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The Immigration and Ethnic History Newsletter Edited by Alison Clark Efford Department of History Marquette University PO Box 1881 Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881

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The Immigration and Ethnic History Newsletter Edited by Alison Clark Efford Department of History Marquette University PO Box 1881 Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881 The Immigration and Ethnic History Vol. LII, No. 2 Winter 2020 Newsletter Teaching Arab American History through Digital Collections: Agenda for a Plague Year By Stacy D. Fahrenthold “I came to the U.S. to stay,” Alice Abraham concluded of tives of transit, arrival, and integration, Naff wrote them her arrival from Ottoman Mount Lebanon in 1909, “but I into Becoming American: the Early Arab American Experi- was more sure of that after I got here.”1 Abraham arrived ence, a foundational work in Arab American history.3 Her in New York City at fifteen years old before proceeding to interviewees touch on a common theme: a sense that the Cedar Rapids, Iowa to join her brother and father. Speak- war, redrawn borders in the Middle East, and passport ing to historian Alixa Naff in 1962, Alice reported that her politics left people feeling fixed in place, stuck by force of family had not originally decided whether their time in massive, geopolitical circumstances beyond their control. America would be temporary or We now inhabit another moment permanent. Instead, the First of being fixed in place. The causes World War and the Ottoman Em- of our fixity and how we experi- pire’s disintegration rendered re- ence it are different than they turn to Lebanon impossible. An- were a century ago. But for histo- other of Naff’s interlocutors, Si- rians more comfortable with mon Abdelnour, came to the Unit- transit and crossings than we are ed States for medical school and with shelter-in-place, this mo- intended to return home “but I ment presents challenges to our was prevented from doing so by research and teaching. How do the war.” For Simon, the war’s end we teach migration history amid brought not a reopening of bor- the closure of key archives due to ders but further alienation: “I ap- COVID-19? This essay suggests plied for a passport to go back but “Syrian Restaurant,” c. 1910–1915, George Gran- ideas for teaching Arab American they weren’t issuing passports; tham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. history through digital collections, this was in 1919–20…. I came to Los Angeles and gave up emphasizing classroom work with primary sources. I’ll in- the idea of going back to Lebanon.”2 This experience of troduce key archival collections and propose how stu- being stranded in diaspora was a common one among the dents might use them to answer questions about move- half million Arab immigrants living in the Americas. After ment, fixity, and immigration mythmaking. 1918, the victorious European powers occupied and parti- tioned the eastern Mediterranean, governing Syria, Leba- In the migration history classroom, pushing against the non, and Palestine as a system of imperial Mandates and sedentary bias—the belief that staying put is a normative largely excluding emigrants from travel and nationality human state—is a common objective. To shift away from rights. justifying migration or framing it as extraordinary, we con- sider how immobility warrants explanation. What condi- The war and its aftermath invalidated their old passports tions lead people to stay put? Invention of new borders? and left their political futures uncertain. Alixa Naff’s oral Travel bans? When and how is immobility the product of histories with first generation Arab Americans, held by the historical structures? In Arab American history, the period Smithsonian Institution and digitized by the Arab Ameri- following World War I represented such a moment. With can National Museum (AANM) reveal the coercive geopol- the establishment of the Mandate system in the Middle itics that undergirded the linear archetype of the “to America” story. Documenting dozens of personal narra- (ARAB AMERICAN continued on page 6) 2 From the IEHS President editor Alison Efford. We continue to add new followers on social media and expand the readership of the IEHS blog, Thanksgiving weekend is a fitting edited by Chienyn Chih, and Heather Lee and Sarah time to pen my last message as McNamara have plans to develop an IEHS podcast. president for the IEHS newsletter because I have had so much to be Board members old and new, Alan Kraut, Rosina Lozano, grateful for during my time as stew- and especially S. Deborah Kang, contributed to another ard of this great organization. Doz- major new initiative, the IEHS Professional Ethics Policy, ens of generous and talented col- which sets forth our organizational values regarding sexual leagues—most of whom I cannot harassment. Approved by the board at our virtual meeting name here—supported my efforts held April 3, 2020, the full text of this policy is posted at to continue expanding IEHS’s schol- the bottom of the Mission, History, and Bylaws section of arly community, services, and