Adopted citizens: discourse and the production of meaning among nineteenth century American urban immigrants

This paper argues for the importance of theoretical and empirical attention to language in our attempts to understand how historically and geographically situated social groups struggle to make sense of and act upon their world. Reflecting upon contemporary debates regarding the making of political consciousness among nineteenth century American and, to a lesser extent, British workers, this paper examines the discourse that a group of urban immigrants produced to represent themselves and their aspirations. The paper is also an attempt to show how attention to language is critical to the concerns of human geographers as they attempt to shape an emerging social theory sensitive to, though somewhat naive about, the mediating effect of space and place. -Author