“Moving through Crossroads: Afro-Caribbean Domestics, Race, and the Politics of Immigration”
Christine Pinnock Ph.D.
Program in Anthropology
Friday, April 29, 2011
12:00 noon, Room 9207, CUNY Graduate Center

Africana Studies Dissertation Discussion
IRADAC, CUNY Graduate Center

In many regards, the experiences of Afro-Caribbean domestics are similar to the experiences of Latina and Filipina domestics with all three groups being subjected to racialized hierarchies during hiring and employment processes. However, the particular experience of being Black with Blackness as an experience and identity typically associated with the racism that is historically embedded in the African-American experience in U.S. creates a discrete dissonance of experiences between women of color working as domestics. Specifically, this study calls for an introspective look into Afro-Caribbean working class women to understand how the issue of race and being Black has impacted their lives personally and professionally. For Afro-Caribbean women working as domestics, how have experiences of racism and racialization informed their paths to citizenship and their visions of achieving the American Dream? As working-class female immigrants, who are also mothers, partners, community members, and church leaders, what does becoming a citizen mean? When coupled with being labeled Black, African-American, and Caribbean are the paths to citizenship imbued with the same meaning?

A light lunch will be served. Open to the public. This is part of an on-going series of discussions presented by students in the graduate programs. Please check the IRADAC website for a complete schedule: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/iradac/pages/events.html