Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska
Urban Villages and Local Identities examines immigration to the Great Plains by surveying the experiences of three divergent ethnic groups—Volga Germans, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese—that settled in enclaves in Lincoln, Nebraska, beginning in 1876, 1941, and 1975, respectively. These urban villages served as safe havens that protected new arrivals from a mainstream that often eschewed unfamiliar cultural practices.
        Lincoln’s large Volga German population was last fully discussed in 1918; Omahas are rarely studied as urban people although sixy-five percent of their population lives in cities; and the growing body of work on Vietnamese tends to be conducted by social scientists rather than historians, few of whom contrast Southeast Asian experiences with those of earlier waves of immigration.
        As a comparative study, Urban Villages and Local Identities is inspired, in part, by Reinventing Free Labor, by Gunther Peck. By focusing on the experiences of three populations over the course of 130 years, Urban Villages connects two distinct eras of international border crossing and broadens the field of immigration to include Native Americans. Ultimately, the work yields insights into the complexity, flexibility, and durability of cultural identities
among ethnic groups and the urban mainstream in one capital city.
1119381520
Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska
Urban Villages and Local Identities examines immigration to the Great Plains by surveying the experiences of three divergent ethnic groups—Volga Germans, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese—that settled in enclaves in Lincoln, Nebraska, beginning in 1876, 1941, and 1975, respectively. These urban villages served as safe havens that protected new arrivals from a mainstream that often eschewed unfamiliar cultural practices.
        Lincoln’s large Volga German population was last fully discussed in 1918; Omahas are rarely studied as urban people although sixy-five percent of their population lives in cities; and the growing body of work on Vietnamese tends to be conducted by social scientists rather than historians, few of whom contrast Southeast Asian experiences with those of earlier waves of immigration.
        As a comparative study, Urban Villages and Local Identities is inspired, in part, by Reinventing Free Labor, by Gunther Peck. By focusing on the experiences of three populations over the course of 130 years, Urban Villages connects two distinct eras of international border crossing and broadens the field of immigration to include Native Americans. Ultimately, the work yields insights into the complexity, flexibility, and durability of cultural identities
among ethnic groups and the urban mainstream in one capital city.
39.95 In Stock
Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska

Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska

Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska

Urban Villages and Local Identities: Germans from Russia, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese in Lincoln, Nebraska

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Overview

Urban Villages and Local Identities examines immigration to the Great Plains by surveying the experiences of three divergent ethnic groups—Volga Germans, Omaha Indians, and Vietnamese—that settled in enclaves in Lincoln, Nebraska, beginning in 1876, 1941, and 1975, respectively. These urban villages served as safe havens that protected new arrivals from a mainstream that often eschewed unfamiliar cultural practices.
        Lincoln’s large Volga German population was last fully discussed in 1918; Omahas are rarely studied as urban people although sixy-five percent of their population lives in cities; and the growing body of work on Vietnamese tends to be conducted by social scientists rather than historians, few of whom contrast Southeast Asian experiences with those of earlier waves of immigration.
        As a comparative study, Urban Villages and Local Identities is inspired, in part, by Reinventing Free Labor, by Gunther Peck. By focusing on the experiences of three populations over the course of 130 years, Urban Villages connects two distinct eras of international border crossing and broadens the field of immigration to include Native Americans. Ultimately, the work yields insights into the complexity, flexibility, and durability of cultural identities
among ethnic groups and the urban mainstream in one capital city.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780896728943
Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
Publication date: 07/21/2015
Series: Plains Histories
Edition description: 1
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kurt E. Kinbacher is an assistant professor of history at Chadron State College. He is co-editor of Reconfigurations of Native North America and author of several articles and book chapters that focus on identity construction, human migrations, and region. His teaching interests are global in scope with favoritism towards East Asia and North America from a world-wide perspective.

Table of Contents

Illustrations ix

Plainsword xi

Introduction 3

Ethnicity and Identity in Lincoln 5

Performed Culture 7

Ethnic Saliency 11

Urban Villages 13

Frameworks of this Study 14

Chapter 1 Local Knowledge and National Perspectives: Ethnicities and the Mainstream in Lincoln 19

Omaha Confinement and Disfranchisement 21

Volga German immigration 25

Omahas Return to the Salt Basin 32

Vietnamese Immigration 38

Multiculturalism in the Modern Mainstream 40

Chapter 2 Life in the Russian Bottoms: Community Building and Identity Transformation among Germans from Russia 44

The Founding Generation 47

"We Became Americanized": The Second Fifty Years 67

Survivals, Revivals, and a New German-from-Russia Identity 82

Conclusion 89

Chapter 3 From the Big Village to the Urban Village: Omahas in Lincoln 91

Community 93

Particularism: The Omaha Way 99

Cosmopolitanism 113

Transnationalism 120

Conclusion 125

Chapter 4 Vietnamese Urban Villagers in Lincoln: Clustered Communities and Flexible Identities 129

Immigrant Communities 131

Particularism 139

Cosmopolitanism 152

Transnationalism 164

Conclusion 171

Chapter 5 Comparisons: Identities and Communities during the Long Twentieth Century 173

Pluralistic Communities 174

Ethnicity and Race 178

Transnationalism, Internationalism, and Nationalism 181

Performed Culture 186

Conclusion 189

Notes 191

Index 257

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