Nordic Whiteness and Migration to the USA: A Historical Exploration of Identity (Studies in Migration and Diaspora)

This volume explores the complex and contradictory ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness has influenced identities, self-perceptions and the process of integration of Nordic immigrants into multicultural and racially segregated American society in the 19th and 20th centuries. In deploying central insights from whiteness studies, postcolonial feminist and intersectionality theories, it shows that Nordic immigrants - Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Sámi - contributed to and challenged American racism and white identity. A diverse group of immigrants, they could proclaim themselves 'hyper-white' and 'better citizens than anybody else', including Anglo-Saxons, thus taking for granted the racial bias of American citizenship and ownership rights, yet there were also various, unexpected intersections of whiteness with ethnicity, regional belonging, gender, sexuality, and political views. 'Nordic whiteness', then, was not a monolithic notion in the USA and could be challenged by other identities, which could even turn white Nordic immigrants into marginalized figures. A fascinating study of whiteness and identity among white migrants in the USA, Nordic Whiteness and Migration to the USA will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in Scandinavian studies, migration and diaspora studies and American studies. This volume explores the ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness influenced the identities and integration of Nordic immigrants into the segregated American society in the 19th and 20th centuries Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Contributors 11 Series editor’s preface 14 Introduction: Whiteness in Nordic immigrants’ identity formation 18 Recent developments towards whiteness studies 18 Exposing colour-blind myths about Nordic immigration 19 Whiteness as a standpoint and institutionalised privilege 20 Arriving to a multi-ethnic republic 22 Whiteness as epistemological ignorance 23 Not quite white: painful experiences of Sámi immigrants 23 White immigrants and the failure of class solidarity 24 Nordic superiority and the derogatory representation of others 25 Challenging intersections of whiteness and ethnicity 26 Nonconformity and resistance to white norms 27 Notes 28 References 29 Part 1 Whiteness as epistemological ignorance 32 Chapter 1 Norwegian migration and displaced indigenous peoples: Toward an understanding of Nordic whiteness in the land-taking 34 Introduction 34 Wisconsin in the period of removal and migration (1830s–1850s) 37 Minnesota in the era of wars, exile, and secondary migrations (1860s and 1870s) 40 Centennial celebrations (1914 and 1925): narrating whiteness 44 Conclusion 46 Acknowledgments 47 Notes 47 References 49 Part 2 Not quite white: Painful experiences of Sámi immigrants 52 Chapter 2 Racialization of the Sámi in early twentieth-century migration processes: Trans-atlantic continuities and divergences 54 Introduction 54 Sámi migration and contemporary identity in North America 56 Race, ethnicity, class, and gender in migration processes 58 Albertine Josefine Svendsen (1886–1984) 58 Bereth (Bertha) Kristine Susanne Larsdatter (1881–1954) 60 Karen Marie Nilsdatter (1874–1956) 62 Kirsten/Risten Nilsdatter Bals (1879–?) Luhkkár-Ánne/Anna Mortensdatter Nilima (1866–1949) 63 Conclusion 66 Notes 68 References 68 Part 3 White immigrants and the failure of class solidarity 70 Chapter 3 “On liberty and equality”: Race and Reconstruction among Scandinavian immigrants, 1864–1868 72 Introduction 72 Liberty and equality 73 Limits to the military melting pot 76 Retreat from Reconstruction 79 Conclusion 84 Notes 84 References 85 Part 4 Nordic superiority and the derogatory representations of others 90 Chapter 4 Atop a hierarchy of whiteness: Danish Americans as portrayed by Danish travel writers in the second half of the nineteenth century 92 Introduction 92 The travel writers 92 Danish-American city dwellers 94 Rural Danish Americans 96 The lower end of the scale 98 In-between groups 100 Assimilation and pluralism 106 Conclusion 111 Notes 112 References 112 Chapter 5 Good Americans “born of a good people”: Race, whiteness, and nationalism among Norwegian Americans in the Pacific Northwest 115 Introduction 115 Whiteness and the construction of the racial self 116 Norwegian romantic nationalism and the construction of the “racial” self 118 “White men” and the racial “othering” of others 122 The Scandinavian racial self and Norwegian superiority 126 Conclusion 131 Note 132 References 132 Primary sources, archival 132 Primary sources, published 132 Secondary sources 133 Part 5 Challenging intersections of whiteness and ethnicity 134 Chapter 6 Ideal immigrants? Ethnic community building among Norwegian Americans in the nineteenth century 136 Introduction 136 Religion and ethnicity 137 The centrality of kinship and land 140 Portrayals in dime magazines and guidebooks 141 A homemaking mythology 144 White identity: Hilton and Hamsun 146 Conclusion 148 References 148 Chapter 7 In the American matrix: Norwegians in Chicago in the nineteenth century 151 Introduction 151 Norwegians in a multi-ethnic urban environment 153 Conclusion 158 References 158 Part 6 Nonconformity and resistance to white norms 160 Chapter 8 Claiming roots: Politics of racial ancestry in the Finnish-American press during the 1938 New Sweden Tercentenary 162 Introduction 162 The Delaware Tercentenary celebration in 1938 164 Nordic or Finnish ancestry? 