La notion d'espaces et d'échanges

I am going to talk about the notion of spaces and exchanges.

The different spaces of the world are nowadays more and more connected to each other. Indeed the globalization connected the areas at different scales. This globalization is characterized by the multiplication of actors and the explosion of the flux. Consequently, the exchanges raised in the past century. These exchanges have been helped by the progress of transport. The exchanges can appear on many forms: capitals, people, goods, and data. One particular exchange is very interesting because it involves both notions: spaces and exchanges, and it is immigration.

Immigration is the movement of non-native people into a country in order to settle there. The notion of immigration is compelling because these movements of people imply, with them, movements of culture. That is to say the people bring their habits, their way of communicate thus it create exchanges. The countries with a high level of immigration, such as the United States of America, notice the emergence of a phenomenon such known as melting pot. A melting pot is a place where different styles, or way of life, are mixed together. We will see how the United States of America deals with this issue, especially in New York City. I will show you how it is related to spaces and exchanges through several documents: an interview dealing with American immigration, an extract from a novel about Ellis Island and a study regarding Porto Ricans and US immigration.

First of all, a bit of the historical background might help us understand the issue of immigration. The USA is a nation of immigrants. Every person in America is an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant. There were three major immigration waves: 1607-1790, 1800-1880 and 1880-1924. From 1880’s to 1924 America tried to limit immigration by nationality by establishing quotas of immigrants per country in order to maintain the unity of the U.S. These laws were called the Quota Act. Therefore the immigrants were examined, checked before they can enter the territory. In New York, they had to go through Ellis Island. Mark Helprin, in Ellis Island and Other Stories, tells us how this unfolds. Ellis Island was an island located in New York Bay. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants. The narrator feels like is on the threshold of a new world because for him and everybody else the United States represented the land of opportunities. Americans believe in a better world for the man in the street. According to the narrative of the narrator, the immigrants had to go through some formalities such as medical examination, many questions about what they did back in their homeland, what they expect to do in USA. To sum up, the author point out the fact that a space, here Ellis Island, can be very important to a person. Ellis Island embodied the place where everything could become possible. The American Dream is reachable. Thus a space can be the beginning of a new life. And I have the feeling that every person who had gone through by Ellis Island still remembers that day today.

Then, what happened when the immigrants enter the country? The exchanges occur when the immigrants mixed themselves with native population. I will take the example of Porto Ricans in New York illustrated by the musical West Side Story. West Side Story is a musical which explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street

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