Lecture on American Studies
Topic: Transnationalism and American Immigration Historiography
Speaker: Prof. Wang Xinyang
Discussant: Dr. Li Jinzhao
Chair: Prof. Fu Meirong
Time: 3:00 - 5:00 pm, 9 April (Tuesday)
Place: Room 111, SEIS Building
Language: English
About the Lecture
By emphasizing the political and cultural connections between the immigrants and their homelands, transnationalism has significantly revised U.S. immigration historiography, especially Asian American historiography. Scholars used to insist that the U.S. government decision to intern Japanese immigrants during World War II was motivated solely by racism. Meanwhile, they ignored and even denied the role played by cultural traditions in the adjustment of Asian immigrants to the American environment. Historians adopting the transnationalist approach have convincingly re-interpreted these crucial issues in Asian American history, giving this academic field a new lease on life.
About the Speaker
Prof. Xinyang Wang received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from Yale University in 1988. He first worked as a research fellow at the Institute of East Asian Philosophies, Singapore, and then taught for a year in the Department of History and the Department of American Studies at Yale as a post-doctoral fellow and lecturer. From 1991 to 1995, he taught as an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative American Cultures and the Department of History at Washington State University. In 1995, he transferred to the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, where he served as an assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor in the Division of Humanities. Currently, he is a first-degree professor and managing editor of the English version of the Journal of Chinese Humanities at Shandong University. His major research interest is in U.S. social history, including immigration history, labor history, Asian American history, and the history of race relations. His book, entitled Surviving the City: The Chinese and Italian Immigrant Experience in New York, was published by the Roman & Littlefield Publishers in 2001. His English articles and reviews have been published, among other things, in Labor History, New York History, International Journal of Migration Studies, Western Historical Quarterly, the American Historical Review, and Amerasia Journal.
All interested parties are welcome!
