to America and their children were mostly grown-ups so the divorce did

not appear to affect the children negatively. Concerning having problems,

approximately 87 percent of the respondents reported having had some

form of a problem with the school system, a teacher or some students. The

remaining 13 percent had some bad experiences that they ascribed or attrib-

uted to things that happen in every day life. Thus, there was no particular

finger pointing and the respondents were willing to forgive and get on with

their lives. Specifically, an important finding about this study is that some

of the African immigrant families surveyed in this study indicated that any

time that they encountered a problem they would go to the school or try to

solve the problem with the person involved, forget about the problem, and

get along with their lives. Thus, they did not hang on to their problems or

bear anyone a grudge for any long period of time. Most of the respondents

reported that such an attitude was best for their own sanity and for them to

move on in life.

We learn from the survey that almost all the families that had prob-

lems indicated that such problems were connected with their male siblings.

Only two families reported that a female in their family had a problem in

school. The above situation may have implications for policy makers. It

may point to gender bias against males of African origin and this may need

a close study in order to find solutions to it. Furthermore, the African immi-

grants surveyed in the study had a clear preference for the American edu-

cational instructional activities which comprised discussions and hands-on

activities. While some of the respondents mentioned that that was not the

norm in their countries; a number did mention that variety of the teaching

methodology in the American educational system is important and help-

ful. Immigrant families with students at the universities who were graduate

students frequently expressed a dislike of classes that consist of graduate

and undergraduate students in combination, as below their standard and

sometimes time wasteful, boring, and unstimulating.

Finally, one of the most interesting findings about these African

immigrants is that most of those sampled attributed their problems to

cultural differences. Some of them believed that there were certain things

that they considered as rude, unheard of, and taboo in their cultures. In

particular, they mentioned things like calling an adult by the first name,

children joining or interrupting adults’ conversations, calling somebody gay

while the person is not, and even a child touching another child and being

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suspended—something which they viewed as mere play. They felt that it

was inappropriate for the school to punish a child for an act that emanates

from a cultural misunderstanding. Finally, less than half of the respondents

attributed their problems to racial differences and the idea of being “for-

eign,” that is, being an African.

NOTES

1. A. Strauss and J. Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research, (Newbury Park.

CA: Sage, 1990); J. Goetz and M. LeCompte, Ethnography of Qualitative

Study Design in Educational Research, (San Diego, CA: Academic Press,

1984); R. Bogdan, and S. Biklen, Qualitative Research for Education: An

Introduction to Theory and Methods, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1982);

J. van Maanen, Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography, (Chicago and

London: The University of Chicago Press, 1988).

2. S. Aonghas, “The Social Adaptation of Children of Mexican Immigrants:

Educational Aspirations Beyond Junior High School,” Social Science Quar-

terly 83 no. 4 (2002).

3. M. Frazier, “New Dimensions: African Immigrants in the U.S.,” People’s

Weekly World Friday, May 20, 2005.

4. S. Roberts, “More Africans Enter U.S. Than in Days of Slavery,” The New

York Times Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005; Frazier, 2005

5. W. L. Warner and L. Srole, The Social Systems of American Ethnic Groups,

(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1945); R. E. Park, “Human Migration

and the Marginal Man,” American Journal of Sociology 33 (1928): 881–

893; I. L. Child, Italian or American? The Second Generation in Conflict,

(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943).

REFERENCES

Aonghas, S. “The Social Adaptation of Children of Mexican Immigrants: Educa-

tional Aspirations Beyond Junior High School.” Social Science Quarterly 83

no. 4 (2002).

Bogdan, R. and S. Biklen. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to

Theory and Methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1982.

Child, I. L. Italian or American? The Second Generation in Conflict. New Haven:

Yale University Press, 1943.

Frazier, M. “New Dimensions: African Immigrants in the U.S.” People’s Weekly

World Friday, May 20, 2005.

Geetz, J., and M. LeCompte. Ethnography of Qualitative Study Design in Educa-

tional Research. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1984.

Park, R. E. “Human Migration and the Marginal Man” American Journal of Soci-

ology 33 (1928): 881–893.

Roberts, S. “More Africans Enter U.S. Than in Days of Slavery.” The New York

Times Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005.

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Strauss, A. and J. Corbin. Basics of Qualitative Research. Newbury Park. CA: Sage,

1990.

van Maanen, J. Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography. Chicago and London:

The University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Warner, W. L., and L. Srole. The Social Systems of American Ethnic Groups. New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1945.

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Conclusion

The New African Diaspora Waves:

Shifting Diversity of American

Culture

Toyin Falola and Niyi Afolabi

“As the coastal areas become crowded, people have started to move

further inland to places like Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Tennessee

(. . .) Immigration is adding diversity by bringing in people with new

ideas, skills and cultures which mean we are able to communicate and

do business with other countries.”

—William Fay

“The shift is changing the relationship of Americans to the land and to

their idealization of the American dream. The concept of the “frontier,”

of existence under an open sky, still exists in celluloid, but fewer and

fewer people live it.”

—Ed Pilkington

From the abolition of slavery and Civil Rights accomplishments to multicul-

tural and diversity initiatives, African immigrants have been inadvertently

left out of the debate on global diversity since race and ethnicity continue

to be crucial determinants in the integration of the immigrant in American

culture. Yet, despite this omission, African immigrants are no longer invis-

ible in the American cultural landscape. From Washington D.C. to New

York, from Alabama to Missouri, from New Orleans to Georgia, and from

Philadelphia to Minnesota, African immigrants are making America their

home in urban areas and beyond. As the essays in this volume have pointed

out, African as well as Jamaican, Bahamian, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, Hai-

tian, and Mexican immigrants are steadily constituting and re-constituting

a “new diaspora.” While the focus of this study is on Africans specifically,

the issues they grapple with resonate across other cultures in terms of the

challenges of assimilation and the attainment of the American dream. Con-

sidered in three “waves” in the last two decades, especially since the Immi-

gration Reform Control Act of 1986, it has been easier for highly educated

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and skilled immigrants to secure permanent residency in the United States.

