In histories of the twentieth century and beyond, the category 'immigrant' can seem like a natural one. But 'immigration' as we know it today only emerged in the nineteenth century. Not only did it require new technologies of border control and identification, but it relied on new understandings and bureaucracies of 'citizenship'. Looking at the United States of America and continental Europe, we will explore the invention of 'immigrants', and the conditions which prompted one nation to implement border controls on the movement of people.

Discussion mini-powerpoint Weeks One and Two

Required Readings: (best read in the order below)

• Leo Lucassen, 'A Many-Headed Monster: The Evolution of the Passport System in the Netherlands and Germany in the Long Nineteenth Century', in Jane Caplan and John Torpey, eds, Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 235-255.
• Leo Lucassen and Nancy Foner, 'Old and New Migrants in the Twentieth Century: A European Perspective [with Response]', Journal of American Ethnic History 21, no. 4 (2002): 85-119. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27501205.
• Eve Rosenhaft, 'Introduction', in Eve Rosenhaft and Robbie Aitken, eds, Africans In Europe: Studies in Transnational Practice (E-Book). NOTE: Compare her 'transnational' to Tambiah's: are they the same?
• 'Arrivals: reflections on the History of Border Control' Blog by Becky Taylor

Exemplary public history blogs:

https://blog.oup.com/2019/07/americas-history-mass-migration-teach-attitudes-immigrants/

https://stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2019/07/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-borders.html

• Useful timeline

Discussion questions:

• What factors prompted the United States and European nations to limit entry and citizenship in the 19th century?
• What precedents and debates shaped the US response to mass immigration?
• To what extent can the US trajectory towards immigration controls and national citizenship be taken as typical? (NB: we will return to this question in the next unit, too).

 

Background Readings:

Jane Caplan, '"This or That Particular Person": Protocols of Identification in Nineteenth Century Europe', in Jane Caplan and John Torpey, eds, Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 49-66.

Andreas Fahrmeir, 'Governments and Forgers: Passports in Nineteenth-Century Europe', in Jane Caplan and John Torpey, eds, Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 218-234.

Amy Fairchild, Science at the Borders, Introduction and Chapter 1; Hardcopies available in SHORT LOAN This is a brilliant reading, and would be required -- except that there's no e-book! Do definitely read this material if you are considering ANY US migration topic for your papers/dissertations.

Donna Gabaccia, “‘Is Everywhere No Where?’ Nomads, Nations, and the Immigrant Paradigm of American History,” Journal of American History, Vol. 86, No. 3 (December 1999): 1115-34.

Andrea Geselle, 'Domeneca Saba Takes to the Road: Origins and Development of a Modern Passport System in Lombardy-Veneto', in Jane Caplan and John Torpey, eds, Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) 199-217.

Kevin Kenny, “Diaspora and Comparison: The Global Irish as a Case Study,” Journal of American History, Vol. 90, No. 1 (2003): 134-162 (VERY USEFUL FOR HISTORIOGRAPHY).

Mae M. Ngai, “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924,” Journal of American History, Vol. 86, No. 1 (1999): 67-92.

Gerard Noriel, 'The Identification of the Citizen: The Birth of Republican Civil Status in France', in Jane Caplan and John Torpey, eds, Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) 28-48.