Locating Diaspora: Afro-Caribbean Narratives of Migration and Settlement in Toronto, 1914–1929
Jared G. Toney
Abstract
This article examines the experiences of Afro-Caribbeans in Toronto in the early twentieth century. It identifies and analyzes the practices and processes of diaspora at the local level and considers ways in which discourses of community, nation, and race travelled between sites and across borders. In so doing, it investigates the ways in which immigrant identities were constituted, contested, and reformulated in the tension between local experience and diasporic consciousness. As well, it evaluates how borders shaped the contours of trans-local and transnational communities. By extrapolating from individual histories, this article identifies several key features, institutions, processes, and practices that defined the Afro-Caribbean experience in Toronto and informed local engagements with global black and West Indian diasporas. These factors include encounters with discrimination, employment patterns, social relations, and organizations like Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. By “locating diaspora” in Toronto, this article elucidates the intersection and ongoing dialectics between the local and the global, and illustrates the significance of borders in shaping migration networks and constituting diasporic communities.
Résumé
Cet article considère l’expérience afro-caribéenne à Toronto au début du vingtième siècle. L’analyse se concentre sur l’identification des processus de création de la diaspora ainsi que ses pratiques afin d’étudier la circulation de discours communautaires, nationaux et raciaux entre différents sites et à travers les frontières. L’éclairage de la tension entre l’expérience locale et la conscience de l’appartenance à la diaspora permet d’enquêter sur la manière dont les identités migrantes sont constituées, contestées et re-formulées. Se faisant, l’analyse évalue l’influence de différentes frontières (nationale, culturelle, sociale) sur la constitution d’identités trans-locales et transnationales. Construit à partir de récits individuels, cet article identifie les principaux traits, institutions, processus et pratiques qui définissent l’expérience afro-caribéenne à Toronto et qui informent les relations de cette communauté locale avec les diasporas noires et caribéennes mondiales. Les facteurs clefs de la construction identitaire sont, entre autres, l’expérience de la discrimination, le marché du travail, la sociabilité, ainsi que des organismes comme l’Universal Negro Improvement Association de Marcus Garvey. Cet article s’inscrit pleinement dans une dialectique entre le global et le local. Il « localise la diaspora », afin de démontrer l’importance de différentes frontières dans la création de réseaux migrants et la construction identitaire au sein de la diaspora.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Franca Iacovetta and Jordan Stanger-Ross for their support, patience, and guidance in bringing this article to fruition. I would also like to express my appreciation to the anonymous readers whose comments and suggestions contributed immeasurably to the strength of this article. Russell Kazal, Nadia Lewis, Melanie Newton, and Michael Wayne also read drafts of this essay and offered invaluable feedback at various stages of the research and writing. Research for this article was supported in part by the Jeanne Armour Fund and the Marcus Garvey Foundation. Versions of this article were presented at the Centre for the Study of the United States’ Graduate Student Workshop at the University of Toronto as well as at the SUNY University at Buffalo conference, “Thinking Beyond the Nation State.” This article is dedicated to the memory of Claire Clarke, who passed away in the spring of 2009. Her life continues to serve as a source of great inspiration, and she will be missed dearly by the many privileged to know her.
| Auteur : | Jared G. Toney |
|---|---|
| Titre : | Locating Diaspora: Afro-Caribbean Narratives of Migration and Settlement in Toronto, 1914–1929 |
| Revue : | Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, Volume 38, numéro 2, printemps 2010, p. 75-87 |
| URI : | http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/039676ar |
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