Geodesic Distance as Metric of Cross-Group Networks in Migration History

Abstract

Abstract This article is based on a longitudinal study of migrants living in a tenement block of the Paris area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that the geodesic distance between spouses’ and witnesses’ exact birthplaces, which are easier to retrieve than ever before, is a valuable metric for a quantitative analysis of marriages and friendships, with a view to assessing the salience of ethnicity. In that particular case, the analysis results in a general exogamy increase over time, which only partially corresponds to a greater demographic diversity. It also suggests that if and when identifications based on origin were given relevance in people’s affinities, local solidarity was generally more operative than a broadly conceived ethnicity. However, differences emerge between various groups of inhabitants. When looking out of their micro-community, only the Spanish occupants seemed inclined to choose a spouse or a witness among their fellow nationals over someone from another origin entirely.