Fractal Impacts: How Gender Shapes Immigration in the Context of Globalization
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Authors
Oldershaw, Catherine A.
Issue Date
2011
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Discourses of globalization in the United States suggest that the world's problems
could be solved by either imitating the United States, or by simply coming into contact
with the United States. Even scholars interpret globalization as a 'leveling of the playing
field' that promotes international equality. As these discourses become more and more
prevalent, the need for counter-narratives that present the more nuanced understanding of
globalization are increasingly important. To do this I ask how gender shapes immigration
patterns and what this says about structural inequalities in the receiving country.
Therefore this paper takes a critical look gendered migration patterns for the purpose of
exposing the structural inequalities, specifically in the United States, that shape these
patterns. The idea of' global care chains' is used as a framework to discuss the
"feminization of migration" and the creation of transnational families. However, this
framework is critiqued, and used to demonstrate that global care chains are a small part of
a much larger framework of inequality. Global Care Chains are inextricably tied to the
extractive power of the United States, the ensuing creation of global market pressures,
and permeation of Westernized ideals across the globe. These theories were developed
through qualitative interviews with female immigrants from Liberia, men from the
Congo, and a representative from an organization that aids immigrants in Chicago. These
ideas were also greatly influenced by literature and studies conducted by scholars on this
topic.
Description
iii, 55 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.