lunwen1.0/immigrants.html at main · wanggenfa1026/lunwen1.0 · GitHub

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>NYC Today's Immigrants Resilience and Identity</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/lunwen1.0/styles2.css">
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <h1>(Un)Burying the Past and Present of NYC's Culture</h1>
        <nav>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="/lunwen1.0/index.html">Home</a></li>
                <li><a href="/lunwen1.0/hidden-history.html">Hidden History of NYC</a></li>
                <li><a href="/lunwen1.0/immigrants.html">NYC Today's Immigrants Resilience and Identity</a></li>
                <li><a href="/lunwen1.0/sources.html">Academic Source and Image Source</a></li>
                <li><a href="/lunwen1.0/gallery.html">Gallery</a></li>
            </ul>
        </nav>
    </header>

    <main>
        <article>
            <h2 style="text-align: center;">NYC Today's Immigrants Resilience and Identity</h2>
            <section class="content">
                <div class="image-container first-image"></div> <!-- 第一段上方的背景图 -->
                <div class="text-content">
                    <p class="first-paragraph">
                        In this article, I aim to talk about the experiences of two different immigrant
groups: Sri Lankan immigrants on Staten Island and Fuzhounese immigrants in
Manhattan's Chinatown. A famous Sri Lankan author Jayawardena Pavithra once
said “If a researcher depends solely on sources that do not represent the sending
country’s impact on migrants’ lives, I argue, such researchers are likely to fail in
adopting a holistic approach to understand the category of the migrant (Pavithra
102)” By comparing their distinct histories, settlement locations in the city, and
their own strategies for economic survival, I’ll seek for a more broader view of their
adaptation and identity in this article. Despite the fact that these groups come from
different historical, cultural, and financial backgrounds, they often encounter
hardness and difficulties in terms of migration pressure and struggling to retain
their cultural identity when facing outside pressure from society. By evaluating the
immigrants' migration reasons, the development of their own "region" in lower
Manhattan or Staten Island, and the potential for internal conflicts within their
groups, I will also share some views on the complexities of immigrants living in an
urban environment that is undergoing rapid social change.This kinds of research
approach will recognize the interplay between immigrants’ transnational ties, local
economics landscapes, and enhancing their cultural practice.
                    </p>
                </div>
                <div class="image-container second-image"></div> <!-- 第二段上方的背景图 -->
                <div class="text-content">