pro- the IEHS website and will be applied at IEHS-sponsored grams with their contributions of expertise, idealism, and events. Professional Ethics Committee members are taking labor. AHA-sponsored trainings to receive and investigate com- plaints. The three IEHS presidents who immediately preceded me—Barbara Posadas, Hasia Diner, and Maria Cristina Several turnovers and additions of IEHS officers have oc- Garcia—modelled leadership by women. I have continued curred during my term as president. Suzy Sinke has under- their long campaign toward building a “big tent” that fos- taken the major intellectual and administrative role of ters community and shared intellectual ground among JAEH editor and has been joined by new book review edi- scholars who often operate in silos imposed by the specific tor Omar Valerio-Jimenez for the past year. Monique groups that they research. From IEHS’s origins in the Laney has assumed the office of treasurer. As we issue this 1960s, when immigration history focused primarily on Eu- newsletter, we are currently searching for a new secretary ropeans, our organization has evolved to encompass the to step into the large shoes of Tim Draper, who has for experiences of immigrants and ethnic communities origi- more than a decade has capably managed the many mov- nating from all parts of the world. I have also had the good ing parts of core operations such as elections, member- fortune to inherit stable finances from my predecessors as ship, communications, awards committees, and banquet president, past treasurer Tyler Anbinder, and the editors arrangements. of the Journal of American Ethnic History (JAEH). These Pandemic conditions have prevented me from partici- revenues have enabled IEHS to fund more awards, grants, pating in my favorite responsibilities as president— and online programs. organizing conference gatherings to meet and share con- Being able to handover authority to a highly qualified suc- versations with my IEHS friends, honor the accomplish- cessor is surely one of the greatest accomplishments for a ments of recently published authors and major IEHS stal- leader, and I take great satisfaction in knowing that Kevin warts, and, perhaps best of all, choosing the menu for our Kenny is waiting in the wings. He has been unusually ac- annual awards banquet. I planned for, but did not get to tive as vice president, working as program committee attend, the 2020 OAH in Washington, DC. Although condi- chair and assuming a major role in developing our digital tions remain too unsettled in 2021, I look forward to see- projects program. During the pandemic, he has worked ing every one of you at IEHS gatherings in the better times with Maddalena Marinari, Ellen Wu, and Torrie Hester to that I hope lie ahead. organize online events such as author talks that have been Madeline Y. Hsu recorded and will be made available on YouTube. Under the supervision of digital projects officer Heather Lee, the IEHS website is being upgraded and will include an ex- Member Yukari Takai Receives Article Award panded educational resources section featuring projects such as Teach Immigration History and #ImmigrationSylla- In June 2020, Yukari Takai received the Canadian Com- bus, along with recommendations of books, websites, or- mittee on Migration, Ethnicity and Transnationalism ganizations, and archives. Current webmaster Bryan Prize from the Canadian Historical Association for her arti- Zehngut-Willits also coordinates communications with cle entitled “Recrafting Marriage in Meiji Hawai’i, 1885- new social media officer Sergio Gonzalez and newsletter 1913,” published in Gender & History 31, no. 3 (2019): 646–64. 3 Seeking New IEHS Secretary In Memoriam: Moses Rischin The position of secretary of the IEHS will be vacant after By Jonathan D. Sarna the Annual Meeting of the IEHS in April 2021. The secre- This necrology from H-Judaic was originally published on tary serves as an officer of the Immigration and Ethnic August 21, 2020 under a Creative Commons license. History Society, appointed by the IEHS president with the approval of the executive board. The appointment, for a H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of three-year term, is renewable. The secretary maintains Professor Moses Rischin (1925–2020), emeritus professor the records of the society, sends correspondence, over- at San Francisco State University, and a pioneering and sees elections, and assists with membership coordination senior scholar in the field of American Jewish history. and the annual meeting. The secretary will also work Born in Brooklyn, the son of two Russian-immigrant par- with the board in its current initiative to enhance digital ents who loved Hebrew (his father was a friend of the communications for the society. famed Israeli historian BenZion Dinur), young Moses was If anyone is interested in serving the IEHS in this capacity, sent to study in the then recently-opened Yeshiva of Flat- seeks more detailed information, or has questions on the bush, providing him with a foundation in Hebrew and Ju- position, please contact IEHS vice president/president daica that later served him well.
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