DOCSLIB.ORG

{PDF EPUB} Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee Cookie Consent and Choices

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
{PDF EPUB} Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee Cookie Consent and Choices Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details. You may click on “ Your Choices ” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “ Agree and Continue ” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. Angel Island Immigration Station. Located in San Francisco Bay, the Angel Island Immigration Station served as the main immigration facility on the West Coast of the United States from 1910 to 1940. Many immigrants from China or other Asian countries were detained there for extended periods thanks to the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) and other discriminatory immigration laws. The Chinese Exclusion Era. Immigrants from China began arriving en masse in the United States in the wake of the Gold Rush. Some worked as miners; others got jobs on farms, in textile factories, or building the transcontinental railroad. At the time, the federal government did little to regulate immigration, instead leaving it up to the states. But with the growing influx of immigrants from both Europe and Asia, federal authorities decided to step in, especially after an economic downturn in the 1870s led many Americans to blame immigrant workers for their misfortunes. Due to the growing strength of the eugenics movement—which feared the “contamination” of the white race by other races or ethnicities—Chinese immigrants were seen as a much greater threat than those from Ireland or Germany. In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act, which blocked entry to Chinese, Japanese and other Asian laborers brought involuntarily to the United States, as well as Asian women brought for the purposes of prostitution. The Page Act was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese laborers from coming to the United States, limited immigration to those who already had relatives living in the country and prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens. Angel Island: ‘Ellis Island’ of the West? Under the Chinese Exclusion Act, U.S. immigration officials were required to inspect each Chinese passenger who arrived via boat in San Francisco before they could be allowed on land. As this process often took more than a single day, passengers were initially detained on steamships anchored in the harbor for that purpose. In 1892, a building near the harbor was converted into a “detention shed,” which often became overcrowded and unsanitary. When Congress finally appropriated funds for the construction of an immigration facility in San Francisco, Angel Island was considered the ideal location. Historically home to the Miwok Native Americans, the 740-acre island had since housed a large Mexican cattle ranch and a U.S. military base. After numerous delays in the construction, the immigration station was hastily completed and opened on January 21, 1910 on the northeastern edge of Angel Island. Though known as the “Ellis Island of the West,” Angel Island functioned very differently from its New York counterpart. Ellis Island served as a processing center primarily for European immigrants, who were viewed as easily assimilable into American society and faced relatively few obstacles when it came to entering the United States. By contrast, many of the immigrants who came through Angel Island were from Asian countries, primarily China, and were subject to long interrogations and detentions to prevent illegal entry. How Things Worked at Angel Island. From 1910-40, an estimated 500,000 immigrants from 80 countries—including Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Canada, and Central and South America—were processed through Angel Island. The great majority came from China or other Asian countries, including Japan, Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, Korea and Vietnam. On arrival in San Francisco, a ship’s passengers would be separated by nationality. Europeans and first-class passengers would have their papers processed aboard ship and be able to disembark. Asian immigrants and some other groups, including Mexicans and Russians, along with those who were thought to need quarantine for medical purposes, were sent to Angel Island. An unidentified man being interviewed by U.S. officials at Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon, California, 1923. The Chinese Exclusion Act and related laws allowed entry only to a few elite occupations, as well as children of U.S. citizens. Interrogators screened potential immigrants with detailed questions, including biographical information about their families and the homes where their relatives lived. Many immigrants went to great lengths, memorizing details about false identities as skilled workers or relatives of Chinese Americans. By one estimate, some 150,000 people illegally entered the United States as “paper sons” or “paper daughters” during the Chinese Exclusion era. Authorities at Angel Island submitted immigrants to exhaustive interrogations to try and prevent this kind of illegal entry. While processing arrivals to Ellis Island normally took a few hours or a few days at most, immigrants could spend weeks, months or even years at Angel Island. Due to its isolated location it was thought to be escape-proof, like another nearby facility: Alcatraz. Processing Center During World War II. In August 1940, a fire destroyed the main administration building on Angel Island, and the processing of immigrants was moved to the mainland. Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, but continued to limit immigration from China to just 105 people per year until passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965. During World War II, the U.S. military used the immigration station on Angel Island as a processing center for prisoners of war, as well as a detention center for hundreds of Japanese immigrants from Hawaii and the mainland United States. Angel Island Poetry. Abandoned after the war, the buildings deteriorated until the 1970s, when the discovery of more than 200 poems in Chinese etched into the walls by long-ago immigrants inspired efforts to preserve Angel Island and commemorate its role in the history of Pacific immigration. The Angel Island Immigration Station, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997, was later renovated and opened to the public as a California state park. Sources. Erika Lee and Judy Yung, Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (Oxford University Press, 2010) History of Angel Island Immigration Station, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Angel Island. The world’s #1 eTextbook reader for students. VitalSource is the leading provider of online textbooks and course materials. More than 15 million users have used our Bookshelf platform over the past year to improve their learning experience and outcomes. With anytime, anywhere access and built-in tools like highlighters, flashcards, and study groups, it’s easy to see why so many students are going digital with Bookshelf. titles available from more than 1,000 publishers. customer reviews with an average rating of 9.5. digital pages viewed over the past 12 months. institutions using Bookshelf across 241 countries. Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee; Judy Yung and Publisher Oxford University Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780199752799, 0199752796. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780199896158, 0199896151. Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee; Judy Yung and Publisher Oxford University Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780199752799, 0199752796. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780199896158, 0199896151. Angel Island. 2011 Choice Outstanding Academic Title; 2010 Caughey Western History Prize for the best book in Western History, Western History Association; Named a “Best Book of 2010,” San Francisco Chronicle ; 2010 Adult Non-Fiction Winner, Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, American Library Association; Honorable Mention, Association of Asian American Studies 2010 History Book Award. ABOUT. From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco served as the processing and detention center for half a million people from around the world on their way into and out of the United States. Based on extensive archival and community-based research, this landmark book tells the full history of these diverse immigrants (Chinese, Japanese, South Asians, Koreans, Russians, Mexicans, and Filipinos) and their experiences on Angel Island. Connecting Angel Island to global histories of migration, war, colonialism, and revolution, as well as to American histories of race, ethnic, class, and gender relations, Angel Island reframes our understanding of both the Angel Island Immigration Station and America’s complicated relationship to immigration. (Co-authored with Judy Yung and sponsored by the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation to commemorate the immigration
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Berkeley City Council Agenda & Rules Committee Special
    BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA & RULES COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2020 2:30 P.M. Committee Members: Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Councilmembers Sophie Hahn and Susan Wengraf Alternate: Councilmember Ben Bartlett PUBLIC ADVISORY: THIS MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH VIDEOCONFERENCE AND TELECONFERENCE Pursuant to Section 3 of Executive Order N-29-20, issued by Governor Newsom on March 17, 2020, this meeting of the City Council Agenda & Rules Committee will be conducted exclusively through teleconference and Zoom videoconference. Please be advised that pursuant to the Executive Order, and to ensure the health and safety of the public by limiting human contact that could spread the COVID-19 virus, there will not be a physical meeting location available. To access the meeting remotely using the internet: Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Android device: Use URL - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82373336588. If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, then use the drop down menu and click on "rename" to rename yourself to be anonymous. To request to speak, use the “raise hand” icon on the screen. To join by phone: Dial 1-669-900-9128 and Enter Meeting ID: 823 7333 6588. If you wish to comment during the public comment portion of the agenda, press *9 and wait to be recognized by the Chair. Written communications submitted by mail or e-mail to the Agenda & Rules Committee by 5:00 p.m. the Friday before the Committee meeting will be distributed to the members of the Committee in advance of the meeting and retained as part of the official record.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian-Americans: a Photographic History
    Indian-Americans: A Photographic History by Jane Singh Although Indian-Americans make up one of the more rapidly grow­ jane Singh is coordinator of the People of South Asia in America Project, an exhibition ing ethnic groups in the United States, little is generally known of and public program series. The Project is their history in this country. The community is often seen as emerging _spo nsored by the Oakland Public Library in after the liberalized immigration law of 1965 removed restrictions and cooperation with the Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University ofCalifor­ quotas formerly applied to most countries of the Eastern Hemisphere. nia, Berkeley, andfunded by a grant from Indian-American origins, however, go back to the turn of the century, the National Endowment for the Human­ when the first immigrants from India began arriving in small numbers ities. Singh is a doctoral candidate in South Asian languages and literature at the Uni­ at ports along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Mostly versity ofCalifornia, Berkeley. farmers from the Punjab region of then British India, they joined the largely Asian workforce building the railroads, manning the lumber Immigrants from the Punjab region of India mills and working in the fields of the developing American West. In came to the Pacific Coast via East Asia, where addition to them but dispersed across the country were a few students, many had served in the British colonial army and police force. They were generally farm­ businessmen and _political exiles from various regions of India. ers who had left their land under pressures of The early Indian community faced anti-Asian prejudices and pol­ droughts and taxation.
