Scholarly Collaboration & Programming
From the Director
Greetings from the IHRC!
I’m excited to be back! After a year’s sabbatical, I’m again in my IHRC office at the University of Minnesota and enjoying my view of the Mississippi River. I’ve had the satisfaction of seeing the IHRC prosper under Haven Hawley’s leadership during the past year. After her own much-deserved five-week professional development leave, Haven and I will again be working together to guarantee that the IHRC serves scholars, students, researchers, newer and older immigrant communities and the many Minnesotans and Americans who are interested in the impact of migration on Minnesota, the United States, and the wider world.
The IHRC research agenda for 2009-2010 will devote special attention to gender, youth, refugee life, memory, plural societies and to connections between the U.S. and the Mediterranean and the Middle East. An interdisciplinary research team that has received funding from the IHRC, the U’s Office of International Programs, the Minnesota Population Center and the Russell Sage Foundation will continue research, begun in 2008, on “Gender Ratios and Global Migrations.” Together with the Center for Austrian Studies, the IHRC will also host an international team of researchers exploring migration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the United States at the turn of the century. After a conference held in Bellagio, Italy, in September 2009, I’ll also be working with a team of historian and anthropologist specialists on Italy and the Middle East to produce a book that compares violence against women (often called “honor crimes”) in immigrant communities, past and present. Finally, with support from the Fesler-Lampert Chair in the Public Humanities (which I will hold in 2009-2010), the IHRC will become home base for a team of graduate and undergraduate researchers documenting the use of social networking sites by Minnesota’s immigrant and refugee youth.
Throughout the year ahead, two ongoing series will bring together faculty, students and Minnesota communities. The Global REM (Race, Ethnicity and Migration) seminars and lectures are a collaboration of the IHRC and the Institute for Global Studies. (This year, Global REM will also explore the possibility of creating an interdisciplinary graduate minor.) RPT (formerly RIP) seminars at the IHRC will offer researchers in IHRC collections the opportunity to discuss their “research in progress” with interested Minnesotans. This year, we’re especially proud that so many researchers will be supported in part through grants in aid from IHRC Ethnic Studies Funds -- the product of intensive fund-raising by Minnesota communities over many years. For a full program of Global REM and RPT events, sign up for email or RSS updates.
If you haven’t visited the IHRC in the past year, consider doing so now! Whether you’re a beginning student, a visiting researcher, a long-time Minnesotan, or simply a citizen interested in finding new perspectives on the ever-present debates about immigration and American life, you’ll find resources in Andersen Library. I look forward to welcoming you to the IHRC,
Sincerely,
Donna R. Gabaccia
