Johnson-Reed 100 Years Later

“Johnson-Reed 100 Years Later”: Critical Reflections on the Global Legacy of US Immigration Quotas, 1924-2024

August 22-23, 2024, University of Debrecen, Hungary
PROGRAM
 

Click here for the Book of Abstracts.

All times are in CEST (GMT+2).

22 August, Thursday

  • 10.00- Registration, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 11.00-11.30 Opening ceremony

Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor)

Elek Bartha (Vice Rector for Educational Affairs), Melissa Quartell (US Cultural Affairs Officer), Helga Lenart-Cheng (AHEA president), Balázs Venkovits (director of the Institute of English and American Studies and the Center for International Migration)

  • 11.30-13.00 Panel 1
  •  Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Tibor Glant 
    • Echoes of Escape: Navigating Policy and Perception in the Cold War Migration of Hungarian Refugees

      • Zsolt Máté (University of Pécs, Hungary), “The Comparability of the Canadian and United States of America’s 1956 Hungarian Refugee Reception”
      • Judit Antónia Farkas (VERITAS Research Institute for History and Historical Archives, Hungary), “The Unwanted Eastern European Refugees in Ronald Searle and Kaye Webb’s Illustrated Report (1959–1960)” (online)
      • CANCELLED: Tamás Scheibner (Institute of History, HUN-REN Research Center for the Humanities, Hungary), “The Influence of U.S. Philanthropic Foundations on Immigration Policy: A Case Study of the 1956-57 Hungarian Refugee Reception”
  • 13.00-14.00 Lunch break
  • 14.00-15.00 Plenary 1 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor), Chair: Balázs Venkovits

    • Anna A. Mazurkiewicz (University of Gdansk, Poland), “Nation of Immigrants: Deconstructing the Axiom”
  • 15.00-15.15 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 15.15-16.45 Parallel panels 2 and 3
    • Panel 2 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Balázs Venkovits

      • Ernesto Dominguez Lopez (University of Havana, Cuba), “The Cuban Ethnic Enclave: The Cross-Border Interplay between Foreign Policy, Immigration Policy and Domestic Politics” (online)
      • Lukas Perutka (Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia), “Going Around: Alternative Routes of the Czechoslovak Migration to the US after the First World War”
      • David C. Atkinson (Purdue University, US), “The State Department and the Quota Acts, 1921-1924” (online)
    • Panel 3 - Venue: Dean’s Council Room (Main Building, Third Floor); Chair: Éva Mathey
      • Péter Csatár and Attila Cserép (University of Debrecen), “Comparison of American and European Metaphors of Immigrants”
      • Zoltan Peterecz (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary), “The Impact of the Johnson-Reed Act on the Work of American Ministers in Hungary in the Interwar Years”
  • 16.45-17.00 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 17.00-18.00 Plenary 2 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Donald E. Morse
    • Ashley Johnson Bavery (Eastern Michigan University, US), “Unauthorized European Migration to the United States After 1924”
  • 18.00-20.00 Hybrid book and project presentations and Fulbright reception - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall and Aula for the reception (Main Building, Third Floor)

23 August, Friday

  • 8.30- 10.00 Panel 4 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Lukas Perutka

    • Máté Gergely Balogh (University of Debrecen), “The ‘Silent Majority’ and the Ethnics: Involvement of Eastern European-Americans in Richard Nixon’s Campaign”
    • Izabella Kimak (Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Poland), “Polish Immigration to the US: A Literary Perspective”
    • Claudio Staiti (University of San Marino), “’The most powerful of all immigration restriction books’: Gino Speranza’s Race or Nation and His Contribution to the Johnson-Reed Act”
  • 10.00-10.15 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 10.15-11.45 Panel 5 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Zoltán Peterecz 
    • Michael Kaelin (University of Wisconsin, US), “Immigrant Participation in United States: Immigration Control, 1890-1932”
    • Éva Mathey (University of Debrecen), “‘There is always room for one more’: Immigration Quotas, US Refugee Policies, and the Wagner Rogers Bill of 1939”
    • Béla Nóvé (National Széchényi Library, Hungary), “Hopes and Doubts of Opening Up New Research Possibilities: A Recently Completed Overall Survey of Hungarian Emigrant Historical Resources at the Holdings of the National Széchényi Library”
  • 11.45-13.15 Lunch break
  • 13.15-14.15 Plenary 3 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Zsuzsanna Lénárt-Muszka 
    • Mónika Szente-Varga (Ludovika University of Public Service, Hungary), “In the Wake of the Johnson-Reed Act: The Formation and Evolution of the Hungarian Community in Mexico”
  • 14.15-14.30 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 14.30-15.30 Roundtable discussion on the role and significance of emigration museums - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor)
    • Participants: Anna Mazurkiewicz (University of Gdansk, Poland), Bram Beelaert (Red Star Line Museum, Belgium), Martin Javor (University of Prešov and Kasigarda, Museum of Emigration from Slovakia to North America, Slovakia), Béla Nóvé (National Széchényi Library, Hungary)
  • 15.30-15.45 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)
  • 15.45-17.15 Parallel panels 6 and 7
    • Panel 6 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Anna Mazurkiewicz

