Friday February 10, 2023
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Meeting Both In-Person and by Zoom
Dampeer Room, Second Floor of Kelvin Smith Library*
Case Western Reserve University
Dear Colleagues:
Immigration is hard. That is especially true for those who have been getting the most political attention. The waves of refugees fleeing from the Middle East to Europe in 2015’s crisis or fleeing violence in central America, through Mexico towards the United States, represent some of the possible difficulties. They have few resources, little good reason to expect to be let into the refuges they seek and often horrifying experiences en route.
Yet most of the story of immigration occurs once people have reached a destination and found a place where they are likely to live for a while, to try to build a new life. Usually that is among others who came from the same country, or region within a country, or at least region of the world. What happens depends on the immigrants, the host country and communities, and the times. In all cases there is a balance between, and different forms of, assimilation vs. separation. That depends on many things. How likely is it that immigrants will want and be able to gain resources from working in their new home but then retire to whence they came? Many Italian immigrants to the U.S. hoped to return to Italy; essentially no Jews coming from Russia and central Europe had any interest in returning. Do the immigrants arrive with skills that easily fit into the destination country’s economy?“ Compared with both the overall U.S.- and foreign-born populations, Indian immigrants are more likely to be highly educated, to work in management positions, and to have higher incomes.” Are there aspects of an immigrant group’s culture – such as religion – that fit better or worse with the “host” culture – and, vice versa, is it easier for some countries than for others to accept certain groups? A country with an established or semi-established religion may have trouble accommodating immigrants of different faith. What happens if there is a conflict between the country of origin and nation of residence – as for Japanese-Americans during WWII, or German-Americans during WWI?
In the aftermath of 9/11 and other violence, governments and publics around the world began to focus on Muslim immigrants, even if acknowledging the “Jihadists” are “a far cry from the Islam that most Muslims practice.” In the United States today there are probably a bit fewer than 4 million Muslims, about 1.1% of the population, though a fair share of those are converts. The percentages are much higher in much of Western Europe – in 2016 an estimated 8.8% in France, 7.1% in the Netherlands, 6.3% in the U.K., and 6.1% in Germany, for example. The numbers are not the only difference: Muslim immigration to Germany was originally far more a matter of recruiting a disciplined factory workforce, and many of the immigrants to the other countries came from former colonial possessions.
In short the number of “Muslims in the West” has been growing quickly, both from immigration and high-ish birth rates. But what does that mean, either for the “host” (hopefully to be “home”) countries and for the Muslim populations? I’ve tried to suggest here that there is more than one story, and some of the reasons for that. Professor Haydar wrote her dissertation on “the Forging of an American Islam” under the special circumstances of Muslims from at least eighty countries and hundreds of sects and practices forming new combinations in new communities. How does this compare, for example, to developments in the banlieues filled with North Africans around Paris, and the attitudes of French Muslim youth? How is the U.S. experience different from the German, which has developed some new aspects (a lot less Turkish, for example) since 2015? What might the future bring – and where?
Please join us to look behind the headlines and fears for better understanding of migration from Muslim countries to “the West.”
In-Person and Virtual Attendance
In order to make it easy for people to protect themselves and still participate, the meetings are accessible on Zoom. Participants can register for each meeting in the same way they did for the past two years. The link is posted below.
We now have new technology in the Dampeer Room that should make it easier for participants on Zoom to hear the discussion in the room and allow less worry about echoes within the room.
The discussion begins at 12:30 p.m., but the room should be open no later than Noon. We try to have beverages and refreshments set up soon after that. Participants should be able to sign on to Zoom also by Noon. But please remember not much will be happening online until the talk begins at 12:30 pm. Please also remember to show identification when entering Kelvin Smith Library.
Zoom participants should speak up when asked for questions or comments, or submit thoughts through Zoom’s chat function. Please keep yourself muted until you are choosing to speak.
Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. When you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. If you do not get the newsletter, you should also be able to get the information each Monday by checking http://fridaylunch.case.edu/ Then if you choose you can use the contact form on that website to request the registration link.
This week’s Zoom link for registration is:
https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMod-GorDooHt2EPxu61elnzDNMbxGC_jdQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.
Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
The Cold War began an unprecedented, selective migration of the developing world’s STEM labor to the United States. Assistant Professor Maysan Haydar’s research chronicles this and identifies the patterns of settlement and organization-building by those immigrants. She has broader interests in the histories of conflict, labor, and citizenship. Before graduate school in the department of history at Ohio State University, she was a journalist and editor at daily newspapers and magazines like The Nation, SPIN, Lingua Franca, and Martha Stewart. Dr Haydar’s work has been published by HarperCollins, Seal Press, Rowman & Littlefield, and St. Martin’s Press, among others.
* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.
Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
Note: We are still working to create the schedule for the semester. In addition to the programs listed below, a few others are nearly arranged. Please contact me at joseph.white@case.edu to suggest other topics – especially if you can suggest speakers!
February 17: How Can (and Do) Nurses Influence Heath Policy? With Rebecca Patton, DNP, RN, CNOR, FAAN, Lucy Jo Atkinson Perioperative Nursing Professor and Past President, American Nurses Association.
February 24: Environmental and Social Corporate Governance. With Victor B. Flatt, J.D., Visiting Professor and Burke Environmental Law Center Distinguished Visiting Fellow, CWRU School of Law; Dwight Olds Chair in Law and Faculty Co-Director, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources (EENR) Center, University of Houston Law Center.
March 3: A Psychedelic Renaissance? With Lee Hoffer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology and Professor of Psychiatry.
March 10: Moore v. Harper and Merrill v. Milligan. With Atiba Ellis, J.D., Professor of Law.
March 17: Spring Break
March 24: TBD
March 31: The Electricity Grid of the Future: Challenges and Opportunities. With Kenneth A. Loparo, Ph.D., Arthur L. Parker Endowed Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.
April 7: TBD
April 14: TBD
April 21: TBD
April 28: TBD |
