‘YOU CAN'T BE TWO PLACES AT ONCE’: RETHINKING TRANSNATIONALISM THROUGH JAMAICAN RETURN MIGRATION

Abstract

This article examines transnational social fields among returned migrants in Jamaica. Comparing the experience of return to Jamaica by individuals who migrated to England and the United States, I explore how migration dynamics shaped the possibilities and predicaments of life upon return. Despite sharing an identity as ‘returning residents,’ I argue that post-World War II Jamaican migrants in England who returned to Jamaica in the 1990s reestablish themselves in Jamaica by expressing a commitment to the community, such as through involvement with formal returning resident associations, whereas United States returnees continue to travel between Jamaica and the United States. These two very distinct forms of fashioning a return highlight the importance of understanding the dynamic relationship between transnational social fields and return migration and demonstrate the salience of categories such as ‘return’ and ‘traveling’ for understanding the meaning and motivation behind different forms of movement.

Key Words:

• return migration
• transnationalism
• identity
• Jamaica

Notes

1. The notion of a ‘transnational social field’ was articulated in the groundbreaking work of Linda Basch, Nina Glick Schiller, and Cristina Szanton Blanc (1994). For a more detailed discussion of the different historical trajectories of the term ‘transnational social field’ see Glick Schiller (2005).

2. For more on different forms of return migration including second-generation return migration and identity, see the edited volumes by Henry and Plaza (2006) and Potter, Conway, and Phillips (2005).

3. I use the terms ‘English returnee’, United Kingdom returnee and ‘United States returnee’ to clarify the migration routes rather than any particular affiliation between the returnee and their former country of migration or citizenship.

4. In June 1948, the S.S. Empire Windrush arrived into Tilbury Docks from Kingston, Jamaica, carrying 492 Jamaican men and one Jamaican woman (Banton 1967).

5. Before the 1948 Nationality Act went into effect, only a small number of Jamaicans and other Commonwealth citizens migrated to Britain. According to Senior and Manley (1956: 5) the number of migrants to Britain “never exceeded 1,000 a year before 1951,” with the exception of Jamaicans and West Indians recruited to fight during World War II.

6. The peak month of unemployment for “coloured migrants” was February 1959 (17,000, compared to 7,500 in 1957).

7. The Act was based on a system of A, B, and C type vouchers. ‘A vouchers’ were granted to those who had jobs awaiting them upon arrival, whereas ‘B vouchers’ were provided for skilled persons. ‘C vouchers,’ which were ultimately eliminated in 1965, were offered to those who were unskilled and thus were less likely to locate jobs. Moreover, dependents were increasingly regulated. They were required to provide proof of relationship, verified legally, and needed to be accompanied by one parent. They also had to apply for their entry from the British High Commission in Jamaica.

8. As with emigration, return migration has been a constant facet of Jamaican social and economic life. Returnees influenced the formation of labour unions in the late 1930s as well as black African consciousness by figures such as Marcus Garvey (Chevannes 1994; Petras 1988). Contract farm workers and other travellers to North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also played a significant role in the introduction and subsequent “Jamaicanization” of North American religious practices, such as the Baptist and Pentecostal movements (Austin-Broos 1997; Besson and Chevannes 1996). In addition, many Jamaican migrants returned to Jamaica from the United Kingdom throughout the 1970s because of unstable economic conditions. Others became ‘twice migrants’ (Bhacchu 1990), moving to the United States and Canada under their British passports.

9. The number of returnees who chose to join the two associations in town were relatively small, and estimates suggested that there were as many as 1,500–2,000 returnees of retirement age in Mandeville. In my interviews with eligible non-association members, the most cited reasons for not joining the association was the $JA1,000 membership fee (approximately $U.S.25 at the time) and the inconvenient afternoon time, which conflicted with their meal schedule and medication. A few individuals noted that they disliked the politics.

10. Throughout my research I primarily attended the association meetings and activities of the recently founded splinter group, which I call here the Mandeville Returning Resident Association.

11. There were also a number of neighbourhood associations in the town, which were created and attended by returning residents.

12. With a few exceptions, individuals who entered the Jamaican workforce did so temporarily to be granted vehicle import fee reduction waivers for transference of skills.

13. The time span between returnee's initial migration to England and their move back to Jamaica averaged 38 years.

14. Since 2002, returnees relocating from the United States have become the largest group, further evidence of the slow decline in returning residents from the United Kingdom. Between 1993 and 2000, United Kingdom returnees constituted 7,800 of the 17,805 heads of households registered for returning resident status (Economic and Social Survey 2003).

15. I interviewed twenty-three individuals at length about their life history and experience of return as well as carried out an intensive analysis of the material culture of home. In addition to formal methods and participation in returning resident events, I was extensively involved in the inner workings of return migrant neighbourhoods and households.

16. Local travel agents in Mandeville confirmed that although special fares were offered regularly for travel between Jamaica and the United States, the price between Jamaica and the United Kingdom remained consistently high, typically around US$600 to US$700 for a round-trip flight to London, or double the price of flights between Jamaica and the eastern United States in 2000 and 2001.

17. Jamaica changed dramatically in the thirty to forty years since many of the Jamaicans I interviewed left for Britain. Beginning with independence from British colonial rule in 1962, the Jamaican government explored strategies to improve the economy and social conditions, such as social democratic movement in the 1970s under Manley and liberal capitalism under Seaga. With the reelection of Michael Manley in 1988, Jamaica initiated a policy of deregulation, which has been sustained throughout the 1990s by former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson. Throughout the three decades, the economy also became increasingly dependent on tourism, the largest source of foreign exchange across the island. In addition, the population of Jamaica increased to 2.6 million people, nearly double the population in 1960.

18. See Chamberlain 1997 and Byron 1999 for analyses of the gender dimensions of return migration in the Caribbean.

19. In Jamaica during 2000 and 2001, telephone conversations occurred between children in England and parents regularly, but unlike those who lived in the United States, calls occurred on a monthly basis and often at a pre-arranged time when the rates are reduced and the time difference is compatible. Since this research concluded, the mobile telephone industry has become more competitive, offering reasonable rates for overseas telephone calls (Horst 2006; Horst and Miller 2006).

20. Model, Fisher, and Silverman (1999) contend that there are systematic differences between the Caribbean population in England and the Caribbean population in the United States, Canada, and France based on the time and nature of migration and community formation in each destination. Noting the dominance of current Jamaican-United States movement (one in ten people born in Jamaica lived in the United States by 1980), the authors found that the Caribbean population in England is, on average, one decade older than the Afro-Caribbean population in the remaining three countries (as well as their white counterparts). A higher marriage rate and lower educational attainment also correspond with the age difference. Moreover, the Afro-Caribbean population in England remains more geographically concentrated than in France, Canada, or the United States (1999: 198).