During this same period, a second wave of Africans (in this case, politi-

cal refugees from the Horn of Africa) came to secure refuge in the United

States after fleeing repressive and violent regimes or religious conflicts in

Africa. With the introduction of the Diversity Visa Lottery (DVL) came the

third wave of the 1990s. The commonality they share lies in the desire to

improve their living standards and have a peaceful environment in which

to function. As sojourners in a new land, the obvious constraints caused

by cultural adaptation, the stress of educational pursuits to improve their

technical skills, employment, business opportunities, and overall American

competition do lead to other social issues, which make the American dream

elusive for many.

One of the many coping strategies is to negotiate the new citizen-

ship through adaptive cultural-religious institutions and practices as well

as support networks, to minimize feelings of alienation and estrangement

despite the initial euphoria. In a case-study of African immigrants in Mary-

land, Gabeyehu Adugna reports that “African-born residents in the United

States are highly educated, urbanized, and have one of the highest per capita

incomes of any immigrant.” Despite this accomplishment, many Africans

would suggest that they have suffered some form of discrimination at one

time or another. The question is not so much if African immigrants or any

immigrant should be treated with respect, but rather why anyone should

have to be disrespected or humiliated in the first place, especially based on

the color of their skin. Since the founding fathers of this nation, in their

wisdom, stated that “all men are created equal”—thus reaffirming a Biblical

mandate—the shifting dynamics of American diversity are worth examin-

ing. The United States’ population has now reached the 300 million mark, a

reality that raises a curious question: of that population, what is the political

representation of Africans as a “new” (voluntary) minority in the United

States. Ed Pilkington’s study, “300 Million and Counting . . .” (Guardian,

October 13, 2006) provides a cogent and yet interesting prognosis: “The

largest single national group of immigrants now is Mexican, and the largest

ethnic group Hispanic. By 2050 it is projected by the census bureau that the

proportion of non-Hispanic whites will have fallen from 69% in the 2000

census to about 50%. Hispanics will have doubled to 24%, Asians also to

8%, while African-Americans will increase marginally to 14%.” If the role of

African immigration is factored into this analysis, it is obvious that the new

African diaspora is still not as compelling in terms of numbers, but is note-

worthy in terms of its contributions to American diversity and prosperity.

The future of African migration may need to be focused on the first

generation of US-born Africans, the implications of their shifting identities,

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as well as policy issues on both sides of the Atlantic. It is imperative that as

these young African Americans negotiate American and African identities;

that they do not fall into the trap of acceptance of a permanent “minor-

ity” status. Rather, they should be encouraged to retain and maintain their

dual citizenship where possible. In a society where others are speaking for

them, where their articulation is minimized by the dominant voice of first

generation Americans, where the stereotypes about the “primitivism” and

“barbarity” of Africa are replayed to them in the media, in their academic

curricula, and in the systematic negation of their “difference,” it would be

rewarding, especially when funds permit, that while still young, they are

allowed to visit their home countries. The issue of policy implications of

immigration and displacement may be resolved through mutual partnership

between the host country and the emigrating country but a problem that

still confronts African minorities in the New World lies in the feeling of not

being part of the so-called global community. Diversity fulfills its objective

when all races are received as equal partners into the American “melting

pot” not when some are provided the tools and opportunities to melt and

others deprived of those very tools or agencies. In the final analysis, to be

American is to part of the bigger dream and the process of achieving it; not

just a footstool for others towards the dream. New African minorities look

forward to the realization of that dream. It is livable.

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Appendix

Abbreviations and Linguistic Clusters

ABBREVIATIONS & ACRONYMS

ACC: Angolan Community Center (Toronto).

ANPP: All Nigerian People’s Party.

APGA: All Progressive Grand Alliance (Nigeria).

AVL: American Visa Lottery (same as DVL).

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency.

CMAG: Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

DFW: Dallas-Fort Worth (Texas, USA)

DVL: Diversity Visa Lottery (same as AVL).

EAC: East African Community Corporation

GSM: Genital Sexual Mutilation.

ING: Interim National Government (Nigeria).

INS: Immigration and Naturalization Services.

ISNA: Islamic Society of North America.

NADECO: National Democratic Coalition.

NCPN: National Center Party of Nigeria (Nigeria)

NGO: Non-Government Organization.

NPM: Non-Probability Method.

NPRC: National Political Reform Conference (Nigeria)

OAU: Organization of Africa Unity.

PDP: People’s Democratic Party.

PIP: Performing Improvement Programming (United Nation’s Model).

PRM: Probit Regression Model.

RC: Refugee Camps.

RCCG: Redeemed Christian Church of God.

SS: Snowball Sampling.

U.K.: United Kingdom.

UN: United Nations.

UNDRO: United Nations Disaster Relief Organization.

UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

UNHCR: United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

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UNICEF: United Nation’s Children and Educational Fund.

UNPD: United Nations Population Division.

UPN: Unity Party of Nigeria (Nigeria).

US/U.S./USA: United States of America.

LINGUISTIC CLUSTERS & TERMS

African Languages

Akan: An ethnic group and language in Ghana.

Swahili: Coastal Bantu language of East Africa.

Yoruba: Southwestern Nigerian language of the Yoruba people.

Wolof: Language of the Wolof people; the largest ethnic group in Senegal.

Creole

Creole: Language created when many languages come into contact to form a unique

one (i.e. pidgin English); also refers to the original French settlers in Louisi-

ana; may also qualify a Southern (United States) cuisine typical of Louisiana.

European Languages

English

Blackamoors: African immigrants in the American colonial era.

Portuguese

Viagem da minha vida: voyage of my life

Spanish

Mestizaje: race-mixture.

