3 Review(s)

This book delineates the history of the Haitian diaspora in the United States in the nineteenth century, but it primarily concerns itself with the contemporary period and more specifically with the diasporic enclave in New York City. It uses a critical transnational perspective to convey the adaptation of the immigrants in American society and the border-crossing practices they engage in as they maintain their relations with the homeland. Throughout the book, Michel S. Laguerre argues that the nation-state that has until now constituted the niche where citizenship was defined, contextualized, and played out, has seen its boundaries open wide, and has become increasingly impotent in the presence of a series of transnational practices undertaken by its resident population. The book reproblematizes and reconceptualizes the notion of diasporic citizenship so as to take stock of the newer facets of the globalization process.