Georges Woke Up Laughing: Long-Distance Nationalism and the Search for Home (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

About this book

Combining history autobiography and ethnography Georges Woke Up Laughing provides a portrait of the Haitian experience of migration to the United States that illuminates the phenomenon of long-distance nationalism the voicelessness of certain citizens and the impotency of government in an increasingly globalized world. By presenting lively ruminations on his life as a Haitian immigrant Georges Eugene Fouronalong with Nina Glick Schiller whose own family history stems from Poland and Russiacaptures the daily struggles for survival that bind together those who emigrate and those who stay behind. According to a long-standing myth once emigrants leave their homelandsparticularly if they emigrate to the United Statesthey sever old nationalistic ties assimilate and happily live the American dream. In fact many migrants remain intimately and integrally tied to their ancestral homeland sometimes even after they become legal citizens of another country. In Georges Woke Up Laughing the authors reveal the realities and dilemmas that underlie the efforts of long-distance nationalists to redefine citizenship race nationality and political loyalty. Through discussions of the history and economics that link the United States with countries around the world Glick Schiller and Fouron highlight the forces that shape emigrants experiences of government and citizenship and create a transborder citizenry. Arguing that governments of many countries today have almost no power to implement policies that will assist their citizens the authors provide insights into the ongoing sociological anthropological and political effects of globalization. Georges Woke up Laughing will entertain and inform those who are concerned about the rights of people and the power of their governments within the globalizing economy. In my dream I was young and in Haiti with my friends laughing joking and having a wonderful time. I was walking down the main street of my hometown of Aux Cayes. The sun was shining the streets were clean and the port was bustling with ships. At first I was laughing because of the feeling of happiness that stayed with me even after I woke up. I tried to explain my wonderful dream to my wife Rolande. Then I laughed again but this time not from joy. I had been dreaming of a Haiti that never was.from Georges Woke Up Laughing