Mestizo(a): racially mixed person, bi-racial, or multi-racial.

Moreno: “dark-skinned” native Indians.

La Raza: The Race.

TERMS & EXPRESSIONS

Fufu: Typical African dish made of manioc flower.

Banku: Typical Ghanaian soup.

Kikuyu: A matrilineal Eastern African society (Kenya).

Ndowtel: A term in Wolof. A systematic form of gift among women in Senegal.

Soukous: Congolese music.

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Contributors

Niyi Afolabi, Ph.D., teaches African and African Diaspora Studies at the

W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. He is the author

of The Golden Cage: Regeneration in Lusophone African Literature and

Culture, and editor of Marvels of the African World: African Cultural Pat-

rimony, New World Connections and Identities. His current book proj-

ects focus on the Brazilian manifestation of Afro-Diasporan discourse and

include bilingual volumes such as The Afro-Brazilian Mind/A Mente Afro-

Brasileira and Cadernos Negros/Black Notebooks.

Attah Anthony Agbali, Ph.D. candidate Anthropology. Presently, he is

engaged as a Certified Hospital Chaplain at the renowned Barnes-Jewish

Hospital, St. Louis, MO. An ordained Catholic priest, he studied philoso-

phy, religious studies, and theology at the St. Augustine’s Major Seminary,

Jos, Nigeria, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the Pontifical Urban

University, Rome, Italy. His academic and personal interests are diverse.

He enjoys music, poetry, spirituality and religion, prolific writing and read-

ing, and horticulture. He is currently engaged in the ethnographic research

for his book on “African Immigrants’ Experiences in Urban America: Con-

struction of Social Identity, Religion, and Integration in St. Louis [Mis-

souri].” His scholarly contributions appear in various volumes edited by

Toyin Falola, including Nigeria in the Twentieth Century; The Dark Web:

Perspectives on Colonialism in Africa; Urbanization and African Culture

(co-edited with Steve Salm); and Orisa: Yoruba Gods and Spiritual Identity

in Africa and the Diaspora (co-edited with Ann Genova).

Elizabeth O. Augustus, Ph.D., teaches Agriculture and Development at the

Federal College of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Research & Train-

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ing IAR&T Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Nigeria. She has contributed widely

to national and international journals

Preston Augustus, Ph.D., is a researcher of considerable experience, cov-

ering aspects of the pharmaceutical industries in Africa and the United

States.

Oladapo Augustus, a Deputy Director and Head of The Department of

Pharmacy at Adeoyo State Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, holds a Master’s

degree from University of Ibadan and Bachelor’s degrees from University

of Ife, Nigeria. With dissertation on ‘Clinical Pharmacist’s role in ensur-

ing optimal therapeutic outcome in the treatment of diabetes mellitus’, his

areas of interest include clinical pharmacy practice, patients’ counseling

and patients’ nutritional care. He is also a member of The Pharmaceutical

Society of Nigeria.

Sherri Canon received a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University

of Texas at Austin in 2005. Her dissertation, Music, Dance, and Family

Ties: Ghanaian and Senegalese Immigrants in Los Angeles, explores the

links between music and dance, lifecycle rituals, identity, and kinship for

contemporary West African immigrants. Her article, “Chief Stephen Osita

Osadebe: Musical Elder and Cultural Icon for Igbo Migrants,” was included

in Nigeria in the Twentieth Century, edited by Toyin Falola (Carolina Aca-

demic Press 2002). With over twenty years experience as a drummer and

percussionist, she directed the African Drum Ensemble at UT Austin and

led a professional drum and vocal ensemble called Afrodite. She currently

teaches music at Los Angeles Trade Technical College

Mohamed A. Eno is a PhD candidate in Social Studies Education at St.

Clements University. He acquired his master’s degree in TESOL from the

University of Sunderland and has taught at the Somali National Univer-

sity and other institutions of higher and specialized learning. He is also a

journalist who has regularly published in the Heegan newspaper. He has

presented papers on subjects related to linguistics, reconciliation, ethnicity

and ethnic marginalization, and refugees at various academic conferences

and meetings including the annual meeting of the African Studies Associa-

tion. His essay entitled “Understanding Somalia through the Prism of Bantu

Jareer Literature” is forthcoming in Literatures of the Horn, edited by Ali

J. Ahmed. Mohamed’s PhD dissertation will be on “The Homogeneity of

the Somali People: A Study of the Somali Bantu Ethnic Community.” His

research interests relate to ethnic marginalization, linguistics, culture, the

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composition and collection of Somali-Bantu poetry and oral tradition, and

teaching and teacher education.

Toyin Falola is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Frances Hig-

ginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History at the University of Texas

at Austin. A Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, he is the author

of numerous books, including Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious

Politics and Secular Ideologies and Nationalism and African Intellectuals,

both from the University of Rochester Press. He is the co-editor of the Jour-

nal of African Economic History, Series Editor of Rochester Studies in Afri-

can History and the Diaspora, Series Editor of the Culture and Customs of

Africa by Greenwood Press, and Series Editor of Classic Authors and Texts

on Africa by Africa World Press. He has received various awards and hon-

ors, most recently the Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence, The

Texas Exes Teaching Award, the Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teach-

ing Award, the Cecil B Currey Award for his book, Economic Reforms and

Modernization in Nigeria. For his distinguished contribution to the study

of Africa, his students and colleagues have presented him with a set of Fest-

schrift edited by Adebayo Oyebade, The Transformation of Nigeria: Essays

in Honor of Toyin Falola and The Foundations of Nigeria: Essays in Honor

of Toyin Falola. His award-winning memoir, A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt,

captures his childhood and received the Herskovits Finalist Award by the

Association of African Studies and the E. Alagoa Award by the Oral His-

tory Association.

