Date of Award

2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the temporal parallels and differences between adult immigrant education and latent identity projects intertwined with the textbooks being used in the classrooms. By analyzing a sample of textbooks from both the turn of the 20th and 21st century I attempt to find both similarities and differences between these two time periods. These two periods are similar in that they are when the largest number of immigrants arrived in America, but in many ways (global context, technology, and political environment) they are also very different. How the American educational system responded to these large influxes of `old' immigrants might reflect on what the current and/or future response will be to the `new' immigrants. "New Americans" of the past and present alike make up a large percent of the American population and much more research needs to be done to fill many of the gaps that currently exist in the literature. This textbook analysis will be focused on several projects: the depiction of work, cultural capital, hygiene; and the inclusion or exclusion of these themes in textbooks designed for immigrants. Each of these projects are a few of the numerous used to determine what constitutes a "New American" both past and present. These textbooks attempted to remake an immigrant identity according to the ideologies present in America at that time.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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