Browse Items (17 total)
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The Search for Generational Memory
Essay describing the popularity of American search efforts for "generational memory" - or the shape of one's personal and social origins - through genealogy, oral history, and the new social history movement of the middle twentieth century. Uses the example of Alex Haley's 1976 book, "Roots," as an influence on such popular efforts, and an instance of American historical and cultural identity-searching whose precedents can be traced to the beginning of the twentieth century. Exposition on the craft of oral history and the type of knowledge it generates. Written by the author of "Amoskeag: Life and Work in an American Factory-City" (1978), which focuses on the Amoskeag Mills of Manchester, New Hampshire and its workers. -
Sociolinguistics, Politics, and Language Teaching
Brief article on the integration of linguistic theory, language teaching, and sociolinguistics. Thoughts on some of the political and social implications of dialects, and questions about applying certain linguistic theories to the teaching of language. Compares teaching English in African American communities to teaching French in French Canadian, Franco American communities, and discusses issues surrounding language instruction in what the author calls "non-standard dialect." References to the author's Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, conferences for teachers of French held in the early 1960s. -
How Many Frenchmen Does It Take To...?
A brief history behind ethnic slurs directed toward Franco Americans in the US Northeast. A historical contextualization of this type of discrimination in government, business, and scholarship. Some historical foundations of the "dumb Frenchman" joke. Also featured in the collection, Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader.Tags African Americans, Asian Americans, Auburn ME, Bangor ME, Biddeford ME, Central Falls RI, Chicopee MA, Cohoes NY, Connecticut, Emigration and Immigration, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Holyoke MA, Irish Americans, Journalism, Lewiston ME, Lowell MA, Maine, Manchester NH, Massachusetts, Mexican Americans, Nashua NH, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Ethnic Studies, Old Town ME, Portuguese Americans, Quinebaug River Valley, Religion, Rhode Island, Violence, Waterville ME, Westbrook ME, Woonsocket RI, Worcester MA -
False Accents : Embodied Dialects and the Characterization of Ethnicity and Nationality
Exploration of how the dramatic use of accents and dialects in English speech informs and complicates discourse on race and ethnicity. How the function of identity in drama and performance distinguishes between the concepts of race and ethnicity. Some observations on recent contributions to the study of accents and dialects as elements of the fields of both linguistics and performance studies. The relationship of "theatre practices" to "social realities" as evidenced in the performance of a wide-ranging variety of English dialects.Tags Acculturation and Assimilation, African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, Emigration and Immigration, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Filipino Americans, Hispanic Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Language and Linguistics, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Language and Linguistics, Performing Arts -
Children's and Mothers' Wage Labor in Three Eastern U.S. Cities, 1880-1920
Article on the dynamics of class and ethnicity as related to the labor of women and children in the northeastern United States around the turn of the century. Statistical relationship between family and economy in urban, industrialized America during a period of heavy immigration. Emphasis on child labor as varying by type of family, ethnicity, and the relevant legal structures of different locales. A gradual replacement of children's wage labor by the employment of women. Statistics based on U.S. census data from 1880, 1900, and 1920. From the author: "The battle over child labor fought in the United States at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries pitted emerging understandings about children's well-being against those of the rest of the family....This article explores the variations in children's and mothers' labor in three very different settings: Pittsburgh, Fall River, and Baltimore between 1880 and 1920. It finds that child labor and education legislation resulted in a decrease in children's employment and increased the likelihood that mothers would take paid jobs."Tags African Americans, Baltimore MD, Business and Economics, Chicago IL, Demography, Education, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Fall River MA, Family, Fishing, Gender and Sexuality, German Americans, Government and Politics, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Labor History, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mills and Mill Work, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Demography, Nonfiction -- History -- Labor and Social, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh PA, Polish Americans, Portuguese Americans, Sharpsburg PA, Slavic Americans, Youth -
Assimilation in American Life : The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins
1960s study of social life in the United States with regard to ethnic and religious characteristics and their significance to processes of assimilation. Social group observation as a means of understanding cultural conflicts based on incommensurate "value-assumptions," and as a foundation to eliminating many sources of inter-group prejudice (16). Contains information acquired from interviews with officials from numerous American organizations concerned with intercultural relations. General sociological introduction to group structures, stages of assimilation and its subprocesses, and theories for occurrences of these in the United States. The American formation and presence of the "ethclass" - "[the characteristic sub-societal unit] based on race, religion, and, to a declining extent, national origin, criss-crossed by social class stratification..." (160). Sections devoted to African Americans, Jews, Catholics, and intellectuals as functioning American "subsocietal" structures. Hypotheses and suggestions for the future of cultural and structural pluralism in the twentieth-century United States.Tags Acculturation and Assimilation, African Americans, Community: Customs and Social Life, Demography, Emigration and Immigration, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, German Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Jewish Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Ethnic Studies, Nonfiction -- Social Sciences, Nonfiction -- Sociology, Religion, United States -