Robert A. Kenedy, PhD, Professor of Sociology, York University, Toronto

Canada. He has been studying identity issues since 1984 with much of his

research focusing on collective identity, as well as ethnic communities and

identity formation. He has written the book Fathers for Justice: The Rise

of a New Social Movement in Canada as a Case Study of Collective Iden-

tity Formation. His recent work examines ethnic identity within several dif-

ferent immigrant groups in the city of Toronto. Dr. Kenedy has examined

divergent issues related to ethnic communities in Canada such as civic iden-

tity among immigrants, as well as Jewish identity and Diasporas.

Cecilia S. Obeng is Professor of Linguistics, African Studies, Hutton Honors

College, and International Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies

in Linguistics at Indiana University in Bloomington. She obtained her PhD

in Language and Linguistic Science from the University of York, United

Kingdom. She teaches political discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, prag-

matics, African linguistics, and international communication. Dr. Obeng

270 African Minorities in the New World

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

has published twelve books including edited volumes and about eighty

papers in refereed journals and book chapters. She is the co-editor of Issues

in Political Discourse Analysis and Issues in Intercultural Communication

Presently, she is working on three endangered languages in West Africa

and completing a book of poems titled “Voices from the Grave.” Professor

Obeng also writes political satire for a Ghanaian newspaper under various

pen-names.

Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of International

Studies at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee where he teaches African

Politics and Government; Comparative Politics; International Relations;

and a Senior Research Seminar. He has previously taught at the University

of Tennessee, Knoxville; Northeastern University, Boston; and University of

Nairobi, Kenya. He is author of Contending Political Paradigms in Africa:

Rationality and the Politics of Democratization in Kenya and Zambia

(Routledge, 2005). He has published numerous book chapters and refereed

articles on democratization, socio-political conflict, nationalism, and politi-

cal economy in Journals such as Journal of Contemporary African Studies,

Journal of Third World Studies, Canadian Review of Studies in National-

ism, African and Asian Studies, Nigerian Journal of International Affairs,

and International Review of Politics and Development. One of his articles

on civil society and democratization in Africa has been translated into Span-

ish and published in a journal in Mexico under the title: “La Sociedad Civil

y la Democratización Africanas: La Dinámica de las Fuerzas Externas.” He

is currently co-editing a book titled Democratic Transition in Kenya: Gains,

Limitations, and Prospects, as part of the CODESRIA book series.

