“Cities and Linking Hot Spots:Subjective Rescaling, Ghanaian Migration and the Fragmentation of Urban Spaces.”
Rijk van Dijk[1]
African Studies Centre, Leiden
<A> Introduction
In moving towards a cultural understanding of globalization, many scholars have overlooked the compression of time and distance highlighted by the trajectories of tourists visiting global cities (Sassen 1991, 2000; Krause & Petro 2003; Abrahamson 2004). Tourists compress time and space between specific sites independently of the global rescaling of these cities. They do not experience an entire city but only particular parts of it, challenging us to more carefully examine specific locations within a city rather than treating the urban unit as a single, undifferentiated space. The phenomenon of global tourism thus challenges us to examine the way various actors through their networks rework experiences of spatiality. Migrations and the transnational connections of migrants must also be included in our discussions of the rescaling of cities . Most of the cities portrayed as global, including Amsterdam, function as gateways in processes of transnational migration. We need to move beyond the conception of global cities portrayed as a global network that is developing more rapidly than nation-states through incorporation into the worldwide economic system (Sassen 1998).[2] Not only are cities and various spaces within them classified as global and serving as gateways connected to distant places. As Glick Schiller, Caglar & Gulbrandsen (2006) have argued, while in the past at the level of the nation-state a range of cities may have been situated within a national hierarchy of places, cities of varying degrees of power and prominence are being “rescaled” at a global and migrant networks may be shaped by and contribute to this rescaling.[3] These scholars propose that to understand migration flows and the incorporation and transnational connections of migrants we must address the relative positioning or scale of the city.
Michael Samers (this volume) also has expanded on the scalar perspective on cities by noting that all cities can be global. This position complements Glick Schiller & Caglar’s argument (Chapter One and Four, this volume) that migration must be taken into account in assessing the forces that shape the globality of cities. Yet their approach is hindered by their retention of a unitary and monolithic understanding of the city, and their failure to use a scalar conceptualization of space to apprehend the city’s internal diversity. Exclusively emphasizing the scalar positioning of the city as a unified whole obscures the fact that in transnational flows, only specific sections and sectors predominate in the process of global rescaling. Tourists and migrants are only drawn towards specificplaces and spaces within larger cities that serve as hot spots in their mobile endeavors.
In cultural terms, certain inner-city spaces are more connected globally than others, thus complicating the notion of an integrated global city--a problematic that this paper terms “methodological urbanism.”[4]According to this perspective, a global city such as Amsterdam cannot stand in for the nation-state as a whole where processes of migration and mobility are concerned, and a city is not a totality (Glick Schiller 2005). Particularinner-city hot spots within Amsterdam may not be representative of the entire city, and moreover other differentially positioned cities within the nation-state may also be transnationally connected. A hot spot in Amsterdam may have a lot in common with a hot spot in a differently positioned city, but may differ from the points of gravitation and their local embeddedness in another global city such as London. We need to know more about the global connections between hot spots before we can declare an entire city to be part of a process of global rescaling.
Such a perspective highlighting urban gateway fragmentation is useful when analyzing migration to cities that belong to various scales of global or national interaction. Following this approach, this paper focuses on migration from Ghana to the Netherlands--primarily to Amsterdam, but also to other cities such as The Hague and Rotterdam. Ghanaian immigration has centered on, and in the process generated, certain hot spots in the Netherlands that must be considered in an explanation of the local incorporation, however limited, of the Ghanaian diaspora . The crucial question of this analysis will be to ask, following Lefebvre and Smith, what defines these hot spots. Rather than deploy an objectifying logic to explain the existence of a hot spot, I argue for a more nuanced, subjective understanding that explores which voices proclaim an area, a locality, or a set of social relations to be a hot spot. An analysis of hot spots that incorporates an interrogation of subjectivity moves away from the literature on urban segmentation that conceives of processes of ghettoization as forms of socio-economic exclusion that can be measured in objective terms (see Caglar 2001; Pattillo 2003). Though they cannot be quantified, inter-subjective processes involving sensibilities of space and place can be evaluated. Such an approach allows those studying urban spatiality to understand how a hot spot is ontologically defined through in migrants’ own perceptions.
In the Ghanaian migrant context, the inter-subjective definition of hot spots is intimately connected to a specific form of popular and transnational Christianity known as Pentecostalism (Van Dijk 2002a, 2002b, 2002c). In locally-embedded migrant communities, the place and position of Pentecostalism appear to be influential in the social construction of hot spots. This differential fragmentation and the linking of hot spots, to which Ghanaian migrants originating in urban centers as Accra and Kumasi gravitate, are the subjects of this paper. My goal in analyzing this differential fragmentation in the global rescaling of hot spots and comparing The Hague and Amsterdam is to sensitize scholars of both cities and migration to the subjective aspects of calar positioning. What makes a hot spot in these cities? Why are they considered “hot”? Why and how does this sensibility play a role in the way these spaces become connected?
