Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

NEW EPISTEMOLOGIES 85son on the ground that both "completely ignored" the Chinese, the CherokeeIndians, and the African-Americans. Takaki did not tell the audienceof nonhistorians that the books were written in 1941 and 1945, respectively.The Harvard historian Stephan Thernstrom, editor of the award-winningHarvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups and the author ofnumerous books and articles on ethnic history, told me that at the timeHandlin and Schlesinger wrote their books, few historians addressed race,class, or gender issues. In recent decades, research on immigrant groups—Chinese, Jewish, and especially Irish factory workers—has been verymuch in vogue. "Now we think of nothing else," said Thernstrom. Ethnicstudies are thriving. African-American history and Native American historyare now respected and established fields with recognized experts andclassics. Takaki was attacking a straw man.As a point of fact, Handlin's The Uprooted portrays the archetypalpatterns and configurations of immigrant experience, and it is still aclassic. Handlin is now in his late seventies, and many consider him tobe among the greatest American historians of this century. I called him toget his reaction to Takaki's complaints."The whole attack is silly," he said. "And too bad he did not do hishomework. In 1954 I wrote a book, The American People, which does givean account of the Asian immigrant experience . . . but what can you do?"I had a look at The American People and found that Handlin doesindeed give attention to the Asian experience at the turn of the century.He describes not only the loneliness of the Chinese but also their resourcefulness.He also considered the effects of the paucity of females onthe immigrants and of the racism they were subject to, topics Takakidiscussed as if for the first time in history.I recently appeared with Mr. Takaki on a local (Boston) PBS discussionpanel on multiculturalism. 17He was charming and personable, and Ijoined the Parsippany crowd in liking him. While we were waiting forthe show to begin, I asked him why he had not given Mr. Handlin creditfor his treatment of Asian-Americans in the 1954 book. "What book isthat?" he asked.Takaki's New Jersey talk was billed as a transformationist lecture thatwas to show how the new inclusive learning handles the sensitive themesof the dispossessed. The success of the talk depended on the audiencebeing completely unaware not only of Handlin's work but of thirty yearsof American social history. But success was assured. The conference hadnot invited a single person who could possibly be expected to challengeanything being said by any presenter.