271

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Abacha, Sani, 8, 77

Abdullah, Imam Sheik Nur, 136–140

Aborigines, 32

Abuja, 114

Accra, 160

Achebe, Chinua, 61

Actual social identity, 181–182

Adeboye, Enoch, 110, 112, 118

Aden, Abdi, 210

Adhan, 159

Adoon, 204

Af Maha, 213

African-American Ministry, 133

African Christian Community, 87

African diaspora, 1, 15, 51, 79, 202, 262

African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ),

African Services Committee, 247

Agbali, Anthony, 8–9

Aggrey, James Kwegyir, 88

Ahmed, Malyum, 174

Ahmed, Minhaj Uddin, 140

Aidi, Hisham, 38, 42

Akan, 156, 158

Akawo, Olufemi, 107, 111–112, 122

Akindayomi, Josiah, 110

Aladura Churches, 80, 87, 110

Ali, Ahmed Qassim, 209

Al Salaam day school, 139

Al-Salam Islamic School, 136

Amadi, 60

Amakpe International Refineries Nigeria

Limited, 59

Amanam, Usua, 59

Amee, 160

American Airlines, 75

American Black Churches, 122

American Catholic Church, 63

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 137

American Diversity Visa Lottery, 221, 224

American dream, the, 2, 8, 23, 37, 76,

261–262

American Educational system, 3, 14, 249–

250, 256, 258

American Indians, 32

Pequot, 37

Iroquois, 37

Tutelo, 37

American Methodist Episcopal Church, 88

American Missionary Association, 88

American Revolution, 30

Americans

African, 58, 68, 71, 78–79, 81, 88, 122–

123, 132–134, 143, 145, 262

Asian, 1, 6, 36, 81

Hispanic, 6

American Visa Lottery (AVL), 13

Education level, 221

Income, 221

Marital status, 221–223, 225, 229

Anderson, Benedict, 24–25, 27, 29

Angola, 38, 167–168, 170, 176, 182

Angolan Community Center, 173

Anti-Racist Feminist Theory, 184–186

Apex Petroleum, 59

Arch at the Riverfront, 75

Argentina, 37–40, 42, 47

Arthur, James, 5

Arthur, John, 9, 154

Index

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

272 Index

Asante, 37, 89, 159

Asante Kingship, 87

Ashantene, 89

Ashimolowo, Matthew, 80

Assassination, 222

Assimilation, 4, 32, 34, 64, 93, 127, 144, 247

cultural, 236

challenges of, 261

issues related to, 15

process of, 13

resisting, 153

asubø, 156, 158–159

Atlanta, 5

Atlantic Ocean, 222

Atomori, Paschal, 63

Attitude, Schools of thought

Mentalist, 223

Behaviorist, 233

Augustus, Elizabeth, 13

Augustus, Oladapo, 13–14

Augustus, Preston, 13

Australia, 168, 172, 174

Austria, 111, 169

Aw-Dhegle, 207

Azikiwe, Nnamdi, 88

Baidoa, 207

Bajuni, 212

Bakongo, 37

Baltimore, Maryland, 112, 133

Bamba, Cheikh Amadou, 161

Bamba district, 38

Banadir, 199–200, 203

Baptism, 10, 153, 162, 164

Protestant, 156

Catholic, 156

Barawa, 212

Barnes-Jewish Hospital, 76

Barre, Siyad, 201, 212

Barth, Frederick, 28

Barthian model, 34

Belgium, 54

Berlin, 174

Besteman, Catherine, 204–205

Beverly Hills, 156

Blackamoors, 52

Black Catholics, 133

Black Evangelization, 133

Black melting pot, 155

Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, 187

Bloomington, Virginia, 125, 250

Boeings, 75

Bolivia, 37, 47

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 70

Bosch, Mariano, 42

Bosnia, 9, 70–71, 76, 123, 168–170, 174

Boston, Massachusetts, 62, 112

Bottero, W., 185

Brazil, 37–38, 41–47, 80, 176

Break out of Containment, 121

Britain, 33, 35, 51, 87, 112, 115, 139, 121,

168, 222, 235–236, 240

Brooklyn, 63

Brussels, 54

Bu’aleh, 207

Bucci, 160–161

Burke, Raymond, 132

Busch Cardinal Baseball Stadium, 75

Bush, George W., 62

Bunde, Nassib, 201

Caesar, 119

Cahokia, 68

Cahokia Mounds, 75

California, 59, 69, 74, 82, 133, 155

Calliste, A., 184–185

Cameroon, 62, 222

Canada, 7, 10–11, 30–31, 35, 53, 167–172,

176, 179–187

Canon, Sheri, 9–10

Cape Verde (Cape Verdeans), 5, 67, 247

Caracas, 41

Caribbean, 51–52, 80–81, 143, 222

Carondolet, 72

Cassanelli, Lee V., 199, 208

Catechetical School, 87, 139

Cathedral Basilica, 75

Catholic Church, 43, 62–63, 87, 132, 134

Catholic Charity, 132, 134

Catholic Legal Assistance Services, 133

Celtic, 27

Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), 53

Chavez, Hugo, 47

Chicago, 63, 65, 73, 112, 235, 136–137,

168, 171, 174

Christ, Jesus, 116, 118, 156

Christianity, 86–87, 108, 113, 139, 158

Christians

Evangelical, 108, 110, 113, 122, 130–

131, 143

Index 273

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Ghanaian, 80, 87

Pentecostal, 108

Cleveland, Ohio, 60–61

Colombia, 8, 37, 47

Columbus, Christopher, 51

Conakry, 54

Concordia Seminary, 135

Congo, 58, 134

Connor, Walker, 24

Côte d’Ivoire, 157

Countries of Origin, 59, 154, 201, 233–234,

237, 239–241

Crow, Jim, 42–43

Cuba, 80

Culiacan, Mexico, 51

Cultural alienation, 14, 251, 254

Culture

African, 106–107, 249, 255

American, 66, 85, 92, 211, 255

Chamba, 159

Church, role in culture, 127

continuity of, 86, 89

dominant culture, 26, 32, 34, 92

Ghanaian, 157

immigrant culture, 131, 154–155, 187,

