DOCOHEII B1SOHB ID 141 M7 00 017 053 AOTHOB Smith, B. Bstellie 1ZTLB The Case of the Disappearing Ethnics. POB BATE 77 BOTB 24p.; Paper presented at the Annual fleeting of the Soothero Anthropological Society (Hiami, Fla. f 1977) BDBS.PBICB BP-10.83 BC-$1.'67 Plus Postage. DBSCBIPTOBS Acculturation;~*Case Studies; Cultural factors; Economic Factors; *Bthnic Groups; Etluiic Stereotypes; Ethnology; Field Studies; Immigrants; *Intergroup Belations; 'Portuguese Americans; Social Attitudes; Social Discrimination 1DEBUFIEBS Rev England ABSTBACT Beginning in the 187,0*s mill owners in Texton, a Mew England industrial tbvn of approximately 100,000 people, recruited- Portugese labor. Ftoi then until 1920 many Portugese emigrated to Texton. .Frcji 1920-1960 the immigration of Portugese into America slowed as the result of the declining labor market, Hhe war, and restrictive lava, following the Immigration Act of 1965, Portugese inigration took a dramatic jump upwards. This flood of unskilled primarily 'rural Portugese to an area where unemployment was nigh. Sexton, and where there was a tradition of hostility to Portugese speakers, exacerbated existing relations between the latter and other groups./By the early 1970«s certain members of the community decided that seme public steps would have to be taken to mend increasingly dysfunctional schisms. The mayor proclaimed Portugese Day, which featured a 'number cf activities emphasizing the positive role which the target gioup had. played. 'However, there were really two groups of Portugese-Americans. Those early arrivals who considered themselves and were considered by, recent immigrants as Americans were distinct from recent immigrants who' considered themselves and were categorized* by earlier immigrants as Portugese. The disjuncture bet ween. old and new Portugese existed prior to Portugese Day. I/haft had created the chism? At lea.st three factors were at vork: a competition for scarce resources; .a higher level of expectations in the newly arrived group; and, a monetary base fcr corporateness among the latter which was not available to earlier arrivals. This case stmdy demonstrates the great potential for 'dissonance which lies in those situations where the actors believe they have a code fn common but do not; when they believe they have a nexus' of common understanding which, in fact, does not exist. (Author/JH) Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marqinal raproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality of the microfiche and hardcopy.reproductions ERIC makes available via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. Occasionally the field worker is blessed with the opportunity to observe an event or series of events in the community under study? that not only encapsulates a variety of sociocoltural be- ' haviora and factors but also demands that he Rethink some cherished 'truths.' Such truths may be fundamental to his ethnographic ordering of the data or to broader analytical concepts. The following study is, first, the account of such an event and, second, statement of my analysis and the resulting reformulation of hitherto accepted* axioms. Prologue. Textonx is a New England industrial -town of approximately. 100,000 people. Formerly a prosperous 19th century textile center, it has declined in both population and Income during the last half-century. Today it is estimated that between 30-7OX of the population ate descended from or are newly arrived Portuguese' immigrant8. Beginr ning about the 1870s 'mill owners recruited Portuguese labor since early contacts with them as fisher folk, whalers, and agricultural: workers gave rise to the stereotype of a hardworking and undemanding people; that' is, they were known for being willing to work long hours, under appalling conditions, for low pay, and with little complaining. Most of the Portuguese wer.e from the mid-Atlantic islands— the Azores, 'Madeira, and 'Cape Verde group—probably among the most impoverished, isolated, plantation and ^small-scale peasants in Prepared for presentation In the symposium on inter-ethnic communication. Southern Anthropological Society annual meeting, Miami, 1977. Europe.' Given the chance to escape these over-populated Islands they began an immigration Clow Which continued up to the economic catastrophe.of.the 1930s, though-entry to the U.S. had begun to slow .following the Immigration Literacy Law of 1917., Though minimal-In its .definition of literacy (the mere ability to write, one's name made one. competent in that skill) it presented a barrier for the Island Portuguese* who, in the first decade of the 20th century had the highest Illiteracy rate of any American Immigrant segment—68.2X (Bannick 1917:39-40). 