Date Awarded
Summer 2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
American Studies
Advisor
Charles McGovern
Committee Member
Hiroshi Kitamura
Committee Member
Bruce Campbell
Committee Member
Lynn Weiss
Abstract
Historians consider the years between World War I and World War II to be a period of decline for German America. This dissertation complicates that argument by applying a transnational framework to the history of German immigration to the United States, particularly the period between 1919 and 1939. The author argues that contrary to previous accounts of that period, German migrants continued to be invested in the homeland through a variety of public and private relationships that changed the ways in which they thought about themselves as Germans and Americans. By looking at migration through a transnational lens, the author also moves beyond older conventions that merely saw Germanness in language and culture. Instead, the author suggests a framework that investigates race, class, consumerism, gender and citizenship and finds evidence that German migrants not only utilized their heritage to define their Americanness but that German immigrant values, views and norms did indeed fundamentally shape American national identity.
DOI
http://doi.org/10.21220/S2JD4P
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Wilbers, Christian, "Between Third Reich and American Way: Transatlantic Migration and the Politics of Belonging, 1919-1939" (2016). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1499449834.
http://doi.org/10.21220/S2JD4P