    [Show full text]
  • South Asians in North America Collection, 1899-1974
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt95802879 No online items Finding Aid to the South Asians in North America Collection, 1899-1974 Finding Aid written by Bancroft Library staff The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ © 2007 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid to the South Asians in BANC MSS 2002/78 cz 1 North America Collection, 1899-1974 Finding Aid to the South Asians in North America Collection, 1899-1974 Collection Number: BANC MSS 2002/78 cz The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Finding Aid Written By: Bancroft Library staff Date Completed: January 2012 © 2012 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: South Asians in North America collection Date (inclusive): 1899-1974 Collection Number: BANC MSS 2002/78 cz Extent: Number of containers: 20 boxes, 1 volume, 1 oversize folder unit B, 1 portfolio. Copies of Boxes 13-20 : 4 microfilm reel : negative (BNEG Box 3215 [Boxes 13-14]; 3216 [Boxes 15-16]; 3217 [Boxes 17-18]; 3218 [Boxes 19-20]).Linear feet: approximately 8. Repository: The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ Abstract: Documents of the pro-Indian independence political group, Hindustan Gadar Party, headquartered in Calif. in the early 20th century, and other pro-Indian independence materials.
    [Show full text]
  • Shattuck-Renaming-Pwc-Staff-Report.Pdf
    Office of the City Manager MEMORANDUM Date: February 6, 2020 To: Members of the Public Works Commission From: City Manager’s Office, Office of Economic Development Submitted by: Kieron Slaughter, Community Development Project Coordinator Subject: Renaming Shattuck Avenue ‘East’ from Center Street to University Avenue, Shattuck Square and Berkeley Square RECOMMENDATION Select five names to be considered to rename Shattuck Avenue ‘East’ from Center Street to University Avenue, the eastern facing block faces on Shattuck Square and Berkeley Square. SUMMARY Per the City of Berkeley Policy for Naming and Renaming Public Facilities1, the City Manager initiated a public process to rename the two blocks of the eastern leg of Shattuck Avenue from Center Street to University Avenue to reduce confusion for first responders, customers, residents, visitors, transportation service providers, meal delivery services and courier service agencies. BACKGROUND As part of the Shattuck Reconfiguration Project, the two-block western segment of Shattuck Avenue will have two-way traffic and the eastern segment of Shattuck Avenue (“Shattuck Avenue East”) will have one-way traffic heading north. Rather than have two “Shattuck Avenues” – one side of the street will remain “Shattuck Avenue” and the other side of the same street (the eastern leg of Shattuck Avenue currently known as Shattuck Square on one block and Berkeley Square on the adjacent block) would be converted to the Shattuck Avenue and the new street name. The goal of the street renaming is to reduce confusion
    [Show full text]
  • Aaron M. Sheanin Partner Robins Kaplan LLP 2006 Kala Bagai Way Suite 22 Berkeley, CA 94704-1235 650.784.4026 650.784.4041 [email protected]
    Aaron M. Sheanin Partner Robins Kaplan LLP 2006 Kala Bagai Way Suite 22 Berkeley, CA 94704-1235 650.784.4026 650.784.4041 [email protected] FOCUS OF PRACTICE Antitrust and Trade Regulation Class Action Litigation EXPERIENCE Aaron M. Sheanin has represented businesses, consumers, and individual and institutional investors in complex litigation in federal and state court throughout his career. He has extensive experience as an antitrust litigator, taking a leadership role in every aspect of several well-known cartel cases from inception through trial. Mr. Sheanin serves as court-appointed Interim Co-Lead Counsel on behalf of End-User Plaintiffs in In re Hard Disk Drive Suspension Assemblies Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Cal.). Notably, Mr. Sheanin successfully tried an antitrust class action on behalf of direct purchasers of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays, which reached a favorable multi-million dollar verdict before trebling. In addition, Mr. Sheanin represented a class of student- athletes challenging the NCAA’s rules on capping scholarship compensation packages, as well as classes of direct purchasers who received multi-million dollar settlements from several major electronics companies over litigation alleging conspiracies to fix prices of lithium-ion batteries, optical disk drives, and cathode ray tubes. He has also represented clients in securities fraud, corporate governance, telecommunications, employment discrimination, defective product, and corporate restructuring and bankruptcy matters. In April 2020, Mr. Sheanin was appointed to the Board of Directors of Legal Aid at Work, a San Francisco-based nonprofit legal services organization that has been assisting low- AARON M. SHEANIN, continued EXPERIENCE (Cont.) income, working families for more than 100 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanities for All Quick Grants
