Welcome Home: Benjamin Morris discusses immigration with Jana K. Lipman and Sarah Fouts

Abstract

Rare is the moment in American history when the question of immigration does not arise. Despite the fact that the United States was founded as a nation of immigrants—or perhaps because of it—debates over the arrival of peoples to its shores continue to quicken the country’s pulse. Recognizing the intensity of these debates in the past two years, this past March, the New Orleans/Tennessee Williams Literary Festival hosted a panel on immigration from historical and cultural perspectives, featuring scholars who have studied the topic from a variety of angles.Following the festival, Room 220 contributor Benjamin Morris spoke with panelist Jana K. Lipman, Associate Professor of History at Tulane University, to dig deeper into the events and policies that have contributed to the ebb and flow of communities to New Orleans. Lipman is the author of Guantánamo: A Working-Class History between Empire and Revolution, 1939-1979 (University California Press, 2009), which won the 2009 Co-Winner of the Taft Prize in Labor History, and is currently finishing a book entitled In Camps: Vietnamese Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Repatriates, 1975-2005, under contract with UC Press. Joining the conversation was Lipman’s colleague (and former student) Sarah Fouts, Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies at University of Maryland-Baltimore County.