2025-06-27 –, Mezzanine A
This panel presents three papers showcasing the different and convoluted ways in which people become and interact with the idea of being American. These works all approach this central topic from separate angles and ethnic perspectives, such as Anglo-American immigration in Mexican-controlled Texas, Japanese-American labor struggles, and Arab-American immigration and identity. As well as coming at the topic with similar themes, such as building community, crafting identity, and navigation of immigration laws.
Our goal is to foster conversations about American identity, power structures, and the construction of a National identity. It is more important now than ever to center narratives that demonstrate the historical precedents of American xenophobia that are reflective of our current political climate. While the experiences of each group remain unique, but there are common threads that tie their stories together in the history of the American experience. The question we posit then is, how does the process of becoming an American differ for different communities at different times?
Japanese American History, Immigration History, Labor History, Agricultural History California History.
Immigration; Ethnicity; Race; Middle Eastern; Orientalism; Arab; Intersectionality; Barred
Asiatic Zone; Exclusion
Cultivating Community: The Japanese American Agricultural Labor Experience In California
Abstract for Additional Participant 1:Beginning with their emigration into California in the late 19th century, Japanese Americans found themselves at a crossroads of economic exclusion and xenophobic hostility. In response, they formed tightly woven ethnic communities and agricultural networks that led to them becoming a powerhouse in the state’s agricultural economy. Through labor struggles such as the Oxnard Strike of 1903 and the El Monte Berry strike of 1933, as well as the effects of internment and post-war labor attitudes that led to the creation of the Nisei Farmers League, Japanese American farmers negotiated their roles as laborers and landowners in a state that sought to limit their visibility and legitimacy. Thus, this paper seeks to show how racialized labor interactions help influence the creation of ethnic communities and identities and to highlight Japanese Americans’ key role in the making of California’s agricultural history.
Title for Additional Participant 2:Queuing for America: Middle Eastern Immigration from 1890s-1930s
Abstract for Additional Participant 2:Work on immigration methods used by Middle Eastern/ Arab immigrants to the United States from 1890 to 1930. Focusing on their admittance via links to whiteness, demands for labor, alternative migratory routes, and the ability to be linked with other racialized groups (specifically the Mexican American community). Supported by the case study of Joseph Howar, a Palestinian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1904, his racialization throughout his road to citizenship is characterized by the ability to use the xenophobic administrations' countless restrictions on immigration from Asia and the MEDNA region.
Title for Additional Participant 3:Them's fightin' Words: Print Capitalism and Anglo-American Political Organization in Mexican Texas
Abstract for Additional Participant 3:This paper examines how print capitalism shaped the development of Anglo-American (Texian) cultural and political identity in Texas prior to the 1835 Revolution. International trade networks connecting Texas to the U.S. and Britain carried English-language news, entertainment, and political rhetoric into Texian settlements, undermining Texian integration with Mexican society. While Texian newspaper editors attempted to construct a Mexican identity for their readership during the 1830s, by 1834, editors were framing Texan politics in American Revolutionary terms. This rhetorical turn aligned with the development and organization of committees of correspondence through the newspapers, mirroring Revolutionary-era political organizations. Print capitalism therefore facilitated the development of American political identity amongst Texians.
