The Map Project

THE MAP PROJECT You hold in your hands “YUM: A Taste of Immigrant City.” This restaurant map and discount card is designed to give greater visibility to some of the immigrant entrepreneurs who have made the city of Somerville such a unique and wonderful place to live. We hope that “YUM” will lead you to discover and explore the diversity of cuisines that add flavor to our neighborhoods. Use your discount card at any of nine participating restaurants to receive 10% off food orders of $25 or more. This project is a part of the multi-year “Immigrant City: Then and Now” partnership between The Welcome Project and the Anthropology Department at Tufts University. All revenue raised from “YUM: A Taste of Immigrant City” will support The Welcome Project's programs for immigrant families in Somerville.

THE RESTAURANTS In times of economic crisis, immigrants and their businesses – lacking a build-up of social and economic resources - often get hit first and recover last.

Italian

Mexican

Brazilian

Ethiopian

Portuguese

Peruvian

Indian

Tibetan Mediterranean

“The assimilationist view of immigrant identity predicts that…immigrants communities will have lost their affective and cultural ties to their homeland and identify themselves with the host country…The prevalent model of identity assumes a singular identity tied to one geographic space. It also assumes that this identity is fixed and does not change over time.” (de los Angeles Torres, p.172)

THE WELCOME PROJECT The Welcome Project has been working with immigrant families in Somerville since 1987. Housed at the Mystic Public Housing Development, our mission is to strengthen civic and community life in the city by diminishing racism and empowering Somerville's refugee and immigrant groups. We create opportunities for residents of all backgrounds to work together to improve their social, economic, and personal well-being. Our work includes the Youth Aspirations Program, adult English classes, and civic engagement efforts through language interpretation, digital storytelling, and advocacy with Somerville's immigrant communities.

“The dominant paradigms of assimilation and modernization guided and shaped research… with its emphasis on fixed boundaries and a fixed division of labor…” (Baca Zinn 1995, p.79)

“Families are socially constructed… shaped by specific historical, social, and material conditions.” (Baca Zinn 1995, p.181)

“The unique configuration of each community’s links between aspects of the social and linguistic contexts are never divorced from the community’s notion of what is important in life to communicate – their language-world view connection.” (Zentella, p.5)

CHALLENGES