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Abstract
A metageographic community (MGC) is a construct that identifies patterns of an increasingly demassified society and accounts for flexible spatial dynamics facilitated by personal media. It acknowledges the meaning individuals ascribe to local places, to the breadth of their social networks over distance, and it incorporates communications media as essential to dynamic community building and persistence. In addition to providing a theoretical foundation for this construct, I have created a model by which to evaluate the coherence of demassified communities at four levels of association. A preliminary application of this model to two “invisible” ethnic groups in the United States has revealed that the coherence of even very small groups might depend on more than traditional characteristics of religious adherence, language retention, propinquitous clustering, or local landscapes. These communities have developed distanciated networks built on the frequency and types of long-distance interactions as well as the complexity of domestic and transnational networking; that is, they incorporate and depend on multiple locations. An MGC does not dissipate with distance, nor is it restricted or defined by limitations of place or boundary, although each place adds its own richness. By developing MGCs, even small, dispersed groups, such as older ethnic groups, transnational migrants, refugees—or other spatially “fuzzy” networks—can build a persistent and effective community across otherwise heterogeneous social or political space. As a dynamic, demassified entity, MGCs can have tremendous political, cultural, and economic influence not limited by physical or political boundaries.
Una comunidad metageográfica (CMG) es un constructo que identifica los patrones de una sociedad crecientemente desmasificada y da cuenta y razón de una dinámica espacial flexible facilitada por medios personales. Reconoce el significado que los individuos adscriben a los lugares locales, en el àmbito de sus redes sociales a la distancia, e incorpora los medios de comunicación como esenciales para la construcción y persistencia de comunidad dinámica. Además de proveer una fundamentación teórica para este constructo, he creado un modelo con el cual evaluar la coherencia de comunidades desmasificadas a cuatro niveles de asociación. La aplicación preliminar de este modelo a dos grupos étnicos “invisibles” de los Estados Unidos, revela que la coherencia de grupos incluso muy pequeños podría depender de características diferentes a las tradicionales de adherencia religiosa, retención de lenguaje, agrupación de parentelas o paisajes locales. Estas comunidades han desarrollado redes distanciadas construidas a partir de la frecuencia y tipos de interacción a larga distancia, lo mismo que de la complejidad de encadenamientos domésticos y transnacionales; esto es, ellas incorporan múltiples localizaciones y dependen de ellas. Una CMG no se disipa con la distancia, ni está restringida o definida por limitaciones de lugar o límite, aunque cada lugar la enriquezca con nuevas dotes. Al desarrollar una CMG, incluso grupos muy pequeños y dispersos, tales como los grupos étnicos mayores, migrantes transnacionales, refugiados—u otras cadenas espacialmente “volátiles”—pueden construir una comunidad persistente y efectiva en un espacio social o político por lo demás heterogéneo. Como entidades dinámicas y desmasificadas, las CMGs pueden llegar a tener tremenda influencia política, cultural y económica, no demarcada por límites físicos ni políticos.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank members of the Faculty of Geography and Geoscience at the University of Nebraska, specifically Dr. David Wishart and Dr. J. Clark Archer, and the Ethnic Geography Specialty Group for their wonderful encouragement. I also am very grateful to my anonymous reviewers who provided such helpful commentaries as well as to the editors of The Annals for their invaluable patience with my schedule as well as their thoughtful guidance and support.
Notes
1. In 1997, I presented a version of my research to the Association of American Geographers at the annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas, defining and highlighting the MCG I had observed in Ballard, built by linkage and accessibility over distance. Later in that same year, CitationLewis and Wigen (1997) published The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography. Here the authors were trying to break the assumption that traditional geographic boundaries are inviolate units of reference, and they addressed misleading assumptions regarding the naming and partitioning of the world in convenient but often Eurocentrically labeled regions. In this application, metageography often was used almost synonymously with macrogeography, especially when referring to the implications of world regional categorizations writ large; however, their notion that geographic boundaries can be permeable and flexible holds relevance for the work I propose. Beaverstock, Smith, and CitationTaylor (2000) began to come closer to the way I used the term metageography in 1997. They identified the linkage between certain world cities as metageography and defined metageography as a new functional space outside the state. Their focus was on the relationships between these cities, and they hinted at the structures that might lie beneath. My research began much more modestly in scope, investigating underlying structures in persistent ethnic communities. In the process, I found a larger metageographic community of which these structures were the core.
