Name: Nelicia Williams

Grade: 13 A2

April 27, 2020

Caribbean Studies

Describe four factors that have led Caribbean migrants living in the
metropolitan countries to create a “home away from home” (20 marks).

Migration is the way of life for Caribbean people. Since the post-

independence era, Caribbean people have been migrating to more economically

developed countries due to pull factors which includes technological

advancements, higher employment rates, lower crime rates, better health care

amongst others. Leaving their homelands has resulted in serious emotional and

psychological implications on the natives which has led them to create a “home

away from home”. Four factors that have led to this are the availability of jobs,

globalization, promoting cultural activities and push and pull factors.

Firstly, the availability of jobs is one of the reasons why Caribbean

migrants have created a “home away from home”. Migration is the act of

moving from one place to another permanently or temporarily. These jobs are

usually available in the metropolitan countries. A place with history of

imperialism or a “mother country” which is usually densely populated is a

metropolitan country and it includes England, France, Nepal and Spain. Since

the educational systems are similar, Caribbean people can apply and get jobs
there. Their economic struggles are relieved hence they create an environment

that is similar to their homeland so that they can feel comfortable living and

working in that metropolitan country.

Another factor that have led Caribbean migrants to do such an act is

globalization. This is defined as the process by which flows of trade, finance

and information between countries are broadened and deepened so that they

function as one global market. Globalisation makes the world smaller as one

person could be on the other side of the world and is aware of the situations of

another country thousands of miles away. Caribbean people are comfortable

living away from home because they can always know what is occurring in the

region through the availability of Caribbean newspapers, news channels and

tabloids on the internet and through social media platforms namely Instagram,

Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. This tends to put them at ease thus creating a

“home away from home”.

Additionally, promoting cultural activities of the region is another way

that the Caribbean nationals create a second home. The Caribbean has a melting

pot of culture since it was influenced by the European colonizers, indentured

labourers and the African slaves. Because of this, the Caribbean has a wide

variety of arts including visual arts, festivals, culinary arts and music. This

cultural diversity cannot be found elsewhere so in order to feel comfortable in

metropolitan countries, Caribbean migrants host festivals (carnivals etc.), open

restaurants and introduce their means of entertainment e.g. music (soca, reggae,

dancehall etc.), dance, literature and sports. These cultural activities take place

in their homelands everyday so by promoting them, it creates an environment

similar to home. In addition, it is quite beneficial as it increases tourism for their

home country.

Lastly, they have created a second home due to push and pull factors. The

main reason for Caribbean migrants to leave their countries is because of push

factors. These include natural disasters, poverty, high crime rates,

overpopulation, poor health facilities etc. The metropolitan countries for e.g.

England has pull factors namely technological advancement, higher standards of

living, better health facilities and higher employment rates. So in order to live a

better life the Caribbean people migrate to those countries. However, they are

foreign to that culture so in order to feel comfortable living there, the migrants

introduce their culture so that it feels like they are at home but with

improvements (better standards of living etc.).

Caribbean people have been migrating to metropolitan countries for

years. This is a way to improve their and their families’ lives as these countries

are more developed and can remove economical struggles. However, it can

affect them emotionally and psychologically in a negative way. As a result, they

create a “home away from home” in order to feel comfortable due to availability

of jobs, globalisation, push/pull factors and promoting cultural activities.