Mapping Cultural and
Network Assets in Three
Chicago Communities
Hank Green
Department of Speech Communication
Team Engineering Collaboratory
SONIC-Science of Networks in Communities
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This research (CC 035) is supported by the Rockefeller
Foundation’s Creativity and Culture Group
Acknowledgments
• Rockefeller Foundation
• The Field Museum, Chicago
– Center for Community Understanding and
Change
• Science of Networks in Communities Research
Group (SONIC)
• Field researchers from UIC, UIUC, UC,
Northwestern
• UIUC Department of Speech Communication
Center for Cultural Understanding and Change
– CCUC is a science-in-action center of cultural and visual
anthropologists at the Chicago Field Museum.
•
•
•
•
research-informed
participatory
media-varied
focused on how science can transform social landscapes.
– CCUC uses action-oriented research strategies and works
collaboratively with:
• Chicago community-based organizations
• City Agencies
• Non-governmental Organizations in Latin America
The UIUC-Field Museum
Collaboration
• One-year rapid ethnography and network
analysis
• Provides more comprehensive analysis of
transnational migrant strategies.
• Brings network theory and social network
analysis to bear on policy formulation for
transnational immigrant communities
• Creates a visual tool that facilitates
communication of research findings
So What if You Know Somebody
Who Knows Somebody?
-Chicago Tribune
January 18, 2006
Examples of Enabling Networks
•
Transnational Immigrant Networks, Rockefeller Foundation
•
Emergency Response Networks, NSF
•
Networks in Cybercommunities, NCSA/NSF
•
Tobacco Surveillance, Research & Evaluation Networks, NCI/NIH
•
Public Radio Exchange, Minnesota Public Radio
•
Communities of Practice Networks, Procter &Gamble
•
Food Safety Networks, UIUC Cross-campus Initiative, John Deere
•
Global Supply Chain Infrastructure, Vodafone
Research Objectives
• Identify cultural, artistic, and networking capacities
and assets of post-NAFTA Mexican migrants.
• Analyze how these capacities buffer challenges or
obstacles faced by migrants as they traverse the
transnational landscape.
• Investigate how cultural knowledge is distributed
throughout transnational migrant networks
• Understand new forms, new applications of existing
forms, and emerging hybrids to explore identity
formation, community building strategies, and creative
potential of migrants.
Network Assets
•
Network Content
–
–
–
–
–
–
Homophily, heterophily
Network Diversity
Organizational/Institutional Contacts
Transnational Contacts
Inter-Ethnic Contacts
Strength and Intensity of Relationships
• Network Structure
– Multiplexity of Relationships
– Density, Centrality, Centralization
– Scanning, Absorptive Capacity, Robustness, Diffusion,
Vulnerability
Why do actors create, maintain, dissolve,
and reconstitute network links?
• Theories of selfinterest
• Theories of social
and resource
exchange
• Theories of mutual
interest and collective
action
•
•
•
•
•
Theories of contagion
Theories of balance
Theories of homophily
Theories of proximity
Theories of co-evolution
Source: Monge, P. R. & Contractor, N. S. (2003). Theories of
Communication Networks. New York:Oxford University Press.
Transnational and Immigrant Networks:
Where do Cultural and Artistic Practices Engage?
Deciding to
migrate
Making a Living
?
?
Making a
‘Better Life’
Deciding to Migrate
Themes in Previous Research
• In most cases, individuals migrate
– to improve their financial situation
– as a result of connections to others (generally kin)
who have already migrated to the United States.
(See Phillips & Massey, 2000; Massey et al.,1994; Davis &
Stecklov et al., 2002)
Deciding to Migrate
Themes in Previous Research
Key Theoretical Perspectives
• Neoclassical economics: international migration as a simple sum
of individual cost-benefit decisions undertaken to maximize
expected income through international movement
• Segmented labor market theory: immigration as demand-driven,
built into the economic structure of advanced industrial societies
• World systems theory: international migration follows directly from
the globalization of the market economy
• Network theory: interpersonal ties between migrants, former
migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination increase
likelihood of emigration by lowering costs, mitigating risk, and
increasing [expected] benefits
Source: Massey et al. 1994
Deciding to Migrate
Themes in Previous Research
• Network theory of migration is a big
improvement over existing push and pull
theories of migration, including world systems
theory.
(Source: Light et al., 1989)
Making a Living
I
Themes in Previous Research
• By being enmeshed in a multiplex social network, immigrants
are able to compensate for low social and human capital.
