Yesterday's Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity PDF
Preview Yesterday's Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity
i'i () ~ t Jig i J J n cl the IIl1ll1l g r J III I cl c n t Yesterday's Self Philosophy and the Global Context Series Editor: Michael Krausz, Bryn Mawr College This series addresses a range of emerging global concerns. It situates philo sophical efforts in their global and cultural contexts, and it offers works from thinkers whose cultures are challenged by globalizing movements. Comparative and intercultural studies address such social and political issues as the environ ment, poverty, consumerism, civil society, tolerance, colonialism, global ethics, and community in cyberspace. They also address related methodological issues of translation and cross-cultural understanding. Editorial Advisory Board Ted Benton, University of Essex David Crocker, University of Maryland Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame Elliot Deutsch, University of Hawaii Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research Jay Garfield, University of Tasmania David Theo Goldberg, Arizona State University Rom Ham~, Oxford and Georgetown Universities Bernard Harrison, University of Utah Ram Adhar Mall, University of Bremen/Munich Joseph Margolis, Temple University J itendra Mohanty, Temple Universiry Ashis Nandy, Universiry of Delhi Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago Amelie Oskenberg Rorty, Brandeis Universiry Mark Sagoff, University of Maryland Ken-Ichi Sasaki, University of Tokyo Ofelia Schutte, University of Florida Margarita Valdes, University of Mexico Kwasi Wiredu, University of South Florida Intellectual Property: Moral, Legal, and International Dilemmas (1997) by Adam D. Moore Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice, and Global Stewardship (1998) ed ited by David A. Crocker and Toby Linden Alternative Visions: Paths in the Global Village (1998) by Fred Dallmayr Philosophical Reflections on the Changes in Eastern Europe (1998) by William L. McBride Intercultural Philosophy (2000) by Ram Adhar Mall Formal Transgression: John Stuart Mill's Philosophy of International Affairs (2000) by Eddy M. Souffrant Limits of Rightness (2000) by Michael Krausz Yesterday's Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity (2002) by Andreea Deciu Ritivoi Philosophical Questions: East and West (2002) edited by Bina Gupta Yesterday's Self Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity Andreea Deciu Ritivoi ROWMAN & LITILEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Oxford ROWMAN & LITILEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A Member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com 12 Hid's Copse Road Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 911, England Copyright © 2002 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ritivoi, Andreea Deciu, 1970- Yesterday's self: nostalgia and the immigrant identity / Andreea Deciu Ritivoi. p. cm.-(Philosophy and the global context) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7425-1360-2 (cloth: alk. paper)-ISBN 0-7425-1361-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Nostalgia. 2. Identity (Psychology) 1. Title. H. Series. BF575.N6 .R58 2002 305.9'0691-dc21 2002001781 Printed in the United States of America r::;:.TM 'I:::::;j The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. To my grandmother, Elena Popescu and in memory of my grandfather, Ion Popescu CCoonntteennttss AAcckknnoowwlleeddggmmeennttss vviiiiii IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 11 CChhaapptteerr 11 LLoonnggiinngg ttoo BBee HHoommee 1133 CChhaapptteerr 22 AAnn IInntteeggrraattiioonniisstt MMooddeell ooff IIddeennttiittyy 4433 CChhaapptteerr 33 GGooiinngg NNaattiivvee:: NNoossttaallggiiaa aanndd SSoolliittuuddee 7733 CChhaapptteerr 44 GGooiinngg HHoommee:: AAddjjuussttmmeenntt aass RReeccooggnniittiioonn 110011 CChhaapptteerr 55 ""TThhee UUnnbbeeaarraabbllee LLiigghhttnneessss ooff BBeeiinngg"" 112211 CChhaapptteerr 66 TThhee CCoonnttiinnggeenntt SSeellff 115533 BBiibblliiooggrraapphhyy 117733 IInnddeexx 118800 AAbboouutt tthhee AAuutthhoorr 118844 vviiii Acknowledgments I began my work on nostalgia in the stimulating environment of the New Eu rope Institute for Advanced Studies, Bucharest, where I was a fellow from 1998 to 2000. My gratitude goes to all the other fellows for their generous comments and suggestions. I also offer special thanks to Alan Gross, Barbara Johnstone, Peter Jones, David Kaufer, Michael Krausz, Peggy Knapp, and Thomas Wren, who read the entire manuscript or parts of it, making invalu able suggestions and helping me to clarify my own ideas. Traveling back and forth between eastern Europe and North America, I myself have been touched by nostalgia in numerous ways. I want to thank all my European and American friends who were patient with me until I made my choice. Most of all, I want to thank my husband, Milu Ritivoi, for being my steady ground. viii Introduction In the 1980s, about eight million immigrants from all over the world entered the United States; in the 1990s, the number grew to nine million, and it is expected to continue to increase in the future. In 1992, the National Re search Council organized a workshop to assess the data needs and future trends in the research on immigration to the United States.! One of the rec ommendations issued by the council addressed the problem of adjustment to the new culture, emphasizing its crucial importance for establishing immi gration policies. Broadly conceived as the ability to carry out daily tasks in the new environment by understanding and familiarizing oneself with it, "immigrant adjustment includes changes in individual behavior, such as cul tural patterns (English-language use and ability, religion, food preferences), social and economic achievements (labor-force participation, job skills, edu cation, income), family status (number of children, intermarriage), health and social well-being, cultural and political values, and participation in so cial and political organizations."z This definition appears to be predicated on a twofold assumption: that the immersion into a new culture, of the kind in volved by immigration, does not happen unproblematically, but rather by triggering pervasive and profound change at the level of the individual in question. While such an assumption probably seems commonsensical enough to go unnoticed, it is connected to two more general assumptions that are of ten the subject of intense debate in various disciplinary contexts, from phi losophy and psychology to medicine and genetics: that the environment shapes self-identity, to the point that a person is largely a product of the 1
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