248, 254

maintenance of, 169–170

nomadic culture, 205

Puerto Rican, 169

Somali, 202–203, 206, 210, 212

Curiepe, 41

Dabare, 212

Dallas, 65

Danson, Regina Norman, 53

Darod, 205

Davis, William J., 88

Dei, G.D., 184–185

Deinbo, Babatunde, 60

Democratic Party, 60

Department of Immigration, 168

De Tocqueville, Alexis, 34, 77

Detroit, Michigan 53, 62–63, 133

Detroit Freedom House, 53

Diaspora of Colonialism, 2, 79

Diaspora of Enslavement, 79

Discreditable stigma, 182

Discredited stigma, 182

Digil-Mirifle, 205

Dir, 205

Disease causation, 248

Disease management, 248

Djoumesi, Evelyn, 62

Djoumesi, Joseph, 62

Dominican Aquinas Institute of Theology,

134

Downward assimilation, 155

Dubois, W.E.B., 122

Dutch Man O’ War, 51

East Africa, 107, 113, 122, 124, 131–132,

143–144, 199, 201

Ecuador, 37, 47

Education,

academic performance, 204, 248,

251–252

access to, 205

African, 88, 154, 229

African American, 71

bullying, 251

cultural differences, problems related to

57, 204

education discipline (suspension), 252

educational resources, 256

elementary schools (USA), 251

higher education, 31, 173, 234–235

homework supervision, 251

immigrant education, 58, 73, 81, 212,

237, 250

refugee education, 13–14

students with special needs, 255–256

tradition, 25

women, 174

Edward Center, 75

Edwards Investments, 75

Egypt, 75, 139–140

Elijah, Muhammed, 137

Engermann, Kristie, 81

English, 32, 34, 67, 82, 87, 130, 139, 171–

172, 177, 180, 211, 254

English as a Second Language (ESL), 211

Eno, Mohamed, 12

Eno, Omar, 12

Episcopalian, 106, 143

Eriksen, Thomas, 27, 29

Eritrea, 5, 8, 53, 108, 135, 222

Estevan the Soldier, 51

Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and

Seraphim, 110

Ethiopia, 5, 53, 108, 140, 174, 198

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

274 Index

Ethnic groups, 28, 35, 37, 40, 108, 133,

158, 168, 222

Eule, 81–82

European Values Study, 188

Evo Morales, 47

Ewe, 159

Faduma, Orishatukeh, 88

Falola, Toyin, 11–12

Famuyiwa, Rick, 58

Fante, 159

Farah, Rasheed, 206

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), 137

Federal Way and Burien Clinic, 64

Felicien, Fr., 63

Fola-Alade, Sola, 121

Franz, B., 169–174, 187

Frazier, M., 247

Freedom of Information Act, 137

Frehill, L., 188

Fru, Pridine, 62

Fufu, 157, 160

Ga, 159

Gabon, 222

Galla, 199

Gateway to the West, 69–70, 74

Genocide, 38–39, 42, 53, 210, 222

George, Julie Berny Akabogu, 62

Georgia, 62, 261

Germani, Gino, 39

Germany, 65, 70, 87, 222

Getu, 53

Ghana, 54, 79, 88, 104, 154–156, 159–161,

222

Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches, 80

Ghettos

in Baraaka Cabdoow, 204

in Boon Dheere, 204

in Buulo Eelaay, 204

in Buulo Tiinka, 204

in Buur Koroole, 204

in Mogadishu, 204

Giddens, A., 123, 178, 181

Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, 107, 122, 125,

130

Giles, W., 168–174, 187

Gilib, 209

Gilroy, Paul, 178

Giuba, 212

Goffman, Erving, 181–183

Goffmanian, 182

Gordon, April, 5

Gosha, 200–201

Guatemala, 37

Guerrero, Vicente, 40

Gulf Coast, 7, 23

Guss, David, 40–41, 43

Hadrian, Abbot (Bishop of the Church in

England), 87, 139

Haiti, 65, 80, 261

Handlin, 85, 91

Harlem, 84

Harvard’s Medical School, 75

Hausa, 159

Hawikuh Indians, 51

Hawiye, 200–201, 205, 212

Hayfold, Cassey, 68

Hayfold, Mark Christian, 68

Health-care workers, 13, 235, 238–239

dentists, 14, 233–234

pharmacists, 14, 233–234, 242

physicians, 14, 58, 105, 23–234

migration of, 13–14

nurses, 14, 58, 233

Health Technology, 236

Heath, Deborah, 164

Heer-Goleet, 201

Heineken, 157

Hess, Robert L., 200

Hibah, 159–161

Highland , 26–27

High Point, North Carolina, 88

Hijab, 140

Hindu Temple, 138

Hiran, 212

Hispanics, 45, 81, 262

Hmong, 210–211

Hobsbawm, Eric, 25–26

Holy Cross Church, 133

Holy Spirit, 118, 156

Honduras, 37

Horn of Africa, 5, 135, 200, 262

Houndjame, Komlan Dem, 62

Houston Rockets, 58

Hovland, C., 224

Index 275

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Hull’s learning theory, 224

Hurricane Katrina, 7, 23–24, 31

Iffih, Ikenna, 62

Ihioma-Orlu, 63

Ijebu, 117

Ikoyi Family, 112

Ikpe, Nsidibe, 59

Illinois, 68, 71–73, 112, 125, 134, 142

Belleville, 73, 134

Bloomington, 125, 250

Chicago, 63, 65, 73, 112, 125, 136–137,

168, 171, 174

East St. Louis, 73

Edwardsville, 73

Granite City, 134

Peoria, 125

Swansea, 73

Illiteracy, 37, 229

Immigration Act, 6

Immigration and Naturalization Services

(INS), 54

Immigration Reform and Control Act, 6

Indiana, 250

Inter alia, 241

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 198

International Committee of Urgent Anthro-

pological and Ethnic Research,

202

International Institutes of St. Louis, 135

International Organization for Migration

(IOM), 211

International Institutes of Metropolitan St.