• Strong ties are of much greater importance for immigrants
than the general population because of low levels of social
and human capital that these individuals typically possess.
(Waldinger, 1999)
• It is the spatial concentration of immigrants that leads to an
increased reliance on people of similar origin for survival and
the reciprocity implicit in the exchange of social capital that
allows immigrant networks to aid members (Coleman, 1988;
Portes, 1995; Rogers & Henning, 1999).
Making a Living II
Themes in Previous Research
• Migration networks feed information to immigrants.
• The information flows follow the migration network for
natural reasons.
• The migration network is a frequently used channel of
communication along which all kinds of messages easily
and inexpensively flow.
• The migration network’s messages are credible because
of the relationships of mutual trust that link members.
• Migration networks also provide access to various kinds
of mutual aid and assistance other than and in addition
to information.
(Light et al., 1989)
Making a Living
III
Themes in Previous Research
• Networks improve the efficiency of searches or increase
the actual supply of opportunities, or both. Improving
searches enables migrants to find jobs and housing
faster, more reliably, and with less effort.
• Improving searches either brings immigrants into unfilled
vacancies in the job market or it transfers opportunities
from natives to immigrants.
• Such a service makes the networks an ethnic resource
of the immigrant population.
(Light et al., 1989)
Making a “Better Life”
I
Themes in Previous Research
• As migrants develop more [socioeconomically] diverse networks, they gain
access to better paying jobs, thus more
financial security.
(Dominguez & Watkins, 2003)
Making a “Better Life”
II
Themes in Previous Research
• Individuals with homogeneous networks
(like many Latinos in the United States)
may have trouble accessing resources
and information they need to succeed.
(Schweizer et al., 1998; Fitzgerald, 2004; Raijman &
Tienda, 2003; Mirowsky, 1984; see also FernandezKelly, 1990)
Making a “Better Life” III
Themes in Previous Research
Bridging and Bonding
A concept from Ferdinand Tonnies’ On Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (1963)
• Bonding refers to building relationships with people like
one’s self (a.k.a. Gemeinschaft).
• Bridging refers to building relationships with people
different from one’s self (a.k.a Gesellschaft).
Cultural and Artistic Practices
Themes in Previous Research
• Participation in formal and informal arts
practice diversifies a participants' social
network.
(Wali et al., 2001)
Network Composition Hypotheses
• Individuals’ Artistic and Cultural Practices
will be positively correlated with
– Network Heterophily
– Network Heterogeneity
– Strength and Intensity of Relational Ties
– Organizational Ties
– Income Level
– Employment
– Educational Attainment
Network Structure Hypotheses
•Social Networks of Culturally and Artistically
Active People will be more
– Multiplex
– Connected to external sources of information
– Able to distribute information quickly
– Likely to maintain relational ties
– Able to withstand loss of links or nodes
Organizational Network
Hypotheses
• Artistic and Cultural Organizations will link
individuals to each other, and will tie
individual to other important organizations
such as social services, schools, labor
organizations, etc.
• Artistic and Cultural activities may
comprise a large part of ‘bridging and
bonding’ activities.
MIA Methods
• 3 Focus groups
• Extended interviews with 50+ key informants
from focus groups
• Participant observation at approximately 75
public events, social gatherings, work places
and domestic milieus
• Ethnography and network elicitation (targeting
120 respondents)
• Network visualization and analysis
• Multi-media results presentation
(see Agar, 1996: The Professional Stranger)
Focus Groups
• Conduct focus groups to generate lists of
key people, places, and events in the
Mexican/Mexican-American community in
Chicago
• places where recent immigrants ‘bridge’ and ‘bond’
• Ethnographers follow up focus groups by
interviewing key informants
Participant Observation
• Ethnographers conduct participant
observation in three Chicago
neighborhoods
• South Chicago
• Albany Park (North Side)
• Aurora (Western Suburb)
Three Chicago Communities
Albany Park
Aurora
South Chicago
Network Asset Mapping
Exercise: NAME
• Ethnographers contact participants and
administer network questionnaire with
tablet PCs.
• Ethnographers conduct interviews about
network assets.
– Institutional/Organizational Ties
– Personal contacts
Organizational NAME
• Conducted with 25 key organizations in the
Chicago Mexican Community
– Based on a list derived from focus groups,
ethnographers’ notes, and CCUC research (the list
contained 159 organizations).
– Organizations chosen to reflect the relative
frequencies of each type of organization in the list.
(PPS)
• Churches, schools, social services, artistic and cultural
organizations, informal organizations, social clubs, labor
organizations, etc.
