Abstract
From the 1870s to the 1920s, millions of people worldwide moved as economic migrants and refugees. Of the millions who came from the Ottoman Empire and the ex-Ottoman lands during this period of war, displacement, ethnocide, and forced relocation, tens of thousands landed and settled in New England. Newcomers included Albanians, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Lebanese, Levantines, Syrians, Turks and others, whose physical moves were accompanied by social, economic, and cultural transitions. The circumstances of their departures ranged from violent expulsion to well-organized migration. Former Ottomans became U.S. residents and citizens. Their overt relationships with their Ottoman heritage, often shaped by their ethnic and/or religious status, varied from positive to ambivalent to utterly hostile. Whether former Ottoman subjects arrived directly through the port of Boston or through different U.S. entry points, the net result was a diverse Ottoman diasporic population throughout New England.
At the same time, migrants shared many experiences, and their remaining artifacts, memories, and traditions reflect connectivities as much as distinctions among them. Scholars, students, and the communities themselves have separately explored the heritages of these migrants, yet little attention has been given to the connections among this immigrant demographic through their shared experiences as former Ottoman subjects now residing in the U.S. By focusing on these, this project seeks new insights for Ottoman and Middle Eastern histories, and the histories of New England and the United States. It aims to create connections between Ottoman studies, and the students, scholars and local communities in New England, working at the intersection of local heritages and scholarly training and expertise. To accomplish this, we plan to connect with local people, archives, historical societies, and museums to establish a shared endeavor in this historical research whose output will include scholarship, pedagogical materials, new and accessible resources for students, teachers, scholars and the public.