The Role of Art in U.S. Immigrant Communities

In collaboration with the Princeton Center for Art and Cultural Policy Studies, the CMD opened the first conference on migration and the arts on June 1-2, 2006.  Paul DiMaggio, research director of the CACPS, Patricia Fernández-Kelly, and Nancy Doolan, assistant director of the CMD, were the organizers. The purpose of the event was to bring together a small number of scholars to better understand how music, dance, drama, and painting facilitate immigrant adaptation and connect immigrant communities to the host society.  Six papers focusing on the art of Cubans, Mexicans, Chinese, Arabs, Haitians, and Vietnamese formed the core for the lively discussion.  As a complement to the workshop an art exhibit was installed in Aaron Burr Hall.  The exhibition, entitled "Angels on the Border: Religious Paintings by Mexican Immigrants" featured sixty retablos from the extraordinary collection owned by Douglas Massey (Princeton University) and Jorge Durand (Universidad de Guadalajara).

The following papers were presented at the conference and are in PDF format.