Louis, 76

Internal Revenue Services (IRS), 119

Invisible Sojourners: African Immigrant

Diaspora in the United States, 1

Iqamah, 159

Ireland, 65, 70

Islam 136–137

Hadith, 137

Salat, 140

Sharia, 137

Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis,

107, 136

Islamic Society of North America (ISNA),

136–137

Islamic Ummah, 137

Israel, 87, 115

Italian-American, 84

Italian Colonial Administration, 209

Italy, 65, 70, 87, 199–201

Jamame, 209

Jamestown, Virginia, 51

Jareer, 199, 204

Jasminska, 133

Jefferson National Expansion Project, 69

Jefferson, Thomas, 68, 74

Jeremiah, 116

Jesuit’s St. Louis University, 75, 134

Jesus House of all Nations, 73, 107, 110–

111, 118, 142–143

Jido, 212

Jileec, 204

Johnson, Lyndon B., 55

Joshua Initiative Men’s Meeting, 122

Juba River, 199–201

Juba valley, 209

Judges, book of; from Holy Bible, 121

Kakuma Refugee Camp, 211

Kaufmann, Eric, 34

Kenedy, Robert A., 10

Kenya, 5, 12, 53, 79, 115, 130–131, 198–

199, 213

Kenyan Christian Women’s Guild, 131

Kenyatta, Jomo, 131

Kersa, 164

Kiare, Peter, 63

Kihoro, Margaret, 124

Kikuyu, 130–131

Kingsway International Church, 80, 87

King Jr., Martin Luther, 5

Kintiba, George, 134

Kitrell Normal Institute (AME seminary), 88

Koita, Yaguine, 54

Kollehon, 81

Konkoba, 159

Kufuor, John, 154

Kumsa, M.K., 168, 170–174

Kusow, 206

La Bamba, 38

Lagos, Nigeria, 114, 117, 145

Land Rush in Somalia, 209

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

276 Index

La Raza, 39

Largo, 59

Latin America, 2, 7–8, 23, 36–47, 56

Latin Mass, 117

Latinos, 1, 40, 45, 123

Lebert, Joanne, 168–170, 172–175

Lee, Michelle, 27

Lewis and Clark expedition, 68

Lewis, Laura, 41

Lewis, Marvin, 39

Liberia, 5, 53, 222

Lindbergh, Charles, 69

Lipset, Seymour Martin, 30–32, 34

Livingstone College, 88

London, 53, 80, 87–88, 112, 115, 174

Longa, 52, 160

Los Angeles, 65, 153–154, 157, 159,

161–165

Louisiana, 35, 68, 70

Louisiana Purchase, 68, 74

Lower Juba, 210

Lower Shabelle, 208

Luling, Virginia, 210

Lusophone167–168, 176, 183

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 135

Lutheran Social Services of Missouri, 135

Lwanga Center, 133

Maay, 212–213

Madonna of 115th Street, 84

Mahatma Gandhi Center, 138

Maher, Joseph, 63

Main Masjid, Mosque Number Two, 136

Malawi, 199, 210–202

Mali, 51

Manderson, L., 168, 170–174, 179

Marketing Group, 242

Marquette, Fr., 68

Marx, Anthony, 35, 42–44

Marx, Karl, 33

Maxaa, 212

Mazrui, Ali A., 79

mbalax, 162

Mbiti, John, 77

McMichael, C., 168, 170–174, 179

Meachum, John Berry, 71

Melbourne, Australia, 174

Menkhaus, Kenneth J., 209

Mengsteab, Yohannes, 135

Men’s Guild, 131

Messias, D.K., 168–174, 187

Mexican-American war, 32

Mexicans, 31–32, 35, 39–41, 45–46

Michigan, 133

Middle Class, 8, 23, 31, 38, 42, 51, 54–55,

169

Migration

International migration, 1, 14–15, 233–

234, 238, 241

Push factors, 235

Pull factors, 235

Transatlantic migration, 13, 15, 221–225

Milan, 161

Mills, 178

Ministry of Immigration, 11, 189

Minnesota, 61–62, 65, 210, 261

Rochester, 62

St. Paul, 61, 65

Mississippi, 7, 23

Mississippi River, 68–69, 71

Missouri, 71–73, 75, 135, 261

Belleville, 73, 134

Berkeley, 60

Kansas City, 142

Kirkwood, 107

Rock Hill, 107

South St. Louis, 71–72, 76, 123

Missouri Botanical Gardens, 75

Missouri History Museums, 75

Missouri Museum of Arts, 75

Missouri Supreme Court, 71, 75

Molina, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, 45

Momah, Charles, 64

Moore, Carlos, 39, 46

Morgan, Julie, 125

Morian, 207

Mosque, 87, 117, 136–139, 141, 159–160

Motumbo, Dikembe, 58

Mouride, 154, 162–163

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni

People (MOSOP), 77

Moya, Esther, 131

Mozambique, 199, 201–202

Mrima coast, 200

Murid Moslem, 84

Mushin, 117

Musjid-al Duur, 138

Muslim, 10, 117, 137, 139, 154, 162, 165,

225

Mwendwa, John, 23

Mysterium tremndum, 138

Index 277

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Nasong’o, Shadrack, 7–8

National Aeronautics and Space Administra-

tion (NASA), 62

Nationalism and African Intellectuals, 1

National Leadership Award of the National

Republican Congressional Com-

mittee, 59

Nation of Islam, 137

Ndowtel, 161

Negro Pinzons, 51

Nelson, William, 46

Netherlands, 80, 87

New African Diaspora, 1, 15, 262

New African Immigrant Missions, 135

New England, 32, 89

New Hampshire, 133

New immigration, 56, 64, 76, 78

New Orleans, 7, 23, 69, 80, 261

New York, 31, 54, 62–63, 161, 247

New York Celestial Church of Christ, 62

New York City, 65, 69, 84, 87, 168–170,

174, 147, 261

Ngatiah, Jemimah, 107, 115, 122–132

Ngente, 161–162

Nicaragua, 37

Nichols, Kim, 247

Nigerian Civil War, 222

Nigerian Day Celebration, 109, 142

Nkrumah, Kwameh, 88

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO),

242

North America, 29, 38, 51, 136–137

Nubiyang, Pianke, 39

Nuer, 210

Nyerere, Julius, 53

Obama, Barack, 3

Obasanjo, Mrs., 114

Obeng, Cecilia S., 14, 89

Odighizuwa, Peter, 62

Ogoni (Ogonis), 8, 70, 76–77, 145

Okafor, Emeka, 58

Okafor, Lawrence, 1

Olajuwon, Akeem, 58

Old African Diaspora, 1

Old Cathedral building, 75

Old Missouri Supreme Court House, 75

Oluroro, Mrs., 53

Omaar, Rakiya, 208–209, 212

Omani Empire, 199

Omi, Michael, 35–37

Omotayo, Olufemi, 107, 111–113, 116–122

Omotola, Pastor, 116

Onianwah, Anthony E., 59

Onunwor, Emmanuel, 60–61

Onyia, Basil, 63

Opitts, Arthur, 134

Opus Bono Sacerdoti, 63

Oroma, 199

Orsi, Robert Anthony, 84

Ottawa, Canada, 174

Otto, Rudolf, 138

Outdooring, 157–160, 165

Ovimbundu, 37

Owyang, Michael, 81

Oxfam, England, 210

Oyo State, 13, 224

Oyotunji, 80

Panama, 37

Paraguay, 37, 39

Paris, France, 69–70, 161

Paul II, John, 137

