Not every body can cross every border with jelly shoes.

Not every body can cross every border with jelly shoes. 

Who can go where? When? and for what reason? The idea of mobility is woven through the reading this week. 

In the chapter Borders within Borders, Shoaff explains the economic necessity of Dominican pepeceras and Haitian migrant women to cross the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the challenges that creates- metal gate or through the river, market days, taxes, fees, papers- the governments have have made it consistently difficult to safely cross and return without violence or unnecessary financial costs. This of course depends on your skin color and if you have appropriate documents or your ASOMUNEDA card. 

The relationship between Anadina and Mamdchia brought to light a new perspective in the market-women category for me- friendship. These women live on different sides of the border, one buys and the other sells, but they treat each other fairly, have worked together for many years, they know about each others families- they are friends. There is a real business connection between the women, yes. But there is also a social connection across the border. 

“Migrant mobility must not be limited to dominant perspectives that presume ‘border crossings’ as solely indicative of transferred or transnational flows. Narratives of loss and family separation link up Haiti with the Dominican Republic for many migrant women since few have the monetary and legal resources to regularly cross the national border” (Shoaff, 251). 

The narratives, the real relationships between people, reminds me of the film Babel and the US-Mexico border. Amelia and the children could so easily go to Mexico to see friends and family and celebrate, but it was not just difficult, it was impossible to come back together. 

Who can go where and when? and for what reason? and for how long? and what can you take? AND WHO GETS TO DECIDE?

These women aren’t traveling back and forth with illicit goods or drugs- they have second hand clothing and jelly sandals. 

The idea of jelly sandals takes me to second half of Downtown Ladies by Gina Ulysse. She uses the example of her much beloved, platform, jelly sandals as entry into the conversation with the Jamaican ICIs about whether your "social skin trump the value ascribed to one’s actual skin” (Ulysse, 235). The market women have opinions! They know what is sold in Kingston shops, what is worn in Miami, and they know exactly when it becomes too common for them to wear. 

Miss Q talked about Tommy Hilfiger clothes as an example. There was a time when they were expensive, stylish, and indicated a particular kind of wealth. Then they were too accessible. Hilfiger clothes were sold in the arcades and markets and no longer had the same status. The brand and design of clothes in Jamaica, especially for the ICIs, is very important. They work in a dirty arcade, but still wear dresses. They select what people can buy. As Shoaff mentions in Borders within Borders, they are able to “Refashion” their community. 

The article, "A Global Sense of Place" by Massey brings a very zoomed out perspective of both of these ideas- mobility and influence. The idea of zooming out on the globe and being able to see it all at once- physical movement, invisible communication, social relationships, all the links between people. What determines our degree of mobility? Is it a border? is it money? When you step back far enough, you can see all of the small ways that people are influenced by others: "every time someone uses a car, and thereby increases their personal mobility, they reduce both the social rationale and the financial viability of the public transport system - and thereby also potentially reduce the mobility of those who rely on that system" (Massey, 4). 

The world is much more connected than I realize and my individual actions have an influence on people near and far. What gives us a sense of place on the globe? "It is a sense of place, an understanding of 'its character', which can only be constructed by linking that place to places beyond. A progressive sense of place would recognize that, without being threatened by it. What we need, it seems to me, is a global sense of the local, a global sense of place" (Massey, 9).