<A> Bifurcating Hot Spots
This section discusses the gateway hot spots of cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague, demonstrating the relevance of a fragmented city perspective to an inquiry into the relationship between migration and city scale. I pursue the Marston versus Brenner debate on the utility of a scalar perspective, which engages with different levels of interaction. At issue is whether a scalar perspective allows researchers to trace the trajectories through which power is generated or reduced--economically, politically, and religiously. Brenner criticizes Marston, in what Purcell (2003) calls a non-debate, for not acknowledging the ways groups and economic formations acquire power by engaging in higher scales of interaction. Yet the strength of Marston’s analysis is precisely her attention to the “atomic” unit the household represents.[5] She focuses on how the incorporation of the household in present-day capitalism is affected by city scale and facilitates an appreciation of the fragmentation of the city within a scalar perspective (see also Buzar, Ogden & Hall 2005).
Within Amsterdam, the most immediate migrant gateway is a suburban area known as the Bijlmer. Located at a considerable distance from the city centre and middle- and upper-class residential areas, it acquired a ghettoized image soon after it was developed as a post-war reconstruction area. Rather than attracting the Dutch baby-boom generation originally intended to live in the suburb’s over-designed low-cost housing, Bijlmer was settled by labor migrants drawn by the booming Dutch economy of the 1950s and 1960s. These included large groups of Turks and Moroccans, and thousands of migrants from the former Dutch colonies of Surinam and the Antilles who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s. It was in this multicultural district that many smaller clusters of Africans also found a place to settle, among them Ghanaians who were beginning to arrive in the early 1980s.
The arrival of Ghanaians in the Netherlands was part of a larger pattern of out-migration from Ghana during this time, as more than 15% of the Ghanaian population emigrated as a result of the country’s deteriorating economy and political instability (Peil 1995). The Bijlmer became a focal point for African immigration, and the direct links between Accra and Kumasi in Ghana and this area multiplied and deepened (Nimako 1993; Smith 2007). With more than one million inhabitants, Amsterdam rapidly became the largest city in the Netherlands; the Bijlmer likewise grew as house prices skyrocketed, leaving immigrants with few other residential options. The Bijlmer today is home to a still increasing but unknown number of Ghanaians and is perceived by the authorities as a hot spot, largely because of its large population of undocumented immigrants. Estimates suggest that between 10,000 and 20,000 Ghanaian immigrants live in the area, accounting for half of the entire Ghanaian population in the Netherlands. While the area became known for police investigations futilely attempting to curb undocumented immigrationin the early 1990s, the suburb’s problems escalated in 1992 when an Israeli plane crashed into an apartment building in the area. The precise number of casualties of the ensuing fire remained murky; authorities estimated 43 deaths but suspected the figure was higher. The accident sparked an investigation into the scale and nature of undocumented immigration among Ghanaians that reached the Dutch parliament, where it catalyzed the introduction of laws to curb unregulated immigration into the Netherlands. Among these measures was the Problem Countries Circular Letter of April 1996 in which five countries were specifically named for their fraudulent identity documents; Ghana was at the top of the list. Consequently, the so-called Koppelingswet law was introduced, permitting the exchange of information between various government and non-government databases regarding the identity of citizens and foreigners living in the Netherlands (Van Dijk 2004).
Despite increased the increased attention of the authorities, the police, the media, and social work and welfare organizations, Ghanaians in the Biljmer continued along a bifurcated road of both incorporation and community building while maintaining transnational connections. One element of this strategy was the establishment, dating from the early 1980s, of “internal” structures and organizations--some of which were based on ethnic identities--such as home-town associations, burial societies or diaspora chieftaincies (known as kuo). Setting up chiefly “stools” (seats of traditional authority) in areas such as the Bijlmer was seen by members of ethnic groups as the pinnacle of success within the Ghanaian migrant community.
The second type of organization that emerged was from the start much more focused on integration as a strategy. Although aspiring to become umbrella structures that would bring together the various ethnic organizations, these organizations adopted the dominant Dutch political discourse, expressing concerns about the Ghanaian community in the Bijlmer to the municipal authorities. These discussions addressed the complexity of the local settlement, that included forms of mediation between migrants and Dutch society. These included Ghanaian shops, companies, and associational life that could provide for “community” daily needs including food, clothing, leisure and associational life as well as gainful employment In talking to representatives of the umbrella organization RECOGIN (Representative Council of Ghanaians in the Netherlands) I learned that their conversations with the authorities were motivated by a fear of ghettoization; they were eager to help eliminate the obstacles that impeded the wider exposure of Ghanaians to Dutch society. For this reason that they engaged in talks with the Ministries of Internal Affairs (Binnenlandse Zaken) and City Development (Grote Stedenbeleid) about the position of the so-called “small minorities” (as opposed to the larger minority groups from Morocco and Turkey), specifically in regards to labor, education, healthcare and crime prevention policies.
