Expioratiulls ill Sights alld SOUllds
Also absent from 13akalian's theoretical framework is a gender
Sim ilarly, to be assimilated into the" American" world is to come into
another set of gendcred eXI ectation . Yet, aside from a few pages
about changing family patterns, Bakalian makes no distinction
between the experience
of Armenian women and men. Many
rmenian American women have told me they are not involved in
the community because they feel there is no place within it for them
a adult, professional women. Young Armenian women who want to
marry and raise children in Armenian homes expressed enormous
pain to me about their inability to find Armenian men who treat
them as equals. They arc consequently faced with the prospect of
marrying non-Armenians and compromising their dreams for an
Armenian home environmen t for their ch ildren. These voices are also
part of the Armenian American experience and must be heard.
Despite the e problem , I welcom Balakian's book and it is
a must for anyone who i
inter sted in Armenian Americans.
Arlene Avakian
University of Massachusetts
Robert Elliot Barkan. Asiall alld Pacific Islallder Migration to the
United States: A Model of New Glubal Patterns. (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Pre ss
,
1992) 280 pp., $49.95.
Migration in the late 20th century has become increasingly
complex. The nature of migration has changed conSiderably from
1885, when E.G. Ravenstein first enumerated hi laws of migration.
In contrast to Ravenstein' simpl "configurations of internal migra­
tion," Dr. Barkan likens modern migration to a jungle gym: If one
were to picture an elaborate children's outdoor jungle gym, contructed
0
that it can be made to undulate gently and gyrate, the
analogy would come clo e to the reality of global migration. As the
children decide to climb, everal choice
confront them in term of
direction and destination, although not all may be equally appealing
or accessible. The jungle gym is al
0
made to move somewhat (the
instability adding to the adventure), and some paths are blocked by
obstacles, others crowded by children who got there first, and on
some of the bars are friends offering as i tance. One can envision
different groups of children venturing on, waiting, turning back,
climbing onto other bars, or seeking their goals by other directions,
all the time adjusting to the uncertain movements of the whole
apparatus. The individual children make their own decisions, but
there is a definite collaborative aspect to the process taking place. (22)
Barkan sets as a first task updating Ravenstein's laws. After describing
6
Number 14 (Summer 1 994)
the state o f the m igration li terature, Ba rka n e n u m e rates twen ty­
seven propositions w h i c h s u m m a rize the factors affecti ng m igra t i o n .
T h e propositions a re particularly t a i l ored to account fo r the i ncred­
ible comp l exity of the m odern migration deci sion and the i n stitu­
tional framework s u rrou nding i t .
T h e s e propositions are comp lete, a l t h ough some disci p l i nes
of the social sciences m a y qu ibble with where h e has p l a ced his
e m p hases. T h i s is, h owever, a n un avoidable proble m , given the
paroc h i a l n ature of the various speci alt ies. O n t h e other h a n d , the
diverse n a t u re o f t h e em igrants and t h e l a rge q u a ntity of propositions
req u i res a n orga n i z i n g fra m ework. To t h i s end, B a rkan proposes the
" model o f double stepwise i n ternational m igration . " I n thi mod e l ,
l e g a l i m m igrants are partitioned i n t w o d i rect i o n s : ( 1 ) by whether
they came d i rectly to t h e U n ited States or by way o f another non­
n ative country; and ( 2) by whether or n ot the i m m igrant a p p l ied
i m m ed iately for per m a n e n t residency.
B arkan e m p l oys the public use of t a pes of the I m m igration
and a t u r a l ization Service ( I NS) to demo n strate t h a t his m odel is a
useful construct for a n alyzing m igration f1ows . H e shows t h a t h i s
b reakdown i s very i n struct ive across a l l o f the variables i n t h e d a t a set:
country of origin, count ry of last residence, age, gender, m a ri t a l
status, y e a r s res i d i n g i n t h e U n i ted States, occ u p a t i o n , a n d legal basis
for receivi n g perm a n e n t resident stat u s . U nfortunately, a n d t h is is
wel l recogni zed by Barkan, the I S data set i s not very r i c h . B efore h i s
m odel c a n b e s a i d to h ave broad relevance, other, m ore detai led data
sets m ust be a n a l yzed within the fram ework o f this m ode l . In
particul a r , t h e m ot ives to e m i gration a n d adaptabil i t ies of various
subpopul a t i o n s could n o t be addressed i n the I NS t a pes.
I wou l d recom m e n d the e n t i re book to anyone i n terested in
m igration issues and t h e first five to seven ty-five p ages of t h e book to
anyone who wou l d l i ke a brief overview of m igration issues. The first
p ages are well docum en ted a n d could serve as a good i n t roducti on to
m igration issues. As the book continues, i t becom es m ore a n d m ore
data i nt e ns e a n d would be tough goin g for anyone without an a l ready
strong i n terest and backgro u n d in m igration i ssues. As a fi n a l n ote,
B arkan'S exte n sive cross-tabul ations ( m ore t h a n twenty-two tables)
of the INS data s h o u l d be of great i nterest to m igration speci a l i s t s .
W i l l i a m L . W i n frey
O l d D o m i n i o n U n i versity
7