    Humanities for All Quick Grants Note: In addition to continuing consideration of all eligible project applications on any topic, using any mode or format and reaching any public audience, California Humanities designated two specific funding focus areas, Arts & Humanities (denoted by “+”) and Youth Voices (denoted by “*”). GRANTS AWARDED IN FALL 2019 100 Years of the Women’s Vote California State University, Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles, CA Project Director: Jennifer Brandt The exhibit, 100 Years of the Women’s Vote, will open in April of 2020 at the Faculty Development Center at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in Carson. The project will be a joint effort of the CSUDH Women’s Studies Program and the CSUDH Donald R. & Beverly J. Gerth Archives & Special Collections, who has lent materials to the exhibit. Public programming will include a screening of the film Knock Down the House, which highlights the primary campaigns of four working-class women who ran for Congress in the 2018 midterm election. Congressional candidate Amy Vilela will be present for dialogue. $5,000 A People's History of Southern California Foodways Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA Project Directors: John Lang, Jaletta White-Griego A People's History of Southern California Foodways, a two-day symposium at The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, will consist of a public exploration of the contributions that immigrants and people of color have made and continue to make in the development of California cuisine. Understanding the ways that people of color and immigrants have actively participated in the evolution of the state’s foodways can provide a better understanding of the ways in which these communities continue to impact California’s culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanities for All Quick Grants
    Humanities for All Quick Grants Grants Awarded in Spring 2019 Note: In addition to continuing consideration of all eligible project applications on any topic, using any mode or format and reaching any public audience, California Humanities designated two specific funding focus areas, Arts & Humanities (denoted by “+”) and Youth Voices (denoted by “*”). The Legacy Project: Voices Reflecting on the Fires The Sitting Room, Sonoma, CA Project Director: Maya Khosla The Legacy Project: Voices Reflecting on the Fires will present a series of public poetry readings and storytelling events that will reflect on the 2017 Sonoma County fires, to encourage lively discussions centered on the post-fire recovery processes. Contributors to The Legacy Project will include contributors ranging from established and emerging writers, students, first responders, and other community members. Programming will run from May 2019 through April 2020, and will be presented at locations across Sonoma County, including the Fairfield Osborn Preserve, Sonoma State University, Glen Oaks Ranch, Sonoma Land Trust, Santa Rosa Junior College, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Cloverdale Public Library, The Sitting Room Community Library, Santa Rosa Public Library, and La Luz Center. All program events will be recorded and made available to the public. $5,000 Centering the Masses+ Visual Communications, Los Angeles, CA Project Director: Francis Cullado Centering the Masses will explore the histories and relationships that have strengthened some of Southern California’s ethnic enclaves, such as Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Crenshaw, and Long Beach—all of which are experiencing community redevelopment and displacement. Centering the Masses will comprise of an exhibition of photographs from the Visual Communications archives featuring historic photographs of Asian Pacific American communities from 1970 to 1990.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Previously Published Works