The Rise and Fall of the Ethnics
1974 article claiming the impending disappearance of ethnic enclaves in the United States. An attempt to distinguish between "race" and "ethnicity," and to mark assimilation's varying attachment to either. The Americanization of linguistically and culturally diverse communities, and the impact of this process on the shape and face of the dominant American culture. -
One Nation Divisible : Class, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States Since 1938
A history of the United States between 1938 and 1978 that explores the categories and convergences of class, race, and ethnicity. Measures how these three categories factored into World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Begins with the veritable end of the large immigration period in America, moves through the political climate of the 1960s, and concludes with the impacts of American suburbanization, the blurring of categorical boundaries of class and ethnicity, and the strange persistence of class, ethnic, and racial differences amidst the continual shaping of what it means to be a citizen of the United States.Tags Acculturation and Assimilation, African Americans, Asian Americans, Business and Economics, Community: Customs and Social Life, Emigration and Immigration, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, German Americans, Government and Politics, Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, Mexican Americans, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- History -- Labor and Social, Norwegian Americans, Polish Americans, Portuguese Americans, Social History, United States, Violence, War -
My Blood is Quebecois
Essay on political activist and Vietnam veteran Ray Luc Levasseur's working-class Franco background from around the mills of Sanford, Maine. The pride he has built out of the integrity of his family and his experiences of discrimination. The cultural, social, and economic origins of his political activism, and how his efforts at educating himself and the public about social injustices continued even from behind prison walls. Presented at an event organized by the University of Maine Franco-American Centre.Tags African Americans, Death and Disaster, Emigration and Immigration, Essay, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Family, Government and Politics, Labor History, Maine, Marion IL, Mills and Mill Work, Native Americans, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Essay, Québec, Sanford ME, Springvale ME, United States, Violence -
Citizenship and Those Who Leave : The Politics of Emigration and Expatriation
English translation of "Citoyenneté et émigration: Les politiques du départ" (éditions de l'école des hautes études en Sciences sociales, 2006). Collection of essays on migration, expatriation, and the perpetuation of national identities abroad. The historical roles played by governments in the emigrations of their peoples. Considerations of the economic and "political perceptions of departure" (2). From the editors: "Emigration, like immigration, needs to be understood at the intersection of structural and individual agency" (8). From University of Illinois Press: "Exit, like entry, has helped define citizenship over the past two centuries, yet little attention has been given to the politics of emigration. How have countries impeded or facilitated people leaving? How have they perceived and regulated those who leave? What relations do they seek to maintain with their citizens abroad and why? 'Citizenship and Those Who Leave' reverses the immigration perspective to examine how nations define themselves not just through entry but through exit as well." Translation of French original (2006).Tags African Americans, Business and Economics, Canada, China, Emigration and Immigration, Essay, Europe, Exploration and Colonization, France, Germany, Government and Politics, Great Britain, Holland, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Immigration, Poland, Social History, United States -
Minority Women of North America : A Comparison of French-Canadian and Afro-American women
A comparison of the historical situations and social positions of French Canadian and African American women. An examination of their family and community roles, cultural stereotypes, and social and politicals achievement levels. Situates the origins of each population on the North American continent - one in servitude in seventeenth-century New France, the other in forced immigration and slavery in the United States of the same time. Focuses on the phenomenon of a "double-oppression" - or the sum of one's ethnic minority and gender statuses - and what is required for the doubly oppressed to be "liberated." Acknowledgement of gendered differences in the separate gains made by each minority group. Republished in Le FAROG Forum (April 1988), University of Maine. -
Becoming American : An Ethnic History
A history of immigration in the United States, its national impact, and the effects of American naturalization upon immigrant ethnic identity. From the cover: "From the English settlers who founded the Jamestown colony to the recent refugees from Vietnam and Cuba, the history of American has always been tied to the fortunes of its immigrants. Thomas J. Archdeacon presents a fascinating account of the foreign peoples and cultures that for nearly four centuries have transformed America and, in the process, transformed themselves. Discussing Europeans and Asians, Africans and American Indians, he weaves their stories together, shows how they mingle and diverge, and relates their collective experience to the critical decisions we face in coping with the thousands of immigrants who continue to arrive yearly on our shores."Tags Acculturation and Assimilation, African Americans, Canada, Chinese Americans, Emigration and Immigration, England, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, German Americans, Government and Politics, Ireland, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish Americans, Labor History, Mexican Americans, Mills and Mill Work, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Immigration, Québec, Religion, Slavic Americans, United States -
