How Gabe Compares to Other Immigrants

            After I interviewed Gabriele Di Eugenio for my migration and culture class, I found that some of the topics that we discussed in class were relevant to his story.

            We read an article called “Why Migration?” that was written in 1992 by Saskia Sassen that states that:

“The central role played by the United States in the emergence of a global economy over the past 30 years lies at the core of why people migrate here in ever-increasing numbers.  U.S. efforts to open its own and other countries’ economies to the flow of capital, goods, services and information created conditions that mobilized for migration.” 

 

Even though Gabe was able to come to the US because his mother was an American citizen, he sought a service offered by the increasingly global economy.  He wanted to get an education here in the US because he felt that would be more beneficial to him in the long run than one from his school in Italy.

            We also read and discussed an article called “The New Immigrants” written by Charles S. Clark.  In the article Mr. Clark talks about how many of the new immigrants to the US are Asians and Latinos and they face discrimination on a daily basis.  They are easily identifiable because of their appearance.  When I interviewed Gabe, he noted that he has experienced little or no discrimination in the two years that he has been here in the US.  This further confirms Mr. Clark’s notions that old immigrants from countries like Ireland and Italy are no longer the ones that are discriminated against.

            Another one of the readings that we had for class was called “Transnationalism: A New Analytic Framework for Understanding Migration.”  In this exert from a book, the authors coin the phrase “transmigrants.” This term refers to the fact that in today’s diverse world, migrants are able to surround themselves with many of their own customs and cultural aspects to make their new home feel more like their old home.  Even while I was conducting the interview with Gabe, he received several calls on his cell phone from friends of his in the Valley from Italy.  He noted that it made things easier here for him here that he could surround himself at times with other people from Italy.  It made him feel like he was at home.

             

Check Out the Interview with Gabe Here

 

 

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by Jay Gehrke

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