Ethnic Historians and the Mainstream: Shaping America's Immigration Story

by Alan M. Kraut (Editor), David A. Gerber (Editor), David A. Gerber (Contribution by), Virginia Yans (Contribution by), Deborah Dash Moore (Contribution by)

Overview

Do historians “write their biographies” with the subjects they choose to address in their research? In this collection, editors Alan M. Kraut and David A. Gerber compiled eleven original essays by historians whose own ethnic backgrounds shaped the choices they have made about their own research and writing as scholars. These authors, historians of American immigration and ethnicity, revisited family and personal experiences and reflect on how their lives helped shape their later scholarly pursuits, at times inspiring specific questions they asked of the nation’s immigrant past. They address issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and assimilation in academia, in the discipline of history, and in society at large. Most have been pioneers not only in their respective fields, but also in representing their ethnic group within American academia. Some of the women in the group were in the vanguard of gender diversity in the discipline of history as well as on the faculties of the institutions where they have taught.

The authors in this collection represent a wide array of backgrounds, spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. What they have in common is their passionate engagement with the making of social and personal identities and with finding a voice to explain their personal stories in public terms.

Contributors: Theresa Alfaro-Velcamp, John Bodnar, María C. García, David A. Gerber, Violet M. Showers Johnson, Alan M. Kraut, Timothy J. Meagher, Deborah Dash Moore, Dominic A. Pacyga, Barbara M. Posadas, Eileen H. Tamura, Virginia Yans, Judy Yung

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813562247
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	11/06/2013
Edition description:	None ed.
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

ALAN M. KRAUT is University Professor of History at American University, a nonresident Fellow of the Migration Policy Institute, and president of the Organization of American Historians. He is the author of The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921; Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the “Immigrant Menace”; Goldberger’s War: The Life and Work of a Public Health Crusader; and coauthor of Covenant of Care: Newark Beth Israel and the Jewish Hospital in America (Rutgers University Press).

DAVID A. GERBER is Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Buffalo where he continues to teach and assist in directing the Center for Disability Studies.  He is the author of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction and Authors of Their Lives: The Personal Correspondence of British Immigrants to North America in the Nineteenth Century.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 Introduction David A. Gerber 1

2 Worlds Apart and Together: From Italian American Girlhood to Historian of Immigration Virginia Yans 17

3 Sidewalk Histories Deborah Dash Moore 32

4 Coal Town Chronicles and Scholarly Books John Bodnar 46

5 Ethnic and Racial Identities: A Polish Filipina's Progress in Chicago and the Profession Barbara M. Posadas 66

6 From Back of the Yards to the College Classroom Dominic A. Pacyga 80

7 Why Irish? Writing Irish American History Timothy J. Meagher 94

8 In Our Own Words: Reclaiming Chinese American Women's History Judy Yung 111

9 Ordinary People Eileen H. Tamura 128

10 Americana María Cristina García 145

11 Meddling in the American Dilemma: Race, Migrations, and Identities from an Africana Transnational Perspective Violet M. Showers Johnson 157

12 From Uncle Mustafa to Auntie Rana: Journeys to Mexico, the United States, and Lebanon Theresa Alfaro-Velcamp 175

Coda Alan M. Kraut 189

Notes on Contributors 205

Editorial Reviews

"Kraut and Gerber have assembled chapters by an impressive range of scholars, who reflect on how their own lives and experiences and those of their ancestors have informed their academic work. This collection presents compelling and revealing work from an outstanding group of scholars."

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"These historians whose books we have read, shaped the scholarship. With this insightful volume we can know where they came from and understand why they wrote as they did."

New York University - Hasia Diner

"Kraut and Gerber have assembled chapters by an impressive range of scholars, who reflect on how their own lives and experiences and those of their ancestors have informed their academic work. This collection presents compelling and revealing work from an outstanding group of scholars."

From the Publisher