RECOGIN acted on behalf of the Ghanaian community when organizing visits by Ghanaian celebrities such as Kofi Annan or the Asantehene. At the same time, this organization supported studies of the position of Ghanaians that demonstrated thatthrough self-reliance the community had become upwardly socially mobile in Dutch society (see Nimako 2000). These reports saw the Ghanaian minority as a shining example of independence through self-determination and a community that did not depend on Dutch welfare and social-security systems. The researchers demonstrated that, many Ghanaians were perfectly capable of finding their own way in the Dutch labor market, starting small-scale businesses, obtaining suitable housing and coping with criminality in their own circles. The message was one of liberalism and non-interference. Thee reports responded to early 1990s police attention in the Bijlmer and its reputed high levels of undocumented immigration, fraudulent documents, criminal networks and illegal activities. RECOGIN also pursued a path of integration in the realm of public culture by producing newsletters and magazines andrunning a radio station for which they received municipal support. Rather than maintaining a distinct Ghanaian cultural life in the diaspora, these Ghanaian representative organizations were creating their own niche within the larger structure of Dutch society. The pinnacle of this project of greater acceptance in the public domain was the appointment of a young Ghanaian woman as a representative of the Labour Party (PvdA) on the local city council in Amsterdam. Yet despite RECOGIN’s efforts, Amsterdam is itself too complex to expect the Ghanaian community to have any real impact on the positioning or power of the city as a whole by pursuing a strategy of incorporation
While the Bijlmer as a hot spot became the focus of attention by authorities and civil associations, the area was becoming “hot” in quite another sense--with respect to the rise of Ghanaian Pentecostal churches in the area’s underground car parks (Oomen & Palm 1994; Ter Haar 1998). Most of these garages had secluded areas that otherwise would have been used as storage rooms or as small community halls or hosted small enterprises. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, dozens of new independent Pentecostal churches held their services in these parking lots; these churches were totally unconnected to any other formal organization and lacked access to an alternative space to conduct their activities. They emerged partly as satellites of churches with headquarters in Ghana or other cities around the world (Hamburg, Frankfurt, London and New York) and partly as unaffiliated churches that sprang up in this particular community. In some cases these Biljmer branches have established satellites in Ghana or elsewhere. (See Gifford 1998, 2004 on the emergence of Pentecostalism as the most popular form of Christianity in Ghana as well as in its diaspora.).
Most of these churches are led by Ghanaians; their pastors address audiences in English or Twi, one of Ghana’s major languages (usually with simultaneous translation). The average church membership is 250 adults, the majority of which are Ghanaian (of various ethnic backgrounds); other members include English-speaking, mostly West-African, nationalities, particularly Nigerians. The churches have few members from Dutch autochthon communities, partly due to the language barrier. Although their interaction with the Dutch community in the Bijlmer, in Amsterdam, or beyond has remained limited, these churches are connected to international networks of Pentecostal churches, and have formed nodes through which a transnational exchange of Pentecostal pastors, preachers, booklets, videos and other material operates.
In addition, these churches have begun to play an increasingly important role in the arrangement of marriages, funerals and ceremonies relating to birth that take place between Ghana and the Ghanaian diaspora (Van Dijk 2004). The location of the church and the reputation of pastors as trustworthy partners in arranging these matters internationally have become crucial in the eyes of followers. Arranging such events is time-consuming and expensive, since much effort is devoted to organizing religious ceremonies for an individual or couple in simultaneously in Amsterdam, Ghana as well as elsewhere in the diaspora. The transnational celebration of rituals offers prestige to the person or family organizing them. Operating from underground parking garages, the churches have become important partners in the transnationalization as well as the pentecostalization of these ritual forms.
As these Ghanaian migrants produced a transnational ritual world of global interaction on their own terms, they serendipitously linked hot spots in different cities of the world in ways that have consequences for the the scalar relations of the urban spaces that are being connected. Large meetings can be held with Pentecostal preachers flown in from all around the world. Festivities and ceremonies such as funerals, marriages, “outdoorings” or name-giving ceremonies (dinto) and dedications (name-giving in church) can be organized in the presence of thousands of guests from the Netherlands or neighboring countries. While most guests are Ghanaian, these connections span global Pentecostal networks, involving church websites and other media to announce and report these and similar events.