                    <p>
                        A clear example of the difficulties of the living condition of immigrants, especially in
terms of economic challenges and community building, is the Sri Lankan immigrant
population on Staten Island. Staten Island is a thriving place that is characterized
by combining their community tensions and intersecting similar cultures. According
to the Asian American Federation’s 2019 report, Sri Lankan immigrants have
increasingly depended on strong social networks and faith-based organizations to
navigate challenges such as access to healthcare and language barriers (Asian
American Federation, 2019). Moreover, Staten Island has long served as a place for
Sri Lankans fleeing the economic and social tensions of their homeland in the
post-civil war era, acting as both refuge and a place of culture reconstruction.
Financially, the Sri Lankan community has established many small businesses such
as restaurants, grocery stores, and other service-based enterprises, just as a
famous sociologist Nancy Foner from Columbia University once mentioned: “The
presence of such large numbers of immigrants and their children has had a
dramatic impact on the city’s neighborhoods and economy (Foner 2)
                    </p>
                    <div class="image-container three-image"></div> <!-- 第3段上方的背景图 -->
                    <div class="text-content">
                    <h3>Through contributions to the local economy, the community can ensure their
                        cultural heritage remains in the city. These Sri Lankan-owned property and
                        establishments not only served as a commercial hubs but also functioned as a
                        culture center that helped them to maintain their language use, traditional heritage,
                        and religion practice. These businesses were often family operated, reflecting the
                        entrepreneurial spirit of Sri Lankan immigrants, and boosted economic mobility and
                        the job market for not only their own community but the city of New York as a
                        whole. The Staten Island Sri Lankan community shows their own resilience by
                        managing the difficulties of living in a mixed metropolitan environment, and
                        generated a collective cultural expression that is aimed to shift the social and
                        economic landscape in New York City.</h3>
                     <div class="image-container four-image"></div> <!-- 第4段上方的背景图 -->
                    <div class="text-content">
                    <p>
                        Throughout the second half of the 20th century, numerous groups of Asian
immigrants came over to New York, building the scaffolding for the community
found here today. This pattern takes shape in the 1980s, where “tens of thousands
of Chinese from the towns and villages outside the city of Fuzhou, southeast China,
have immigrated to New York City” (Guest 42). Fuzhounese immigrants have
significantly changed Manhattan's Chinatown, turning it into a vibrant center of
cultural and commercial activity. In terms of both population and cultural influence,
the Fuzhounese have surpassed the Cantonese to become the main community in
Chinatown. In terms of financial performance, this impacted not only what we now
know as Chinatown, but fast food in its entirety. As anthropologist Kenneth Guest
notes:“Fuzhounese entrepreneurs have recreated the economy of the immigrant
gateway… specifically East Broadway into a staging platform for a dynamic national
ethnic restaurant economy of all-you-can-eat buffets and take-out restaurants
spreading across the country in suburban strip malls, small towns, and along
interstate exits” (Guest 36). At the same time, the community itself maintains
strong ties to its roots back in Asia, by offering financial support to their families
back in Fuzhou, despite being thousands of miles away.
                    </p>
                    <div class="image-container five-image"></div> <!-- 第5段上方的背景图 -->
                    <div class="text-content">
                    <h3>Yet, the Fuzhounese still have to contend with issues including intense competition
                        within Chinatown, gentrification problems, and growing rent that could force out
                        long-standing establishments and inhabitants. The community's dependence on
                        unofficial networks, like job agencies and family-based landing systems, highlights
                        both their tenacity and the vulnerability of their place in New York's urban
                        environment. In this sense, Fuzhounese immigrants reflect a border pattern among
                        the immigrant communities, who often balance the unstable economics standpoint
                        with their strong internal unity. Their efforts to develop Chinatown highlight the
                        challenges of maintaining immigrants’ neighborhood in a city that is changing
                        quickly. As the wealthier new immigrants and large-scale development projects
                        cameover, these immigrant communities must be constantly negotiating their
                        identity and continuing with their fighting.</h3>
                    <div class="image-container six-image"></div> <!-- 第6段上方的背景图 -->
                     <div class="text-content">
                    <p>
                        The history of immigrants from Sri Lanka and Fuzhou shows nuanced individual
difficulties for each of these groups, as well as shared experiences faced by all
immigrant populations. The Fuzhounese in Chinatown created business networks in
the face of gentrification pressures, and Sri Lankans in Staten Island leveraged
small business to solve economic challenges and boost their community cohesion.
While approached and understood differently, the two groups’ histories share
commonalities in both their goals and financial foothold in a larger community. In
both cases, these immigrants engaged in the process of cultural preservation,
blending the old and new to craft an identical identity that can hold their current
economic uncertainty and social problems. In order to maintain cultural identity,
build resilience, and establish transnational links to their home countries, both
groups depend on their own neighborhood in North America. As the 2019 Asian
American Federation report suggests, creating policies that address the challenges
faced by immigrant communities could ensure their continued contributions to New
York City’s economy and culture while safeguarding their cultural heritage (Asian
American Federation 2019). Eventually, understanding those immigrant
communities’ experience required looking beyond the surface level of economics,
and acknowledging the cultural, family, and transnational aspects that shape the
immigrants life. When taken as a whole, these groups highlight the ways in which
immigrant populations influence metropolitan environments, demonstrate their own
resilience, and continually shape what it means to belong to a globalized, diverse
city like New York.
                    </p>
                </div>
            </section>
        </article>
    </main>

    <footer>
        <p>Charlie Li. This website is created and maintained by Charlie Li as part of a project to explore the history and culture of New York City.</p>
    </footer>
</body>
</html>