Judith Freidenberg Pens Book on Immigration in Prince George’s County, Maryland
For more than 21 years, Professor Judith Freidenberg has studied the diverse population of Prince George’s County, Maryland. Through her research, she crossed paths with people from all over the world who, for various reasons, decided to make Prince George’s their new home. They are immigrants by definition but Freidenberg strives to understand them on a deeper level and to shed light on how they are viewed by others.
Freidenberg recently compiled her two decades of research into a new book entitled Contemporary Conversations on Immigration in the United States: The View from Prince George’s County, Maryland. In it, she weaves her extensive research into the history of immigration, racial divides and social classes in Prince George’s County with first-hand testimonials from immigrants living in the region to paint a picture of immigration not just in the county specifically, but in the nation as a whole.
We talked with her about why she felt now was the right time to publish this book and what she hopes it can contribute to the current national conversation about immigration:
Why is Prince George’s County an important place to study immigration issues?
Freidenberg: It’s a very interesting place because on the one hand, the majority is still African American. It’s over 60 percent African American, but among the rest, there’s great diversity in terms of ethnicity, national origin, socio-economic status, religion, you name it. I found many people coming from Central America but also from Ghana, Ethiopia, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, all over the place in Asia, all over the place in Latin America. People don’t see that. Those stories are invisible. Prince George’s County is where I’m putting my lens but my interest is how we can frame migration in the United States.
What drives your research on immigration?
Freidenberg: We still think of migration as a problem or at least we position the newcomers as being problematic. We talk about problems they bring and about how to isolate them so that their problems don’t taint us by erecting a wall, deporting those who do not have legalized status, criminalizing those who commit minor infractions. I argue in the book that we have a lot to gain by considering immigration as a social issue. That’s something that behooves all of us. It’s our problem. Not their problem.
What do you hope people take away from reading your book?
Freidenberg:My hope is to get people talking because I think that by talking with others, we can reflect better about what we say, what we think, how we see ourselves, how we position ourselves and to what extent we see ourselves as emblematic of the labels we carry around. Somebody invented that label. You don’t have to go by it. That’s my take.
Professor Freidenberg directs the Anthropology of the Immigrant Life Course Research Program and the Certificate in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture at the University of Maryland. She has written three previous books on immigrant populations in New York City and Argentina. Freidenberg will discuss Contemporary Conversations at an event on October 18th in McKeldin Library and on October 25th at an event held at Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville. The book is available for purchase through Lexington Books.
Published on Mon, 10/03/2016 - 17:15