CFP: AAS 2018 Panel on Transformative Representations

CFP:  AAS 2018 Panel on Transformative Representations

We are looking for additional participants to round out a panel that explores the manner in which representations of ethnicity and gender shaped immigration policies from ancient to contemporary times in any geographical region.  Our working title is "Transformative Representations:  Ethnicity, Gender, and Immigration Policies."  One paper will analyze the intersection between nineteenth-century portrayals of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and exclusionist legislations in the  U.S.  The other paper will look at how the geopolitics of the Cold War and national discussions on immigration in the U.S., Canada, and Australia influenced policies toward refugees from Vietnam.

Some of the other issues that we are considering include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Immigrant and refugee policies across historical time and space
• Role of ethnicity and gender in representing immigrants
• Popular perceptions of immigrants
• Effects of changing representations on immigrant identities and communities
• The politicization of refugeeism (e.g. who gets counted as such)
• Who gets in and why
• Ideas of "otherness"
• The role of the nation-state in forming representations of immigrants and refugees
• Impact of exclusionism on the creation of immigrant and refugee communities

Please email an abstract and a brief CV to Constance Chen, Associate Professor of History at Loyola Marymount University (cchen@lmu.edu) and Lisa Tran, Professor of History at CSU Fullerton (lisatran@fullerton.edu) by Friday, July 28th.