Global Perspective Project essays

Global Perspective Project essays Jamaicans have a long history of immigration to the United States, especially since the end of World War Two. Most immigrant from Jamaica settled in New York, and in Queens particularly. When Jenny and her family arrived in New York, they were greeted by a flourishing Jamaican community with deep roots. Moreover, Jenny's relatives had moved there five years earlier and sponsored them for American residency. Jenny started preschool immediately after arriving; her mother works both at Jenny's junior high school and at JFK international airport; and her father is a cook at a Queens-area rehabilitation center. The family struggles but they make ends meet. They passionately support Jenny's education and value her academic achievement. Jenny herself is highly motivated both in school and in extra-curricular activities, especially sports. She runs track formally in school and jogs with her father nearly every day at a local park. When investigating Jenny's funds of knowledge, it is important to reflect on her Jamaican heritage. Both her parents speak Patois, which they use to converse with their relatives and with other Jamaicans in the community. Jenny understands Patois and occasionally uses it at home or in the Jamaican community but does not speak it as much as her parents because unlike her parents, Jenny has lived in Brooklyn since she was two years old. Patois should be viewed as a fund of knowledge because of the way language helps define communities. As Gandi & Evering note, "A boundary is something used to express one's membership in a specific ethnic group. Jamaican Patois serves as a boundary for the Jamaican-American community." Because the Jamaican community has nurtured Jenny's family, easing their transition from the island to New York, it is also important to investigate sources of Jenny's funds of knowledge that are within the community. Some of Jenny's father's coworkers have become family friends and likewise, Jenny's mo...