Sofya Aptekar

Contexts of Exit in the Migration of Russian Speakers from the Baltic Countries to Ireland

Recently, Ireland has become a major destination for migrants from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Many of these migrants are members of Russian-speaking minorities leaving a context of restrictive citizenship and language laws and varying degrees of ethnic tension. This article draws on interviews collected in Ireland to examine the role played by the contexts of exit in decisions to migrate among Russian-speaking minorities from the Baltics. The results suggest that Russian speakers from Estonia migrate because of their experiences as minorities, while those from Latvia and Lithuania migrate to escape low wages and irregular employment. This is so despite equally restrictive language and citizenship laws in Estonia and Latvia. I argue that the effect of state policy as a push factor for minority emigration is mediated by other contextual aspects, such as levels of contact, timbre of ethnic relations, and the degree of intersection between economic stratification and ethnicity.

Naturalization Ceremonies and the Role of Immigrants in the American Nation

Although immigration is an essential element in the American national story, it presents difficulties for constructing national membership and national identity in terms of shared intrinsic values. In this article, I analyze speeches made at naturalization ceremonies during two time periods (1950–1970 and 2003–present) to examine the evolving roles of immigrants, as articulated to immigrants themselves. Naturalization ceremonies are a unique research site because the usually implied nationalist content is made explicit to brand new members of the nation. I find a shift in the framing from immigrants as potential liabilities and weak links in the earlier period to immigrants as morally superior redeemers of the American nation in the later period. I discuss the significance of this shift and the relationship between the roles presented at naturalization ceremonies and the discourse found elsewhere in the public sphere.

Boundaries and Surveillance in Astoria

Urban public spaces are ostensibly open to all. Yet, many of these spaces fail to reflect the diversity of the people in the neighbourhood around them. In this chapter, I describe direct and indirect exclusion mechanisms in two public spaces that structure who uses them and how. These mechanisms include physical elements of the public space, as well as social patterns and practices. The first space I consider is a small waterfront sculpture park in Astoria that is run by a public-private partnership and features outdoor art exhibits. Located in a rapidly gentrifying and extremely economically polarized section of the neighbourhood, the park fosters cultural consumption patterns typical of the affluent. A confluence of physical elements, such as tall fences and gates, entry tents and lack of benches, as well as social practices like private and public policing, lead to the partial exclusion of the poor, people of colour, and immigrants. The second space is a community garden mere blocks away from the sculpture park. While the physical set up of the garden serves as a means of indirect exclusion and some attempts of direct exclusion take place, it is a far more inclusive space where people interact and cooperate across lines of difference.

ASIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES

active role in childrearing; that children and siblings are crucial to keeping extended family ties in place; and that white mothers are active in the processes of creolization, to name but a few. It is evident that Bauer is a highly skilled researcher, and I could not help but wonder at the ‘access’ she managed and the level of intimacy that she shared with her respondents. She recounts being at the hospital on day 1 when her key informants died; taking children out for the day without any supervision; attending dinners, parties, weddings and baptisms. These snippets show astonishing levels of trust. Using strategic sampling meant that she did draw upon prior friendships, and it might have been interesting to hear more about the ethical dilemmas she faced as a result of building on already existing relationships, and forging new ones. Bauer is to be commended on weaving together these intricate stories of lives lived across huge personal and social change with her core intellectual agenda. This book makes an important contribution to work on families and to furthering our understanding of contemporary processes of mixed sociability. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in seeing an example of what really good empirical research can bring to intellectual debate.

Citizenship and its Others

In wealthy countries on either side of the Atlantic, closely guarded formal citizenship status signifies belonging and access to rights. Immigration systems block the road to citizenship for masses...

Super-diversity as a methodological lens: re-centring power and inequality

ABSTRACT Super-diversity as a methodological lens calls for a study of dynamics of new and diversified social groups that moves away from more traditional approaches focused on ethnicity. In examining the potential of super-diversity as a methodological lens, I identify a risk of downplaying the effect of “old” categories of difference that are likely to continue to shape social structures as well as space. I propose a re-centring of power and inequality in the study of super-diversity by situating its study within an urban culturalist approach, with sociological tools borrowed from ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism. This proposal is illustrated through the analysis of two public spaces in a super-diverse New York neighbourhood. I conclude by raising questions about the use of super-diversity discourse in the public and policy spheres.

Celebrating New Citizens, Defining the Nation

Exploring naturalization ceremonies as sites of Durkheimian ritual, creating social solidarity and shaping stories of the nation.

Astoria, New York City

The dense urban neighbourhood of Astoria in Queens, New York, is shared by immigrants from dozens of countries, children and grandchildren of older waves of immigrants, native-born African Americans, affluent white newcomers from elsewhere in the United States and many others. What happens on Astoria’s streets, in its parks, schools, and markets is shaped by the histories of diversity in the city and structures of power that transcend the locality. The categories of diversity that become salient in Astoria, influencing daily interactions between people, connect to processes that extend beyond the neighbourhood. The rich history of New York as the quintessential American immigrant city leaves an indelible mark on the experience of diversity in its neighbourhoods. And while New York differs in many ways from the United States, the national context leaves an enduring trace even on the micro-level of everyday life in a city neighbourhood. In what follows, we describe the configurations of diversity in Astoria, analyse the effects of its spatial and physical characteristics, highlight the principles that underlie the local social organization and illustrate the variable application and enforcement of rules that govern behaviour in public space.

[Review of:] Asian immigration to the United States by Philip Q. Yang. Cambridge: Polity. 2011

active role in childrearing; that children and siblings are crucial to keeping extended family ties in place; and that white mothers are active in the processes of creolization, to name but a few. It is evident that Bauer is a highly skilled researcher, and I could not help but wonder at the ‘access’ she managed and the level of intimacy that she shared with her respondents. She recounts being at the hospital on day 1 when her key informants died; taking children out for the day without any supervision; attending dinners, parties, weddings and baptisms. These snippets show astonishing levels of trust. Using strategic sampling meant that she did draw upon prior friendships, and it might have been interesting to hear more about the ethical dilemmas she faced as a result of building on already existing relationships, and forging new ones. Bauer is to be commended on weaving together these intricate stories of lives lived across huge personal and social change with her core intellectual agenda. This book makes an important contribution to work on families and to furthering our understanding of contemporary processes of mixed sociability. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in seeing an example of what really good empirical research can bring to intellectual debate.