Belonging and boundaries in Little Guyana: Conflict, culture, and identity in Richmond Hill, New York

Abstract

Research on the assimilation of contemporary second-generation Americans has shown that ethnic enclaves are saturated with several cultural, religious, and transnational amenities that facilitate the process of immigrant integration in the United States. Missing from this research is a discussion of how middle-class, second-generation Americans use urban enclaves as a means of remaining attached to their ethnic identities. One such group with members who has achieved middle-class status and remained culturally attached to their enclave is Indo-Guyanese Americans of Indian Caribbean descent. This ethnographic study examines the ways in which second-generation Indo-Guyanese Americans use familial, cultural, and religious interactions in Little Guyana to create a sense of belonging and community. As the descendants of re-migrants, their multiethnic identities are complicating their assimilation in American society. Their experiences with racialization and social exclusion from white, South Asian American, and non-co-ethnic circles have pushed them toward developing their multiethnic identity. I use the term ethnic restoration to discuss how second-generation Indo-Guyanese Americans are using transnational ethnic consumption, religious institutions, and co-ethnic interactions to validate their ethnic identities and resist racialization. Their engagement in ethno-religious institutions in Richmond Hill is central to this analysis, as they embrace their Indian Caribbean identities more intensely after experiencing racialization. The findings of this research point to the need to understand why middle-class second-generation Americans are ethnically attached to urban enclaves.