Hidden in Plain Sight: Nordic Colonialism in American Literature from Reconstruction to the Immigration Act of 1924
| dc.contributor.advisor | Waligora-Davis, Nicole | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Aranda, José F. | |
| dc.creator | Sigurdardottir, Solveig Asta | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-09-23T18:32:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-09-23T18:32:13Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2022-12 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-08-24 | |
| dc.date.submitted | December 2022 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2022-09-23T18:32:13Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | On January 6th, 2021, a large crowd stormed the capitol of the United States adorned in Nordic symbols to claim ownership of the land. Supported by then president of the United States, the attackers mobilized a contemporary economy of historical Nordic imaginaries that ground whiteness as property-holding and brought into sharp focus the history of Nordic colonialism in the United States. Hidden in Plain Sight: Nordic Colonialism in American Literature from Reconstruction to the Immigration Act of 1924 excavates Nordic colonialism, Nordic immigration, and settler histories as part of the development of legal frameworks of citizenship in the United States. I center Nordic settlement in the United States, meaning the Nordic people’s legal and political claim of American land as an ongoing structure that aids and abets broader project of European settler colonialism in the United States. My analysis is anchored in the print texts and culture of the period to highlight authors connected to the former Danish Virgin Islands, the Nordic region and the United States. From Reconstruction and into the early 20th century authors and educators, such as Nella Larsen, Langston Hughes and Anna Julia Cooper used literature to analyze and provoke readers to recognize the cultural and sociopolitical impact of an evolving Nordic settler imaginary in the U.S. These writers showed how during, and in the wake of Reconstruction, white landowners and politicians deployed Nordic imaginaries to mobilize white populations to protect their claim to the land, the legal protections of citizenship and ownership of labor. Relatedly, in 1917 Denmark’s rule in the Virgin Islands shifted from colonial power to domination via global capitalism. My literary analysis of Nordic imaginaries across the Atlantic shows the long, intertwined Nordic history of colonialism that underwrites U.S. cultural associations of “innocence” with whiteness— an “innocence” that has long built and justified acts of white supremacy. Hidden in Plain Sight demonstrates how Nordic colonialism in the Americas trafficked in, and reproduced ideas about whiteness and legitimacy, as inheritance, and as ownership that served as the bedrock for settler colonial practices in the United States, U.S imperialism abroad, and shaped U.S. immigration and citizenship policy and law. | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Sigurdardottir, Solveig Asta. "Hidden in Plain Sight: Nordic Colonialism in American Literature from Reconstruction to the Immigration Act of 1924." (2022) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113293">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113293</a>. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113293 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.rights | Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder. | |
| dc.subject | American literature: Nordic colonialism: law and literature | |
| dc.title | Hidden in Plain Sight: Nordic Colonialism in American Literature from Reconstruction to the Immigration Act of 1924 | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dc.type.material | Text | |
| thesis.degree.department | English | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Humanities | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Rice University | |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy |