Session Abstract

This panel is comprised by historians whose recent or forthcoming books are charting a dynamically energizing course toward our investigation and writing of Comparative Ethnic, Immigration, Race, and Gender History. Panelists will share their thoughts on the inspiration behind their approaches to the research and writing of the historical multidimensionality of race, gender, identity, and nation. Gabriela Arredondo will reflect on her investigation of the racialized meanings of “Mexican Chicago.” Frank Guridy will discuss the institutional and personal interactions informing his conceptualization of “diaspora-making,” and Michele Mitchell will render the historically generative qualities of investigating the gendered and racial terrain of the Great Depression.  In doing so, this panel provides an introspective consideration of the intellectual and personal sensibilities driving historians whose books are invigorating comparative approaches to the research and writing of History.