The Department of Sociology is excited to host Dr. Tomás Jiménez as the first guest speaker in our 2023-24 Distinguished Speaker Series.
Dr. Jiménez, Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, will present a lecture titled “Building the Nation of Immigrants: Textbooks, Immigration, and the National Narrative, 1930-1985.”
ABSTRACT
How did the idea of the nation of immigrants come to be? Sofia Avila (Princeton Sociology) and I use a sample of U.S. history high school textbooks from 1930 to 1985 to document the role that immigration and select immigrant groups play in building the national narrative.
Using hand coding and computer-assisted text analysis, we show how the selection, organization, and interpretation of immigrant group experiences shifts over time, such that protagonists and antagonists in the national narrative swap places over the course of the 20th century.
By the mid-1980s, descendants of immigrants are part of a “minority” American experience, and the national “we” that once excluded immigrants become the foil for the true American character.
Tomás Jiménez is a Professor of Sociology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the founding co-director of Stanford's Institute on Race. He is also the director of the Qualitative Initiative in the Immigration Policy Lab. His research and writing focus on immigration, policy, assimilation, social mobility, and ethnic and racial identity.
His latest book, States of Belonging: Immigration Policies, Attitudes, and Inclusion (Russell Sage Foundation Press) uses survey data, with an embedded experiment, and in-depth interviews to understand how state-level immigration policies shape belonging among Latino immigrants, US-born Latinos, and US-born whites in Arizona and New Mexico. The American Sociological Association’s Population Section selected the book for its Otis Dudley Duncan Distinguished Book Award.
Dr. Jiménez has also published his research in Science, American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Social Problems, International Migration Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Science Quarterly, DuBois Review, Social Currents, Qualitative Sociology, and the Annual Review of Sociology.
Find out more about Dr. Jiménez here.
ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. To be respectful of those with allergies and environmental sensitivities, we ask that you please refrain from wearing strong fragrances. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact us through the RSVP form.