Assimilation: An Alternative History (American Crossroads)

by Catherine S. Ramírez

For over a hundred years, the story of assimilation has animated the nation-building project of the United States. And still today, the dream or demand of a cultural "melting pot" circulates through academia, policy institutions, and mainstream media outlets. Noting society’s many exclusions and erasures, scholars in the second half of the twentieth century persuasively argued that only some social groups assimilate. Others, they pointed out, are subject to racialization. 

In this bold, discipline-traversing cultural history, Catherine Ramírez develops an entirely different account of assimilation. Weaving together the legacies of US settler colonialism, slavery, and border control, Ramírez challenges the assumption that racialization and assimilation are separate and incompatible processes. In fascinating chapters with subjects that range from nineteenth century boarding schools to the contemporary artwork of undocumented immigrants, this book decouples immigration and assimilation and probes the gap between assimilation and citizenship. It shows that assimilation is not just a process of absorption and becoming more alike. Rather, assimilation is a process of racialization and subordination and of power and inequality. 

256 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2020

About the author

Catherine Sue Ramírez is an Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research and teaching focus on twentieth-century Mexican-American history, histories of immigration and assimilation, Latina/o literature, feminist theory, and comparative ethnic studies.

Reviews

[apollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really amazing book and a 100% must read for (im)migration scholars and anyone interested in ethnic studies really! it's amazing to see such a strong critique of traditional assimilation theory & i especially loved the incorporation of art, novels and memoirs, current events, and other pieces of evidence than what is traditionally used in academic work. it def added a deeply human element to the arguments and stories Dr. Ramírez was speaking to. well def be citing in future work!