Meltha Magazine Online

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2002 May Conference pages 14-15

The Assyrian-Americans at the Threshold of 21st Century

Dr. Arianne ISBAYA

The Assyrian immigration to the U.S.A. took place in the context of the pro-lateralization of the

Middle Eastern peasantry under the impact of Western European and Russian politico-economic penetration of the region back in the 19th Century .The establishment of foreign Christian missionaries among the Middle Eastern Christian minorities, mainly Assyrians, speeded up the uprooting of the Assyrians from their homeland and their transformation into a mobile international labor force. The two world wars and the periodical political upheavals in the Middle East have further marginalized the once thriving Assyrian communities in this region.

The Assyrian immigration to the United States spans a period of time that began in mid 19th Century and continues up to the time of this writing in 2002. The push and pull factors that have operated during this period have turned U.S.A. as a major center of Assyrian settlement in the world. A study of the dynamics of this immigrant community in terms of changes in the occupational, residential, and socio-political structure depicts the present profile of the community in terms of its demographics and ethnic structure. While economically the most prosperous section of the world Assyrian community, the Assyrian-Americans have not set the necessary social and economic foundation to ensure their survival as a distinct ethnic community in U.S.A. In this paper assimilation or ethnic revitalization as distinct alternative will be analyzed, and the prospects for the establishment of an infrastructure to ensure the survival of Assyrian-Americans as a distinct ethnic group will be discussed.