– Sample is non-random, to facilitate the ‘rapid
ethnography’ approach.
Organizational NAME
• Organizational Social Networks
– Providing Resources
– Receiving Resources
– Reasons for Not Collaborating
– Organizational Demographics
Individual NAME
• Conducted with 77 informants chosen in a
stratified approach
– 2/3 chosen using randomized spatial approaches
developed for the locations determined to be key for
Mexican immigrant activity
•
•
•
•
•
•
Churches
Sporting Events
Workers’ Rights Groups
Social Services
ESL Classes
Arts/Cultural Events
– 1/3 chosen by ethnographers from their key
informants
Individual NAME
• Immigrant social networks
– Who immigrants talk with
• cultural participation, jobs, social services, church,
informal artistic activities
– Which events they attend
– What organizations they contact
– What technologies they use
• Compare across respondents
• Innovative visual data entry approach
Substantive Outcomes
• Baseline data on Chicago immigrant networks
and cultural practices to supplement data on
economic, and political dimensions of social life
• Explore network assets of recent Mexican
Immigrants
– Content
– Structure
• Understand how arts and cultural activities
enable (and are enabled by) network assets,
leading to “Better Lives”
Methodological Outcomes
• Integrate qualitative ethnographic research
methods, network analysis, and geographical
information into a new research tool
• Introduce a scalable methodology for mapping
cultural and network assets
• Develop metrics analyzing cultural and network
assets to better inform policy decisions
• Create a multi-media research report
incorporating visual and audio documentation,
network graphs, and asset maps.
Initial Findings
Overall Summary of MIA Activities
Arts and Culture Activities
Organizational Connections
Organization Name
Alot
Any
Organization
Type
None
Some
El Valor
7
14
3
17 Social Service
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum
9
10
5
15 Arts/Culture
Mujeres Latinas en Accion
9
9
6
15 Social Service
Centro Comunitario Juan Diego
11
11
2
Community
13 Center
Hoy
11
10
3
13 Media
Centro sin Fronteras
11
9
4
13 Social Service
Progreso Latino
11
9
4
13 Social Service
Casa Aztlan
11
8
5
Cultural
13 Association
Alivio Medical Center
12
7
5
12 Social Service
7
Neighborhood
12 Association
Little Village Community Development
Corporation
12
5
Distribution of Organizational Ties
18
16
14
Mentions
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
12 23 34 45 56 67 78 89 100 111 122 133 144 155 166 177 188 199 210 221 232 243 254 265 276 287 298
Organizations
Organizational Interaction
Summary
ACTIVITY
Percentage of
Organizations
Publicize cultural or social events for
50.00%
Refer clients to
42.93%
Provide information
33.84%
Plan and organize social or cultural events
26.92%
Provide expertise
20.23%
Provide meeting space
17.68%
Volunteer time
15.27%
Provide materials and equipment
9.16%
Donate funds
6.82%
Help raise funds for
6.45%
Provide transportation
3.05%
Reasons for No Collaboration
REASON
Percentage
Don't know of organization
68.89%
No reason to collaborate
18.58%
No personal contact
7.20%
Other reasons
3.49%
Geographic constraint
1.42%
Disagree with mission
0.28%
Personal Problem
0.11%
Bad Experience
0.03%
Respondent Demography
• 100% are Mexican Immigrants
• 69% are female
• Most respondents live in
– South Chicago (16%)
– Rogers Park (11%)
– Back of the Yards (8%)
• Most respondents worked in
– South Chicago (11%)
– Cicero (8%)
– Pilsen (8%)
– Rogers Park (8%)
• 59% have some college education or a college degree
• 50% of respondents are married, 33% are single
– 100% of married individuals report a spouse living in the US
Artistic and Cultural Practices
INDIVIDUAL ARTS ACTIVITY
YES
NO
Attend informal artistic or cultural
activities?
77.61%
22.39%
1
Attend formal artistic or cultural
activities?
71.64%
28.36%
2
Participate informal artistic activities?
70.15%
29.85%
3
Participate in formal artistic and cultural
activities?
56.72%
43.28%
4
Create arts or crafts?
