Leiden University Student Repository

Kersten, Nele (2025)

Migration via the Red Star Line: A Liminal Journey?

Master thesis | North American Studies (MA)

Migration remains central to political debates in both Europe and North America. However, migration scholarship has often been limited by its predominant focus on its economic and political drivers, resulting in a lack of understanding of the cultural and emotional dimensions of the migrant experience. To provide a new perspective, this study has used comparative qualitative content analysis to examine how ten Red Star Line promotional brochures (1880-1930), of which five in Dutch and five in English, may have facilitated community-building and the preservation of cultural identity among Flemish migrants during the initial phase of liminality. In doing so, the Red Star Line, an American-Belgian shipping company, has been viewed as a ‘liminal’ space in which migrants are in between their old lives in Belgium and their new lives in North America. By focusing on the initial phase of liminality, known as rites of separation, during which migrants leave behind all they have known and are...Show moreMigration remains central to political debates in both Europe and North America. However, migration scholarship has often been limited by its predominant focus on its economic and political drivers, resulting in a lack of understanding of the cultural and emotional dimensions of the migrant experience. To provide a new perspective, this study has used comparative qualitative content analysis to examine how ten Red Star Line promotional brochures (1880-1930), of which five in Dutch and five in English, may have facilitated community-building and the preservation of cultural identity among Flemish migrants during the initial phase of liminality. In doing so, the Red Star Line, an American-Belgian shipping company, has been viewed as a ‘liminal’ space in which migrants are in between their old lives in Belgium and their new lives in North America. By focusing on the initial phase of liminality, known as rites of separation, during which migrants leave behind all they have known and are particularly vulnerable to institutional influences, this study has demonstrated how the Red Star Line’s promotional materials contributed to shaping the early migrant experience, even if not explicitly fostering community-building or cultural preservation. These findings highlight the potential influence of commercial institutions in framing migration narratives and experiences, both in historical and contemporary contexts.Show less

Migration

Liminality Theory

The Red Star Line

Identity and Community Formation

Author

Kersten, Nele

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Pargas, D.A.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en