Pemba, 199

Peña, M., 188

Pentagon, 62

People of color, 33–34, 42, 120

Peru, 37, 47

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 88, 261

Phipps’, Susie Guillory, 35

Pinzon, Martin Alonzo, 51

Pinzons brothers, 51

Politics of the belly, 51, 54

Popes, African

Clement of Alexandria, 86–87

Origen, 86

St. Augustine of Hippo, 86

Tertullian, 86

Portugal, 38–39, 167, 169, 171, 174, 176

Portuguese, 10–11, 43–45, 167, 169, 171–

175, 183

Portuguese Emigration Bureau, 171

Prendergast, John, 109

Puntland, 207

Puta, 183

Racism, 37–39, 42–47, 82–86, 90–92, 113,

183, 253

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

278 Index

Razack, S., 186

Recent African Immigrants to the USA, 1

Redeemed Christian Church of God

(RCCG), 73, 80, 87, 107–108,

110–118, 122, 143

Refugee and Humanitarian Act, 172, 174

Refugee camps, 199

Dadaab, 198

Kakuma, 198

Kenya, 12, 135, 213

Refugees, 9, 11, 76–77, 176, 182

African, 3, 11, 53, 67, 70, 133, 262

Angolan, 168

Bosnian, 76, 174

Liberian, 222

Nigerian Ogoni, 76–77

Sierra Leonean, 76

Somalian, 12–13, 197–198, 210–211,

213

Reinharz, 171

Religions

Episcopalian, 106, 143

Islamic, 71, 87, 106–107, 135–140, 159

Methodist, 88, 106

Pentecostal, 158

Presbyterian, 73, 106–108, 113, 115,

122, 126–130, 143

Religious intolerance, 222

Roman Catholic, 87, 106, 143, 188

Society of the Divine Words Missionary,

134

Republican Party (GOP), 60

Richmond Heights, 135

Ritter, Joseph E., 134

Roberts Library, 173

Roberts, S., 247

Roman Empire, 87

Rust Belt, 72

Rwanda, 222

Saarinen, Eero, 74

Sailer, Steve, 40

Salemi, 199–200

Sanford, England, 121

San Nicolás village, 41

Saro-Wiwa, Ken, 77

Saudi Arabia, 136–137

Sawaki, Katherine, 53

Saxon, 27

Scooby-Doo, 251

Scotland, 26–27

Scott, Dred, 71

Scrubby Dutch, 123

Seattle, Washington, 64

Senegal, 155, 161, 164

Shabelle, 205

Shabelle River, 198–199, 203

Shanshiye, 212

Shikhal-Gendershe, 212

Shugert, Linda, 123, 125

Shulman, Steven, 6

Sierra Leone, 53, 70, 76, 88, 222

Silver, Ira, 160, 178, 181

Situational identity, 177–178

Small, John Bryan, 88

Social psychology, 224

Societies, 38, 89, 114, 188, 207–208

African, 10, 155, 248

American, 80, 88, 144

British, 29

Canadian, 29

French, 29

German, 29

Western, 126

Somalia, 5, 8, 12, 135, 140, 197–214

Brava, 199

Kisimayo, 199

Marka, 199

Mogadishu, 199

Somali ethnicities

Bantu, 8, 12–13, 76, 135, 197–214

Bimal, 200

Gaaljael, 200

Hawiye, 200–201, 205, 212

Mobilen, 200

Wadan, 200

Somali nomads, 12, 198, 200–213

Soukous, 157

Soup

banku, 157

okro, 157

groundnut, 157

South Africa, 5, 37–38, 42, 79, 81, 140, 222

South Carolina, 68, 80

South Carolina Gullah, 80

Southern African Countries, 78, 222

Southern United States, 52, 80, 88

Spain, 38–39, 68, 114

Spanish experiment, 39

Index 279

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

Spirit of St. Louis, 69

Srole, L., 248

Standard of Living, 236–237

St. Clement of Alexandria, 87

St. Cyprian, 87

Steinberg, Stephen, 31–34

Stigma, 1, 181, 183, 201, 211

Stilwell, B., 234, 240

St. Louis Catholic Church, 132

St. Louis immigrants, 64

St. Louis-Illinois metro-area (STL-IL MSA),

72–73

St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 134

St. Pius V Catholic Parish, 133

Sudan, 53, 87, 136, 138–139, 222

Sudanese, 8, 210

Sunni, 137

Tachoni, 37

Tambaya, 131

Tampa Bay, Florida, 62

Tanzania (Tanganyika), 12, 53, 199,

200–202

Tanzania High Commission, 53

Teaching Hospital of the Washington Uni-

versity Medical School, 76

Technological excellence, 236

Tele-pharmacy, 237

Texas, 53

Austin, 53, 133

Brownsville, 63

Dallas, 2, 65

Houston, 61

Laredo, 63

Pharr, 63

Texas Legislature, 60

Texas State District 133, 60

Tobago, 80

Tocqueville, 34, 77

Toro-Morn, M.I., 168–174

Toronto, Canada, 167–168, 171–175, 177,

179, 183, 189

Tounkara, Fode, 54

Transnationalism, 114

Trentini, 37–38, 47

Trevor-Roper, Hugh, 25–27

Trinidad, 80

Tuni, 212

Tuo, 160

Udegbulem, Cyriacus, 63

Udeze, Kenechi, 58

Uganda, 79, 133

Umegbolu, Nnadozie, 62

Union and Confederates, 71

United African Presbyterian Church (UAPC),

73, 107–108, 113–115, 123–

131, 143–144

United Nation’s Children and Educational

Fund (UNICEF), 53

United Nation’s High Commission for Refu-

gees (UNHCR), 198

United Somali Congress (USC), 201

United States Catholic Conference of Bish-

ops’ (USCCB), 132

United States Census Bureau, 247

United States Citizenship and Immigration

Services (USCIS), 133

United States Congress, 198

United States Department of State, 208

University of Chicago, 136

University of Missouri, 68

University of Pennsylvania, 208

University of Toronto, 173

Uruguay, 37, 47

US World and News, 75–76

Uzonwanne, Ejine Franscisca, 62

Van Lehman, Dan, 211

Van Maanen, J., 247, 249

Venezuela, 37, 39–44, 47

Vienna, 168, 174

Virginia Theological Seminary, 88

Virtual social identity, 181–182

Vulicic, M., 239

Waal, Alex de, 208–209, 212

Wage differentials, 54, 58, 81, 154, 207, 239

Wanakucha, 201

Warner, W.L., 248

Washington, D.C., 5, 59

Washington University Medical School, 75,

Waters, Mary, 35

Wazigwa, 199–200, 213

West Indies, 222

Winant, Howard, 35–37

T&F Proofs: Not for Distribution

280 Index

Windell, Pauline, 134

Wolof Mouride, 161

Women

Angolan Lusophone, 167–168

Bosnian, 168–170

géwël, 162

géer, 162–164

Puerto Rican, 168–169

Portuguese, 10–11, 167–169, 171–175

Somali, 140, 170, 172, 174

Yugoslav, 169

Women’s Guild Day, 128

Women’s Guild worship day, 130

Workingmen’s party

World Health Organization (WHO), 31

Yale Divinity School, 88

Yemen, 12, 198–199

Yibir, 212

Yoruba, 80, 84, 87, 108, 143, 224–226

Zanzibar, 199–200

Zapata, Emilio, 40

Zukky, 73–74