Claudia Sadowski-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781479847730
- eISBN:
- 9781479805396
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479847730.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
The New Immigrant Whiteness examines representations of post-1980s migration from the former USSR to the United States as responses to the global extension of neoliberalism and as contributions to ...
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The New Immigrant Whiteness examines representations of post-1980s migration from the former USSR to the United States as responses to the global extension of neoliberalism and as contributions to studies of immigration and whiteness. The book analyzes representations of the new diaspora in reality TV shows, parental memoirs of transnational adoption, fiction about irregular migration, and interviews with highly skilled and marriage immigrants. A study of post-Soviet immigrants’ participation in these diverse forms of US migration highlights the importance of legal status for accessing segmented US citizenship rights and complements the prevailing emphasis on the significance of collective group characteristics for immigrant adaptation and transnationalism. The book traces the emergence of discourses that associate the post-USSR diaspora with the upwardly mobile and assimilationist trajectories of early twentieth-century European immigrants toward a pan-European whiteness, and extend this notion to residents of the former USSR who participate in marriage and adoptive migration. The New Immigrant Whiteness also examines representations that place the post-Soviet diaspora in dialogue with Latina/o and Asian American migration to set an agenda for comparative work that displaces immigrant whiteness from its centrality as a US founding mythology despite significant domestic and global changes.
The book is unique in its focus on migration from the former USSR, its internal diversity, and its relationship to other US migrant groups. It is also unique in combining the methodologies of various fields, including literary and cultural studies, social sciences, and media studies.Less
The New Immigrant Whiteness examines representations of post-1980s migration from the former USSR to the United States as responses to the global extension of neoliberalism and as contributions to studies of immigration and whiteness. The book analyzes representations of the new diaspora in reality TV shows, parental memoirs of transnational adoption, fiction about irregular migration, and interviews with highly skilled and marriage immigrants. A study of post-Soviet immigrants’ participation in these diverse forms of US migration highlights the importance of legal status for accessing segmented US citizenship rights and complements the prevailing emphasis on the significance of collective group characteristics for immigrant adaptation and transnationalism. The book traces the emergence of discourses that associate the post-USSR diaspora with the upwardly mobile and assimilationist trajectories of early twentieth-century European immigrants toward a pan-European whiteness, and extend this notion to residents of the former USSR who participate in marriage and adoptive migration. The New Immigrant Whiteness also examines representations that place the post-Soviet diaspora in dialogue with Latina/o and Asian American migration to set an agenda for comparative work that displaces immigrant whiteness from its centrality as a US founding mythology despite significant domestic and global changes.
The book is unique in its focus on migration from the former USSR, its internal diversity, and its relationship to other US migrant groups. It is also unique in combining the methodologies of various fields, including literary and cultural studies, social sciences, and media studies.
