Writing and Reading European Migrant Belonging in Early-20th-Century North America

Using Finnish, Swedish, Greek, and Croatian North American case studies, this collection makes important new contributions to the fields of migration history and the study of book cultures. Book cultures are understood broadly in the collection, including different ways of producing and disseminating the written word, and the interaction of oral, scribal and printed communication. This collection positions books culture as a tool for building and maintaining transnational belonging on macro to micro scales.

Book culture is analyzed by the collection contributors from three–at times overlapping–van-tage points: the intersections of (trans)nationalist projects and book culture; book culture in the construction of migrant communities and identities; and migrant book culture as media of performance. Collectively, the chapters consider how the genres and practices of migrant book culture have carried the language and cultural heritage of the countries of origin, and analyze whether and in which ways migrant book culture promoted integration to the new culture and facilitated interaction between different migrant groups.