166 Frontier imagery 170 Conclusions 176 Notes 176 References 177 Chapter 9 The Nordic mystique: Swedish women as sexualized “other” in postwar America 179 Introduction 179 Nordic whiteness and sexuality in the pre- and postwar eras 180 The dawn of Swedish sin in Playboy during the late 1950s 184 The 1960s heyday of “Swedish sin” 187 Conclusions 192 References 193 Scholarly sources 193 Newspaper and magazine articles 195 Film 196 Conclusion: Nordic slotting into the American ethno-racial hierarchy 198 References 201 Index 202 Nordic,whiteness;,race;,ethnicity;,citizenship;,white,superiority;,United,States;,US;,USA;,great,migration;,19th,century;,20th,century;,twentieth,century;,nineteenth,century;,belonging;,sociology;,history;,whiteness;,challenges;,Scandinavia;,migration Nordic whiteness,race,ethnicity,citizenship,white superiority,United States,US,USA,great migration,19th century,20th century,twentieth century,nineteenth century,belonging,sociology,history,whiteness,challenges,Scandinavia,migration "This volume explores the complex and contradictory ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness has influenced identities, self-perceptions and the process of integration of Nordic immigrants into multicultural and racially segregated American society in the 19th and 20th centuries. In deploying central insights from whiteness studies, postcolonial feminist and intersectionality theories, it shows that Nordic immigrants - Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Sámi - contributed to and challenged American racism and white identity. A diverse group of immigrants, they could proclaim themselves 'hyper-white' and 'better citizens than anybody else', including Anglo-Saxons, thus taking for granted the racial bias of American citizenship and ownership rights, yet there were also various, unexpected intersections of whiteness with ethnicity, regional belonging, gender, sexuality, and political views. 'Nordic whiteness', then, was not a monolithic notion in the USA and could be challenged by other identities, which could even turn white Nordic immigrants into marginalized figures. A fascinating study of whiteness and identity among white migrants in the USA, Nordic Whiteness will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in Scandinavian studies, migration and diaspora studies and American studies"-- Provided by publisher This volume explores the complex and contradictory ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness has influenced identities, self-perceptions and the process of integration of Nordic immigrants into multicultural and racially segregated American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In deploying central insights from whiteness studies, postcolonial feminist and intersectionality theories, it shows that Nordic immigrants - Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Sámi - contributed to and challenged American racism and white identity. A diverse group of immigrants, they could proclaim themselves ‘hyper-white'and ‘better citizens than anybody else', including Anglo-Saxons, thus taking for granted the racial bias of American citizenship and ownership rights, yet there were also various, unexpected intersections of whiteness with ethnicity, regional belonging, gender, sexuality, and political views. ‘Nordic whiteness', then, was not a monolithic notion in the USA and could be challenged by other identities, which could even turn white Nordic immigrants into marginalised figures. A fascinating study of whiteness and identity among white migrants in the USA, Nordic Whiteness will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in Scandinavian studies, migration and diaspora studies and American studies. This volume explores the complex and contradictory ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness has influenced identities, self-perceptions and the process of integration of Nordic immigrants into multicultural and racially segregated American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In deploying central insights from whiteness studies, postcolonial feminist and intersectionality theories, it shows that Nordic immigrants - Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Smi - contributed to and challenged American racism and white identity. A diverse group of immigrants, they could proclaim themselves hyper-white' and better citizens than anybody else', including Anglo-Saxons, thus taking for granted the racial bias of American citizenship and ownership rights, yet there were also various, unexpected intersections of whiteness with ethnicity, regional belonging, gender, sexuality, and political views. Nordic whiteness', then, was not a monolithic notion in the USA and could be challenged by other identities, which could even turn white Nordic immigrants into marginalised figures. A fascinating study of whiteness and identity among white migrants in the USA, Nordic Whiteness will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in Scandinavian studies, migration and diaspora studies and American studies