Immigration, Race, Ethnicity and
Gender
A study in Stereotypes
Stereotype


an image or idea that has become fixed by repetition or
acceptance, to the point of cliché
“Image” can be either visual or metaphorical – i.e.
– the actual physical appearance
or
– the impression being suggested
Dominant Culture
Dominant cultures are often not designated by
having the most members, but by having the most
economic and political influence over an entire
society.
 They can also have individuals as members that
cross ethnic, racial, gender and other lines.


racistcartoonclips – YouTube
Whether its been immigrants or African-Americans, pictorial
stereotypes have been used to maintain the dominant
culture’s power.
• A pictorial
stereotype is an
image that
conveys
misinformed
perceptions that
have the weight
of established
facts.
Stereotype
Although African
Americans are more
fairly represented in
the media today, the
most common
pictures still relate
to crime, sports, and
entertainment.
Immigration History
“Push” to
U.S. Immigration
• 1840-50: Irish Potato Famine – mostly
Irish Catholics come.
• 1850: U.S. seizes 1/3 of Mexico
• Mexican border relatively open until
1920
– Mexicans come and go freely
– 1910: Mexican Revolution seizes land
– 1920: Cristero Movement repressed
“Push” to
U.S. Immigration
Chinese rush to U.S. in 1840-1870
– 1839-42: Opium War with Britain
– Loss of Hong Kong to Britain
– Taiping Rebellion 1850-64
– Agricultural crisis and rice shortage
“Push” to
U.S. Immigration
• 1890-1924: Period of greatest immigration
• Ellis Island: 1892 – 1924:
– 5000 enter daily, maybe 1 in 50 rejected
– 12 million had entered by 1954 when
closed
• WWI generates Italian, Slav, Greek, Polish,
Jewish immigrants (Southern Europe)
Historic “Pull”
of Immigrants
Immigrants satisfy US
economic needs ->
Nativism
1864: 1st comprehensive
federal immigration law to work
frontier (RR, mining, farming,
e.g., Chinese recruited for Ca.
gold rush 1848-1882).
1870s: Companies recruit in
Mexico in part to replace
Chinese, but mostly seasonal.
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act,
denies more entries, no return if
leave, sponsoring relatives and
citizenship denied.
WWI: Government, industry and
agriculture contract Mexican
labor.
Orientalism and
Stereotypes
Orientalism is "a manner
of regularized (or
Orientalized) writing,
vision, and study,
dominated by imperatives,
perspectives, and
ideological biases
ostensibly suited to the
Orient."
It is the image of the
'Orient' expressed as
an entire system of
thought
Asian
Immigration
and
Stereotypes
The Oriental is a person
represented by such thinking.
The man is depicted as
feminine, weak, yet
strangely dangerous because
poses a threat to white,
Western women.
The woman is both eager to
be dominated and strikingly
exotic. The Oriental is a
single image, a sweeping
generalization, a stereotype
that crosses countless
cultural and national
boundaries.
U.S. Limits Immigration
• Limits usually accompanied by anti immigrant,
xenophobic campaigns e.g., anti Chinese
movement in midst of 1870 US depression.
• Up to 1850s – 85% of immigrants were English,
Scotch Irish, and German; all other groups
suspect because “Not like us.”
• After WWI: door slammed shut:
– 1900-1915: 15 million enter U.S.
– 1915-1930: 5.5 million enter U.S.
U.S. Limits Immigration
• 1918-1921: Red scare aggravates fear
& anti-immigrant reaction.
• 1921-1924: Quota Law – 1st time
numerical limits; uses 1910 proportion,
favoring north Europeans.
• Border Patrol created; Mexican border
becomes a tangible reality, though still
permeable.
U.S. Limits Immigration
1924 Immigration Act severely limits
because
– Racial superiority of Anglo Saxons
– Immigrants cause lowering of wages
– Do not assimilate
– Threat to national identity & unity
– Limits immigrants to 2% of their national
group in 1890, thus against south & east
Europeans
Statue of Liberty
Give me your tired,
your poor,
Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe
free.
The wretched refuse
of your teeming shore.
Send these,
the homeless,
tempest-tossed to me,
I life my lamp beside
the golden door.
Emma Lazarus
Immigrants satisfy a U.S. demand
In the 1990s: over half of US workforce
growth was from immigrants.
• 2000-2005: immigrants accounted for 86%
of increase in US employment (about 50%
were Hispanics of which 50% Mexican).
• For next 20 years, no net increase is
predicted in the number of prime workingage natives (ages 15-54).
Contradictions of Push,
Pull & Limiting
• 1996: Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) hastily passed on
eve of threatened government shutdown (9/30).
– Harshest law in U.S. history
• Retroactively increased grounds of deportability
• Greatly limited judicial review & political asylum
• Mandated 10-year bar to return for residing illegally
in U.S. for a year or more.
• Permanent bar for false claim to U.S. citizenship
• Greatly restricted waivers.
NATIVE AMERICAN
STEREOTYPES
Portrayed as bloodthirsty savages, alcoholic
indigents, romantic princesses, and silent but
wise sidekicks, Native Americans have long been
a staple of paperback, movie and television
stereotypes.