2. See Shain (1994–1995) regarding the pivotal role Czech and Slovak Americans played in the dissolution of the Hapsburg Empire and the creation of modern Czechoslovakia in 1918.
3. Although most organizations are reluctant to provide complete membership lists with street addresses, they might be willing to provide a list of ZIP codes for each subscriber or member with no names or addresses attached. Some are even willing to send out questionnaires supplied by a researcher to their members if the questionnaire does not ask for name or street address.
4. Following the thinking of CitationPortes and Rumbaut (2001) and Rumbaut and Portes (2001), who focused on segmented ethnic assimilation and generational differences, represents Level 1 as it distinguishes an ethnic group's generations. The Hansen (1937a, 1937b) thesis specifically distinguishes characteristics of the second generation that typically strives to break with the ethnic identity of the parents, whereas members of the third generation more typically look to reaffirm their ethnic ties. Sometimes referred to as the “empty” generation, the model shows an open square to identify the second generation in and a filled square to represent the third generation.
5. When I refer to the Lithuanian-American community or Lithuanian-American enclave, I am speaking of Lithuanian Americans as members of an ethnic classification or specific clustering of Lithuanian Americans at a localized site. The Lithuanian-American Community (LAC) is a formal ethnic organization to which Lithuanian Americans can choose to belong.
6. Of note, however, is the Western Viking, a daily Norwegian paper established in Seattle in 1889, which still has an international subscriber base. Although the Western Viking and several local and regional organization newsletters publish in English, I counted at least sixty-seven schools, language programs, course offerings, and language institutes across the forty-three states. These either offer classes or specialize in the teaching of Norwegian at the high school, college, or university level.
7. In Norway, people live in districts called bygde. Historically when rural people migrated to larger towns or cities, they often organized into regional societies called lags. Members shared common cultural traits, customs, and traditions; they also shared a regional dialect and histories; and they shared in maintaining the same regional dances, music, games, painting and woodcarving styles, food, and costumes. As Norwegians migrated to the United States, they brought their bygdelags with them; for others, their bygdelag identity developed after reaching their new destinations (CitationLovoll 1975). These organizations give Norwegian Americans additional avenues for building networks with each other across the United States. Moreover, just as today's Norwegian ethnic press tries to maintain active links with Norway, so the local bygdelags maintain contact with their regional counterparts in Norway. I counted thirty-five bygdelags across the United States, some of which have their own Web sites, whereas others depend on other organizations to provide links to them.
8. Shain (1994–1995) identified three groups within a political diaspora: core members who are organizing elites deeply involved in promoting the interests of the group; rear guard members who have drifted away; and the silent members who are potential recruits, part of the grassroots base that could be mobilized when necessary.
9. CitationItzigsohn and Saucedo (2002) listed three fields of social action: economic, political, and sociocultural.
10. Initially, restrictions on foreign fishing in the United States within the 200-mile limit, and later, more stringent restrictions imposed on direct foreign ownership of processing ships and trawlers, prohibited Norwegian companies during the late 1960s and early 1970s from investing directly in the U.S. market. They could, however, provide support servicesfor businesses already established. Norwegian firms entered the marketplace as suppliers of support services and equipment such as refrigeration units, winches, and shipping containers for the Alaskan fishing fleet that wintered in Seattle. Other firms entered the market through joint partnerships with American companies, bought out companies that had licenses to produce other products in the United States such as pharmaceuticals, or invested in real estate.
11. Seattle/Puget Sound Norwegian-American Business Directory (1988–1989).