      • Danielle Battisti (University of Nebraska, US), “Privileges of Illegality: Unauthorized Italian Immigrants to the United States and Adjustment of Status in the 20th Century” (online)
      • Suzanne M. Sinke (Florida State University, US), “Making Dependency Policy: The Elevation of Family-Dependent Categories under Johnson-Reed” (online)
      • David Hazemali (University of Maribor, Slovenia) and Matjaž Klemenčič (Institute for Ethnic Studies, Slovenia), “Migration Flow from Yugoslavia to the U.S. under the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924: A Historical and Sociocultural Analysis”
    • Panel 7 - Venue: Dean’s Council Room (Main Building, Third Floor); Chair: Mónika Szente-Varga
      • Dalia González Delgado (University of Havana, Cuba), “From the Johnson-Reed Act to Trumpism: Historical Analysis of US Immigration Policy” (online)
      • Ana Maria Valido Alou (University of Havana, Cuba), “US Immigration Policy Towards Cuba: Historic Trend and Impact” (online)
      • Katalin Jancsó (University of Szeged, Hungary), “Immigrants Welcomed with Open Arms or Undesirable Aliens: Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Latin America at the Time of the Johnson-Reed Act”

  • 17.15-17.30 Coffee break, Room 109 (Main Building, First Floor)

  • 17.30-19.00 Parallel panels 8-9

    • Panel 8 - Venue: Dean’s Council Room (Main Building, Third Floor); Chair: Máté Gergely Balogh 

      • Teodora Domotor (Karoli Gaspar University, Hungary), “A Distorted American Dream and the Consequential Expatriation of American Authors” (online)
      • Tibor Glant (University of Debrecen), “Government Propaganda In Interwar Hungarian Male Juvenile Travel Writing”
      • Panteleimon Tsiokos (University of Western Ontario, Canada), “Literary Reflections on the US Immigration Quotas’ Impact: The case of Mass Human Rights Violations against Japanese Americans” (online)
    • Panel 9 - Venue: Karácsony Sándor Hall (Main Building, Second Floor); Chair: Balázs Venkovits
      • Bram Beelaert (Red Star Line Museum, Belgium), “Stranded in Antwerp: Repercussions of the US Immigration Quota in Antwerp as a Port of Departure” (online)
      • Helga Lenart-Cheng (St. Mary’s College of California, US), “Transnational Paradigms in Oral History Collections of US Immigrant and Ethnic Archives” (online)
      • Anne Dropick (Yale University, US), “The Effect of Immigration Law on the Crafting of the Refugee Oral History Project” (online)
  • 19.00 Closing, evening program

24 August, Saturday

Optional conference trip to Kasigarda, Slovakia (Museum of Emigration from Slovakia to North America) and the Tokaj Wine Region (Hungary)

Dear User!

 

The University of Debrecen considers the protection of personal data and the information provided to be of paramount importance. We hereby inform you that the University of Debrecen has reviewed its processes and incorporated the requirements of GDPR into his own data management and data protection activities, which entered mandatory on may 25,2018. The personal data of the users has been carefully handled by the University of Debrecen, it complies with the applicable data management regulations.Following the requirements of GDPR, we updated our Privacy Statement, which you can access by clicking on the link below: Privacy Policy.

I have read, understand and agree to terms.