3 Further, restrictive laws, the declining labor market In New England, depressions, and the global war of the 1940s caused the 40-year period between 1920-1960 to .show a total entry of Portuguese only slightly over 60,000—with almost 20,000 of that figure entering in t;he year 1921 alone. One may compare this with the period 1881-11920 whenever 200,000 entered (Adler 1972:17). Because many of the 60,000 entering after 1920 went to California, the- influx of Portuguese into New England slowed to a mere few hundred a year—and th^s influx was balanced by an almost equal number who emigrated back to Portugal. Following World War II the rising expectations of minorities and' the resulting 'radical' agitation led to sociocultural re- formulations in various segments of the American populace which, in turn, led to various changes in the Immigration laws. Following the first of these, the Immigration Act of 1965 (75 9tat. 911) , Portuguese immigration took a dramatic jump upwards.- In the period 1961-.70 entries exceeded by almost 2.52 the accumulated total for. the preceding 40 years'(1921-1960-60,334; 1961-1970-76,064), with approximately £OZ of that total per'year going to the Commonwealth of Hassachusets and, perhaps, another 10Z going t o the neighboring state of Rhode Island. Forty-one thousand and t welve entered the U.S. between the years 1967-69, with over 18,000 going to Massa- cbusettea—and a majority of these going to the metropolitan Texton area. This, despite the fact that, in that city's textile industry aione, the number of jobs in the male labor market, -1950-1970, declined from 9,084 to 4,108, a decrea se of 54J8X (Keerock Rook Associates £972:21). This flood pf unskilled, primarily-rural Portuguese to an area where unemployment was high and where.there was a tradition of hostility to Portuguese-speakers, exacerbated existing relations . between 'the latter and other ethnically-defined but basically economically-oriented interest groups in 'the area. A plethora of 'Dumb Portygee 1 J6kes saturated the city (e.g., Question: "Why wasn't Christ born in Portugal?" Answer: "Because they couldn't find three wise men:" or "Because they couldn't-find a virgin!'). The city schoolswere, during 1963, .channeling 1000 newly arrived Portuguese-speaking' children through the school system per monthI Ethnic sneers became more overt among the threfe major categories of non-Portuguese in the town—the descendants of French-Canadian, Irish and generalized north Europeans; depending 'on various factors one could be told that'the Portygees '( itself a derogatory . term) were 'dumb,' 'disease-ridden* (most commonly, either tubercular or carriers Of venereal diseases)i 'over-sexed,' or 'left- handed niggers' 6—to mentlpfl only a. few allegations. ' The episode. By the early 1970s the situation became so tense that certain members of the community, for reasons I will explore later, decided that some public steps would have to bo taken to mend the increasingly .dysfunctional schismbetween Portuguese and other town folk. As one public official said to me,' 'This town will just; keep going down-hill if we don't start pulling together and cut out this in-f ighting' .The Mayor formed a committee to study the question and sugg est ways to Improve relations. At the advice of this group, composed of non-Portuguese and immigrant Portuguese, he proclaimed Portuguese Day, which would feature a number of activities emphasizing the positive role which the target grqiip had. played in the history of the city: Schools were to giye special- assemblies; the mass media would have commentary and news, highlights; businessmen would rup ads,'addressed to or'simply congratulating their Portuguese clientel; and the local community college campus wouj.d serve as the focal point for an all-day program of exhibits and speakers 'familiarizing the^omnuriity with the contri but ions of the Portuguese to [TextonJ.* The latter event waa, of course, the main event. A series of f' speakers representing various walks of life, made short speeches throughout the program which was interspersed with music dancing, and dramatic presentations by. immigrant school children All the speeches addressed themselves to the history, estheti c contrl- but ions, and desireable stereotypic traits of the Portug uuese (such as 'their natufral love of beauty'). Several of the aost recent immigrants were included on the program and thos who introduced them stressed that such Individuals were proof that, 'in this land of opportunity' those who worked diligent lywould 'fulfill the American dream.' The last speaker stated: The Portuguese are good neighbors. We have seen that they are'loyal, hard-working, diligent, and have an eye to the future. They are Industrious, God-fearing, and law-abiding. They jcourageously came here to start a new life and they have succeeded. Americans'can learn an important lesson from them. A spirit of bonhommie seemed to pervade' the ciby and one local TV station, in summariting' events on.