The Trial Statements of Ray Luc Levasseur
Ray Luc Levasseur's statements from the 1989 criminal trial where he represented himself against accusations of racketeering. He places himself and a working-class Franco (Sanford, Maine) upbringing in the course of an American class struggle, weaving his personal history through the international political tumult of the 1960s and 1970s. One published statement is now entitled "From the Shadows of the Mills," and can be read at the URL below. -
Living Arrangements : Race, Ethnicity and Nationality in the Liberal State
From the author: "Liberals usually argue that cultural identity can flourish in the private sphere but should not matter in public. This argument is blind to the way liberal institutions affect cultural identity, the prejudices that members of some groups face, and the need for there to be only one or two public languages in most modern states. To fill this gap in liberal theory, I divide cultural groups into three: racial, ethnic and national groups. I explore this gap by looking at four groups: American Jews, the Amish, Black Americans and French Canadians....I argue that liberal citizenship transforms ethnic identity, making it difficult though not impossible to maintain strong ethnic ties in the liberal state. I defend these effects on ethnic identity, though I also argue that there is often too much pressure on ethnics to give up their particular practices. Liberal citizenship, though, has not transformed the identity of the Amish, who maintain their identity through a voluntary radical separation from the rest of society. The Amish treasure hierarchical and patriarchal illiberal values, but liberal toleration means that the liberal state should do little about this. Black Americans also have a distinctive culture, not from voluntary separation, but as a consequence of racism. For Blacks to gain equal citizenship, the liberal state must work to make Black citizenship visible and allow Blacks to bypass the effects of racism. This is contrary to the usual liberal argument of making issues of identity private matters. If Blacks gain liberal citizenship their identity would change considerably, just as liberal citizenship has transformed ethnic identity....Many people claim their cultural identity is tied to a particular language, yet most languages have a hard time surviving in industrialized, liberal states. I explain the conditions that languages need to survive. I contend, paradoxically, that because liberalism transforms ethnic identity, liberalism increases the importance of language to the identity of some. While liberalism and nationalism are usually antagonistic, I sketch out a compromise between language-based nationalism and liberalism. I end the dissertation by pointing out the implications my argument has for educational policy and for liberal theory." -
Postnational United States Regional Hinterlands : Proulx's Ethnic Working-Class Communities in Accordion Crimes
Essay analyzing Annie Proulx's novel, "Accordion Crimes," according to the ethnic groups, working-classes, and cultural identities its characters simultaneously challenge and represent. A mid-1990s United States commentary on assimilation, acculturation, race, and place-identity in which this article's author situates the novel. The symbol of the accordion across cultural and geographic lines, within and across certain immigrant communities in the United States, in environments that temper American myths of upward mobility, and within musical communities of diverse qualities.Tags African Americans, Basque, Cajuns, Chicago IL, Creoles, German Americans, Immigration, Iowa, Italian Americans, Literary Works, Literary Works -- Criticism and History, Louisiana, Maine, Mexican Americans, Minnesota, Montana, Music, Polish Americans, Québec, Sicilian Americans, Viennese Americans, Violence -
The Search for Generational Memory
Essay describing the popularity of American search efforts for "generational memory" - or the shape of one's personal and social origins - through genealogy, oral history, and the new social history movement of the middle twentieth century. Uses the example of Alex Haley's 1976 book, "Roots," as an influence on such popular efforts, and an instance of American historical and cultural identity-searching whose precedents can be traced to the beginning of the twentieth century. Exposition on the craft of oral history and the type of knowledge it generates. Written by the author of "Amoskeag: Life and Work in an American Factory-City" (1978), which focuses on the Amoskeag Mills of Manchester, New Hampshire and its workers. -
Postnational United States Regional Hinterlands : Proulx's Ethnic Working-Class Communities in Accordion Crimes
Essay analyzing Annie Proulx's novel, "Accordion Crimes," according to the ethnic groups, working-classes, and cultural identities its characters simultaneously challenge and represent. A mid-1990s United States commentary on assimilation, acculturation, race, and place-identity in which this article's author situates the novel. The symbol of the accordion across cultural and geographic lines, within and across certain immigrant communities in the United States, in environments that temper American myths of upward mobility, and within musical communities of diverse qualities.Tags African Americans, Basque, Cajuns, Chicago IL, Creoles, German Americans, Immigration, Iowa, Italian Americans, Literary Works, Literary Works -- Criticism and History, Louisiana, Maine, Mexican Americans, Minnesota, Montana, Music, Polish Americans, Québec, Sicilian Americans, Viennese Americans, Violence