Atlantic Entanglements: Narratives of Self and Other at the Turn of the 20th Century

摘要

Although the mobility of populations across the Atlantic has a long history, the decadesaround the turn of the 20th century witnessed an unprecedented movement of migrants fromEurope to the Americas. This increased movement of peoples coincided with the overseasexpansion of the United States, in the wake of the Spanish-American War (1898), which led to theacquisition of territories in Central America and the Pacific region. This period, then, is a turningpoint in the history of US relations with the world, marking the emergence of a new global systemin which the US would come to play an increasingly important role.These are some of the significant points that provide the backdrop for the issues I discuss in thispaper. The heated debates provoked by the so-called “new immigrants” (i.e. those from southernand eastern Europe) as well as by the “imperial venture” of the US show clearly that significantsectors of US society saw both as threats to the integrity of the nation and to a supposedly pureAmerican identity, based on Anglo-Saxon traditions. I will draw on texts with a variety ofviewpoints, from nativists such as Edward A. Ross and Madison Grant to immigrants like MaryAntin, to discuss the reconceptualization of the nation and its identity within the emerging globalcontext that I mentioned above.