|
|
|
Ethnic Historical Associations at the Crossroads: An Introduction
by
Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann & Suzanne M. Sinke
|
In January 2007, the Polish American Historical Association and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society organized jointly the panel session "Ethnic Historical Associations at the Crossroads" at the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in Atlanta, Georgia. The panelists, who represented several active ethnic historical organizations, as well as the IEHS, included Hasia Diner of the New York University representing the American Jewish Historical Society; Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, representing the American Italian Historical Association; Suellen Cheng representing El Pueblo Historical Monument and Chinese Historical Society of Southern California; Suzanne Sinke, Florida State University, representing the Association for the Advancement of Dutch American Studies; and Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, Eastern Connecticut State University, representing the Polish American Historical Association. Sinke and Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann organized and co-chaired the panel. |
1
|
|
The idea for this session came to us as we both faced a professional and personal challenge of being asked to serve as presidents of our respective historical societies. We both received our doctoral degrees from the University of Minnesota and were mentees of Professor Rudolph J. Vecoli. Over the years, we kept in touch, meeting at various conferences. It was at Rudy's retirement party that we talked about the challenges ahead, and these involved the possibility of leading the AADAS and PAHA respectively. We considered the matter with some degree of anxiety, wondering how the expansion of duties would affect our professional lives, how we would be able to handle this type of commitment, and whether we really wanted to get ourselves into all this. But as the conversation was taking place at Rudy's retirement dinner, we could not but remember his call to not only study but also SERVE the ethnic groups, which entrust us with their memories. Seeing Rudy as a role model, by the end of the dinner we knew that the new commitment would be a learning experience. We each took office as presidents of AADAS and PAHA in 2007. |
2
|
|
It does not mean, however, that our anxieties completely disappeared. Who are we as ethnic historical societies? Where do we come from? Where do we go from here? What is ahead of us? How do others do it? We wanted to hear from other colleagues, share and compare, and find a larger intellectual and organizational context to our activities. Thus the idea of the session was born. |
3
|
|
Of course we were not the first group to consider the activities of ethnic historical organizations. In 1960, John J. Appel completed his doctoral dissertation on the "Immigrant Historical Societies in the United States, 1880–1950," which was re-issued by Arno Press in 1980. John Bodnar in Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century (1992), studied local historical societies in nineteenth century Midwestern towns. In 1994, the Journal of American Ethnic History devoted almost an entire issue to a forum centered around John Higham's article on "The Ethnic Historical Societies in Changing Times." Higham's argument provoked a lively debate and elicited responses from several scholars. In the summer 2006 issue of the Journal of American Ethnic History, June Granatir Alexander provided an excellent overview and analysis of the history of the IEHS. And throughout the years many ethnic historical societies recorded their own stories in a variety of ways. |
4
|
|
We asked our panelists to briefly present their respective organizations, different stages of their intellectual and administrative development, and to comment on the new goals and challenges which they face. The session's goal was to address a variety of issues. For example, one of the central questions posed by John Higham was about the insularism, intellectual particularism, and even elitism of professional ethnic societies, confined to the vestiges of the academy. Are we hostages of the academy or beneficiaries of its support? |
5
|
|
Who is our audience? How well do we do reaching out to the broader constituency for our societies? How do we respond to the needs of new groups, and new immigrant waves on the one hand, and various stages of increased assimilation on the other? |
6
|
|
How do we deal with the competition (although perhaps a different term should be used here) from other ethnic organizations with cultural agendas, which include preservation and interpretation of history, for example museums, research centers, genealogical societies, local historical associations, etc.? |
7
|
|
What can be done to increase cooperation among different ethnic historical societies; among ethnic historical societies and other professional organizations such as the IEHS? Or larger historical organizations, such as American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, and Social Science History Association? |
8
|
|
How do we utilize modern technological opportunities, for example the Internet and moderated discussion groups such as H-Ethnic? How do we respond to the possibilities of larger diasporic cooperation, including establishing closer relationships with scholars and audiences in the Old Countries? |
