Barbara M. Posadas
Professor
Fields of Study: United States-20th Century, Colonial Empires, Comparative/Migration/Transnational, Nationalism and Identity, Race and Ethnicity, Urban, Gender, Sexuality, and Women
E-mail: bposadas@niu.edu
Phone: 815-753-6697
Office: Zulauf 704
Education: Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1976
Current Research: “Filipino Chicagoans, 1898-1965” – Under advance contract with the Univeristy of Illinois Press. This book examines Filipino migration to and settlement in the Chicago area and interweaves three themes—community, race, and transnationalism. Community encompasses factors that structured Filipino lives over time—education; gendered associations, interracial marriage and family life; employment; housing; and clubs and organizations. Race places Filipinos and their families within the broader context of Chicago’s increasing polarization between white and black and informs their conscious construction of themselves as Filipinos—neither white nor black. Transnationalism locates Chicago’s Filipinos within a mental and physical world encompassing both the United States and the Philippines.
Recent Publications:
- The Filipino Americans. "The New Americans Series," Ronald H. Bayor, Series Editor. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999).
- Refracting America: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Environment in American History to 1877. (St. James, NY: Brandywine Press, 1993). (Edited with Robert McColley).
- America's History. Volume 1 - to 1877. Student Guide. (New York: Worth Publishers, 1993) (Written with Stephen J. Kneeshaw, Timothy R. Mahoney, Gerald J. Goodwin, and Linda Moore).
- "Interracial Marriages and Transnational Families: Chicago's Filipinos in the Aftermath of World War II," Journal of American Ethnic History, 25:2-3 (Winter-Spring 2006), 134-55. (Co-authored with Roland L. Guyotte).
- "Celebrating Rizal Day: The Emergence of a Filipino Tradition in Twentieth Century Chicago," in Genevieve Fabre and Ramon A. Gutierrez, eds., Feasts and Celebrations in North American Ethnic Communities (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995), 111-128. (Co-authored with Roland L. Guyotte).
- "Unintentional Immigrants: Chicago's Filipino Foreign Students Become Settlers, 1900-1941," Journal of American Ethnic History, 9:2 (Spring 1990), 26-48. (Co-authored with Roland L. Guyotte).
- "The Hierarchy of Color and Psychological Adjustment in an Industrial Environment: Filipinos, the Pullman Company and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters," Labor History, (Summer 1982), 349-373.
- "Crossed Boundaries in Interracial Chicago: Pilipino American Families Since 1925," Amerasia Journal, 8 (Fall 1981), 31-52.
Teaching Interests: My graduate teaching interests focus on U.S. Immigration and Ethnicity and Asian American history. In addition, I am comfortable directing work in U.S. social, urban, and women’s history, as well as the history of Chicago.
Courses Taught:
- HIST 368 History of Chicago
- HIST 369 History of U.S. Women
- HIST 378 Asian American History
- HIST 474 U.S. Immigration and Ethnic History
- HIST 510 Reading Seminar on U.S. Immigration and Ethnicity
- HIST 610 Research Seminar on Migration, Community, and Transnationalism
Interdisciplinary Affiliations:
Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Affiliate, Women’s Studies Program
Link to CV | Link to Personal Webpage