    UCLA UCLA Previously Published Works Title The Future of the Painful Past: The Materiality of the Digital in the South Asian American Digital Archive Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dh9h71w Author Caswell, ML Publication Date 2021-06-27 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Caswell 1 The Future of the Painful Past: Archival Labor and the Materiality of the Digital in the South Asian American Digital Archive Michelle Caswell Department of Information Studies, UCLA In her essay "History, memory, and the genre of testimony," Aleida Assmann (2006: 270- 271) writes, In her essay "History, memory, and the genre of testimony," Aleida Assmann (2006: 270- 271) claims that “the historical archive stores information for the use of specialists,” rather than the general public and argues that the archive is “not a form of presentation but of preservation” that “collects and stores information,” and “does not arrange, exhibit, process, or interpret it.” The historical archive stores information for the use of specialists. An archive is not a museum; it is not designed for public access and popular presentation … There is, of course, some order and arrangement in the digital archive, too, but it is one that ensures only the retrieval of information, not an intellectually or emotionally effective display. The archive, in other words, is not a form of presentation but of preservation; it collects and stores information, it does not arrange, exhibit, process, or interpret it. Assmann goes on to assert that archives are "pure potential" that must be activated by historians, curators, or artists——"agents other than archivists"——in order to be made meaningful (Assmann 2006: 271).
    [Show full text]
  • Berkeley City Council Agenda & Rules Committee Special
    BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA & RULES COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021 2:30 P.M. Committee Members: Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Councilmembers Sophie Hahn and Susan Wengraf Alternate: Councilmember Lori Droste PUBLIC ADVISORY: THIS MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH VIDEOCONFERENCE AND TELECONFERENCE Pursuant to Section 3 of Executive Order N-29-20, issued by Governor Newsom on March 17, 2020, this meeting of the City Council Agenda & Rules Committee will be conducted exclusively through teleconference and Zoom videoconference. Please be advised that pursuant to the Executive Order, and to ensure the health and safety of the public by limiting human contact that could spread the COVID-19 virus, there will not be a physical meeting location available. To access the meeting remotely using the internet: Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Android device: Use URL https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992094173. If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, then use the drop down menu and click on "rename" to rename yourself to be anonymous. To request to speak, use the “raise hand” icon on the screen. To join by phone: Dial 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (Toll Free) and Enter Meeting ID: 849 9209 4173. If you wish to comment during the public comment portion of the agenda, press *9 and wait to be recognized by the Chair. Written communications submitted by mail or e-mail to the Agenda & Rules Committee by 5:00 p.m. the Friday before the Committee meeting will be distributed to the members of the Committee in advance of the meeting and retained as part of the official record.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanities for All Quick Grants
    Humanities for All Quick Grants Grants Awarded in Winter 2019 Note: In this round of Humanities for All Quick Grant Awards, in addition to continuing consideration of all eligible project applications on any topic, using any mode or format and reaching any public audience, California Humanities designated two specific funding focus areas, Arts & Humanities (denoted by “+”) and Youth Voices (denoted by “*”). Accoutrements: A Public Literary Series Avenue 50 Studio Inc., Highland Park, CA Project Director: Jessica Ceballos y Campbell Accoutrements will engage the community of Northeast Los Angeles in a year-long series of 16 poetry readings featuring bilingual (Spanish/English) chapbook publications, accompanying visual art exhibits and interdisciplinary events presented at Avenue 50 Studio and in collaboration with the Poetry Reading Series La Palabra. Art exhibits and poetry readings organized around the themes of the environment, mental health, displacement and technology and having an emphasis on the perspectives of communities of color will culminate in an event at the Audubon Center at Deb’s Park in 2019. $5,000 Black Joy: Poetry with Young Black Men* Chapter 510 Ink, Oakland, CA Project Director: Janet Heller Black Joy will engage young black men in Oakland, California in a ten-week poetry workshop facilitated by poet Daniel Summerhill in the winter of 2019. The poetry workshop is designed to be a safe space for young people to explore their voices and use poetry to express their perspectives. Readings will include selections from the canon of African American poetry and literature, and the workshop will also have a focus on the meaning of belonging and not belonging as experienced through microagressions.