9
|
|
How do we respond to the challenges of the changing field, so aptly discussed in the above mentioned issue of the 2006 Journal of American Ethnic History? These challenges include, for example, multidisciplinary collaboration, changes in the focus of the discipline, and inclusion of new and innovative types of sources and methods for their analysis. |
10
|
|
In 1994, John Higham sounded a slightly pessimistic note when he asserted that "most of us in ethnic studies do not look to the future with great assurance. The years of easy, exuberant expansion are over. There is a widespread sense that the gains of recent years will need to be defended before ambitious new initiatives can be undertaken." Thirteen years later, are the ethnic historical societies still at the crossroads? |
11
|
|
This issue of Polish American Studies brings together four articles based on the conference presentations. Suzanne M. Sinke opens with an article that focuses on several dividing lines among groups which study Dutch American migrants and their descendants. The niche which the Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies inhabits shares at least border areas as in a Venn diagram with a variety of other groups, from those which cover Dutch migrants of the colonial era, to those with more linguistic interests, to those which present Dutch migration in a more diasporic model. These groups at least on some levels compete for the affiliation, interest, and funds of various possible audiences. The mix of academic and scholarly audiences here is a conscious strategy. |
12
|
|
Jerry Krase's article on the American Italian Historical Association illustrates his background as a sociologist. Krase demonstrates changes in the Association membership, publications, and conference programs through numerical data on gender and disciplinary affiliation. These data make it clear why some scholars sought to change the organization's name to lessen the "history" emphasis in light of other disciplinary interests, and to turn instead to "studies" or an equivalent. This shift reflected a larger change in the subject of other ethnic history organizations as well, at least European ones, with more attention to places of origin, later migrant and ethnic generations, and more cultural phenomenon. As Krase points out, all history is to some degree related to promoting the political agenda of particular groups, and hence the Association could not distance itself entirely from ethnic advocacy. |
13
|
|
Hasia Diner describes the origins and development of the American Jewish Historical Society, in particular the tension between attracting an academic audience and engaging a popular following. Her metaphor of serving two masters rings true in the other cases at least to some degree, though the non-scholarly origins of the AJHS in a time of anti-Semitism distinguish this case study. Perhaps more comparable is the late twentieth century support for Jewish studies, where funding from the Jewish American community sought to reverse a trend towards invisibility of the group in college curricula. |
14
|
|
Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann closes with a history of the Polish American Historical Association which updates John Bukowczyk's history of the group from 1993, and shows the many ways in which changing topics and personalities steered the group in new directions in recent decades. Between the exile academic origins in the mid-twentieth century and the religious ties of a long era of existence, PAHA differed from some ethnic history organizations. Since the early 1990s the group has expanded its offerings in terms of conferences and scholarships, while continuing with collection efforts and some political advocacy. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann illustrates both some of the key successes, and some important challenges for the future of the group. |
15
|
|
Together these four articles illustrate similarities of these ethnic history associations, all of which utilize the scholarship of academics along with the enthusiasm of an ethnic audience. The groups differ, to some extent, in the degree to which non-professionals may participate, and in the roles a lay audience plays apart from audience members at lectures or conferences. Moreover, the articles demonstrate the shift toward more cultural and transnational approaches in several fields in recent years. Polish American Studies chose its title well in this context. |
16
|
|
The contrasts between ethnic history associations, however, also appear, as in the degree of funding, of institutionalized support, and in the longevity of the various groups. Though cautious in some cases, all the articles point to group strengths and initiatives. All note the lack of integration of their work into a broader history, whether U.S. or Atlantic (in these European cases). Making known the history of one group may exclude the history of another. Yet most of those represented here show a concern with knowing more about the history of these European-descended ethnics. Ethnicity for these group members, even if only symbolic, appears well established. |
17
|
|
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|