43.28%
5
56.72%
RANK
Artistic and Cultural Linkages
Attending Artistic and Cultural
Practices with Friends
• 77% of the social relationships that
respondents reported involved attending
artistic and/or cultural activities (n=379)
• Of that 77%
– 46% involved attendance a few times a year
– 26% involved attendance a few times a month
– 13% involved attendance a few times a week
Other Activities
• 87% report learning artistic or cultural
practices from their friends
• 57% report participating in informal artistic
activities
• 44% report attending work or union
meetings with friends
• 37% report participating in formal artistic
or creative activities
Contacts’ Perceived Knowledge
ACTIVITY
None
Some
Lots
Any
Schools
20.62%
49.05% 30.33%
79.38%
Outdoor activities and open public spaces
20.97%
54.77% 24.26%
79.03%
Jobs and employment
22.18% 49.74% 28.08% 77.82%
Artistic and creative activities
24.96%
45.41% 29.64%
75.04%
Financial issues, loans, and/or transfers
28.08%
46.27% 25.65%
71.92%
Health and social services
28.08%
50.26% 21.66%
71.92%
Adult education or ESL language classes
28.94%
44.54% 26.52%
71.06%
People and events in Mexico
29.46%
44.54% 26.00%
70.54%
Neighborhood information or organizing
31.72%
42.11% 26.17%
68.28%
Church and religious information
32.06%
43.85% 24.09%
67.94%
Citizenship and immigration services
32.76%
42.81% 24.44%
67.24%
Contacts’ Perceived Organizational
Connections
ORGANIZATION TYPE
Percent of Total Possible
Contacts with Connections
Schools
54.22%
Parks
47.19%
Churches
46.88%
Social clubs
39.69%
Arts centers
38.13%
Informal arts groups
36.56%
Cultural centers
35.31%
Community centers
34.69%
Social service providers
32.81%
Healthcare
32.03%
Banks
31.41%
Work and workers rights
26.56%
Businesses
25.47%
News media
25.00%
Neighborhood assns
24.06%
Hometown associations
14.69%
Respondents’ Contacts
Summary
• Communication and Travel
– 73% were known before the respondent moved to the US
(generally talking a few times a week)
– 57% maintain contact with Mexico (generally talking a few times a
month)
– 56% report not visiting Mexico since immigrating.
• Of those that do, most only go once a year
• Ethnicity
– 88% are Hispanic
– 9% are White
• Gender
– 56% are female
• Employment/SES
– 76% are employed
Initial Policy Suggestions
•
•
•
•
Support institutions that serve as critical sites for
cultural translation, and the individuals within
them who are bridges between recent Mexican
immigrants and the Chicago community.
Convene gatherings Mexican Federations and
other Mexican-serving organizations in Chicago as
way to support their work and increase awareness
in the community.
Support already identified successful informal arts
and culture activities involving recent Mexican
immigrants in the Chicago area, most in churches,
schools, etc.
Increase formal arts opportunities for teachers,
parents, and children.
Key Contributions of This Project
• Integrate quantitative and qualitative
methods - social network and ethnographic
analyses
• Focus on creative, artistic, and cultural
practices
• Highlight activities in Chicago
• Combine skills of UIUC with The Field
Museum’s Center for Cultural
Understanding and Change
Other Modes of Dissemination
• Report to Rockefeller and the Chicago
Community
• Community Activities
– Arts Activities
• Murals
• Plays
• Store-front Displays
• Interactive Web Site
– Asset Maps
– Interactive Ethnography
Asset Map
Albany Park
Aurora
South Chicago
Interactive Network Ethnography
Personal
Information
Interactive Network Ethnography
Network
Assets
Interactive Network Ethnography
Ethnographic
Vignettes
Interactive Network Ethnography
Photographs
Interactive Network Ethnography
Organizational
Information
Interactive Network Ethnography
Network
Assets
Interactive Network Ethnography
Organizational
Vignettes
Interactive Network Ethnography
Events,
Photographs,
Resources, Web
Links
Interactive Network Ethnography
Linkage Knowledge:
Relation Type,
Intensity, Frequency,
Direction of Flow
Organization Type
Total
Percentage
Sample Size
arts center
6
3.773584906
1.886792453
2
bank/financial inst
1
0.628930818
0.314465409
0
business
6
3.773584906
1.886792453
2
16
10.06289308
5.031446541
5
community center
6
3.773584906
1.886792453
2
community leader
14
8.805031447
4.402515723
4
cultural assn
25
15.72327044
7.86163522
8
home town assn
3
1.886792453
0.943396226
1
informal assn
4
2.51572327
1.257861635
2
10
6.289308176
3.144654088
3
5
3.144654088
1.572327044
2
11
6.918238994
3.459119497
4
parks
1
0.628930818
0.314465409
0
school
12
7.547169811
3.773584906
4
2
1.257861635
0.628930818
0
35
22.01257862
11.00628931
11
church
labor organization
media
neighborhood assn
social club
social service
Grand Total
159
50