Return of the prodigals

This new phenomenon has been the subject of research by social anthropologist Frances Henry and sociologist Dwaine E Plaza, who have recently edited a collection of scholarly essays on the subject. The book, titled Returning to the Source, features 11 papers by leading academics and deals with the type of persons who are coming back, their motives for doing so, and the difficulties they face re-integrating into the society they left decades before.

Henry and Plaza were in Trinidad earlier this month to take part in the Caribbean Studies Conference at the Crowne Plaza hotel, and to promote their jointly edited book. Henry, a Canadian, is married to a Trinidadian who had to give up his citizenship when he became a Canadian citizen. But they visit here several times a year. “He’s actually a transnational resident of Trinidad and Tobago,” Henry says.

Plaza, who was once Henry’s student, was born in Trinidad but emigrated when he was four years old. However, his particular area of research - racial prejudice encountered by middle-class Caribbean men in the metropole - has kept him linked to the region. Although working-class Caribbean men also encounter racism, there is a difference in the reactions.

“The working-class man is more likely to blame himself if he doesn’t move up - he might say it’s because he doesn’t have enough qualifications. But if the university man is overlooked for promotion, he’s more likely to question it and report it,” Plaza explains.

But is the blocking because of racial prejudice or other reasons?

“In 85 to 90 percent of the cases, the racism barrier is the true cause,” he says.

Henry and Plaza came to their common interest in return migration by different routes: Plaza as an offshoot of his main research area, Henry because over the past 15 years she noticed that she was meeting more people in the Caribbean who had until recently been living in developed countries. The majority of these persons were retirees in their late 50s and 60s who had saved enough money to set up house in their islands of birth. Most of the returnees are Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Barbadian. But there is only one Caribbean nation which has not experienced this phenomena. “People don’t return to Guyana at all,” says Plaza.

Most of the re-emigrants have spent 35 or more years in the metropole. A significant percentage, however, are younger professionals who, with the advent of globalisation, have job opportunities in the region. But what is the basic reason that the emigrants return?

“Because it’s home and it’s where the heart is,” says Henry. “You cannot overestimate the importance of the home tie for Caribbean people.”

Indeed, Henry has found that Caribbean people tend to pine more for home than other immigrant groups. And, with the advent of cheaper travel and the Internet, they are in more constant touch with the lands of their birth. So, while this makes them want to return home more, it also means they are more critical and aware of the problems.

“There’s a lot of ambiguity, a lot of conflict,” Henry says. Having become accustomed to developed nations standards, returning immigrants often become frustrated by how things work - or don’t work - in the islands.

“They take years to build their homes, because the workmen just leave. In the developed countries, they had their homes built in a few months.”

But the homes they build, she observes, tend to be very big and fancy, even though only two people might be living in them.

“They want to flaunt their wealth and their enhanced class status. They have a superior attitude,” says Henry.

Plaza says this arouses resentment amongst the local people. “In Jamaica, more crimes were committed against returning emigrants,” he says.

The returnees also have a sense of civic commitment. “They want to improve the country,” says Plaza. As one example, he notes that a one group in Jamaica have formed an association to get the buses to run on time. Henry says, “There’s also a lot of volunteerism.” Professionals, such as nurses, give their time freely in health centres. And, while the returnees don’t usually get involved in political or social activism, Plaza says that they’re more likely to write letters to the editor. “A lot of them feel guilty about having contributed to the brain drain,” he explains.

Both academics see this phenomenon as beneficial to the region. The returning migrants bring with them both financial and human capital. Many of them come back wanting to start a small business and they also bring back the skills they acquired in the metropole. But, Henry notes, it is impossible to get reliable data because, although Caribbean countries have records on who leaves, they don’t note who returns. And the re-emigrants complicate the issue further.

“They to and fro constantly. They’re really citizens of two countries,” she says.