    [Show full text]
  • For Immediate Release: PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
    For Immediate Release: PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT Reclaiming India - A joint initiative of Global Indian Diaspora Calls for Judge led Independent Investigation into Delhi Riots - Halt Political Persecution and State-Sanctions Abuse against Dissenting Voices Members of the press and public are invited to join our press conference using the link below. September 19, 2020 *********************** Press Contacts: Dr. Manish Madan, Global Indian Progressive Alliance, 609-878-0508 Raju Rajagopal, Hindus for Human Rights, 510-318-4332 Sristy Agarwal, Voices Against Fascism in India, 818-641-9624 Rohit Tripathi, Young India, 301-237-7710 Suchitra Vijayan, The Polis Project, 415-699-3023 Shariq Mustafa, CAVACH (Collective Against Violation and Abuse of Civil and Human Rights), EU, +4915124907274 Time: Sunday 12noon EST, 9:00AM PST, 9:30PM IST Link: https://tinyurl.com/20Sept2020 ​ Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/797895194312656 ​ MAIN SPEAKERS: Sitaram Yechury, Former Rajya Sabha Member & Political Leader, CPI(M) ​ Harsh Mander, Human rights and peace worker, writer, columnist, researcher and teacher ​ Our diverse organizations across the world are united in our commitment to justice for al, democracy and secular India. We invite you to a press conference highlighting the political persecution of students, academics, public intellectuals and activists who exercised their fundamental rights to protest against the unconstitutional law, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). History will remember CAA (2019) as a major constitutional blunder of the current government represented by the far-right Hindutva Nationalists government led by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Misappropriating the historical facts and misleading narrative on CAA to further political propaganda is an irresponsible and a misguided act that we condemn collectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Archival Labor and the Materiality of the Digital in The
    Caswell 1 The Future of the Painful Past: Archival Labor and the Materiality of the Digital in the South Asian American Digital Archive Michelle Caswell Department of Information Studies, UCLA In her essay "History, memory, and the genre of testimony," Aleida Assmann (2006: 270- 271) writes, In her essay "History, memory, and the genre of testimony," Aleida Assmann (2006: 270- 271) claims that “the historical archive stores information for the use of specialists,” rather than the general public and argues that the archive is “not a form of presentation but of preservation” that “collects and stores information,” and “does not arrange, exhibit, process, or interpret it.” The historical archive stores information for the use of specialists. An archive is not a museum; it is not designed for public access and popular presentation … There is, of course, some order and arrangement in the digital archive, too, but it is one that ensures only the retrieval of information, not an intellectually or emotionally effective display. The archive, in other words, is not a form of presentation but of preservation; it collects and stores information, it does not arrange, exhibit, process, or interpret it. Assmann goes on to assert that archives are "pure potential" that must be activated by historians, curators, or artists——"agents other than archivists"——in order to be made meaningful (Assmann 2006: 271). This construction of archives as unmediated storehouses of raw materials in search of expert interpreters constitutes a fundamental misunderstanding
    [Show full text]