Past Activities

Ethnicity, Migration, and Heritage Interdisciplinary Seminar

Introduction <> Seminar Rationale <> Seminar Faculty
Topics and Speakers <> Selected Readings <> Speaker Biographies

Introduction

Professor Amy Shuman Director, Center for Folklore Studies
Associate Professor, Department of English
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

The Ethnicity/Heritage/Migration interdisciplinary seminar focuses on the cultural, economic, and political implication of the production of new cultural identities by people who live in transplanted communities, whether as immigrants, refugees, or in forced repatriation. The seminar will seek to explore inter-disciplinary shared interest in questions of how groups display, promote, and transmit their Americanness and their foreignness. The course is supported by funds from the Graduate School, the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and the Mershon Center, and will involve guest speakers from Ohio State University, the U.S., and abroad who will speak on the following topics:

Theories and research methods for studying ethnicity, migration, heritage, and creolization
Ethnic museums, festivals, and other displays of self-conscious ethnicity
Language diversity and language pedagogy within ethnic communities
Nationalism and the politics of ethnic affiliation
European constructions of ethnic and heritage identity
The self-conscious promotion of ethnicity: The Greek American community in Columbus
New immigrants/refugees, social resources and cultural/language/legal obstacles
Conflict Management and Constructions of Identity Among Ethnic Groups

The interdisciplinary seminar will provide an opportunity to create a larger intellectual forum for the Center's Heritage and Learning research program.