borders, barrios & Biases
Instructor: Leslie Martin
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Course Number: FSEM 100C2
CRN: 12738
Course Overview: The news, politics, some pop culture forms all tell us that immigration is now a significant issue facing the U.S. Are there too many immigrants? Too few? Too many here without documentation? What is the impact of immigration on the host society? In this course we will examine contemporary discourse about the “problem” of immigration, and see how this rhetoric is reflective of empirical and historical experiences of immigration to the United States.
This course is explicitly exploratory. You will compile and analyze examples of how we talk about immigration, using sources such as national newspapers, political speeches, high profile websites and blogs. The class will then identify key themes in these sources, and will set out to see how these themes relate to contemporary and historical experiences of immigrants and of the society that receives them. To do so you will explore a wide range of resources, to include library sources (academic, scholarly works), available quantitative data sources (from the Department of Labor of the Census Bureau, for example), even possibly interviews with local organizations serving immigrants.
By the end of the semester, you should:
- Gain an understanding of the key issues surrounding contemporary immigration to the U.S.
- Practice critical analysis of texts to identify common themes, raise questions, and identify anomalies
- Use a wide range of data sources to address specific empirical questions
- Be able to use writing and oral presentation to explore and share ideas and arguments
- Synthesize materials from several sources in order to construct and defend an argument
- Be able to identify and acknowledge the perspectives of others, while recognizing and critiquing one’s own perspectives
Course Materials: (these are representative works)
Bean, Frank D. and Gillian Stevens. 2003. America’s Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Borjas, George. 1999. Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hong Kingston, Maxine. 1980. China Men. Vintage Books.
Assignments:
Participation: 30% You must be present, prepared, and actively participate in this seminar. That is the way we will all get the most possible out of this course. We all come from diverse viewpoints on issues like immigration, we need to share our interpretations of our various texts in order to enrich our understanding of the topic, and the politics and heat surrounding the topic. That said, we all need to participate respectfully as well.
Rhetoric Analysis: 20% Each student will take responsibility for part of the collective analysis of rhetoric. You will explore a particular subset of source material, and will: summarize what you find, highlight key themes, and critically assess the sources and their coverage of the immigration issue. You will present this both in writing (3-5 pages) and in class.
Research Notes (2): 15% each, 30% total. Each student will search for sources to support, refute, or refine the arguments made in the rhetoric analysis. You will present this both in writing (3-5 pages) and in class.
Final Paper: 20%. In this paper you will combine (and revise) the work you’ve been doing all semester, and couch your findings in the context of the academic literature and approaches we’ve explored in class during the semester.
Course Units: (to include:)
I. Introduction to the Course
II. The Basics:
-What is immigration (vs. emigration, migration)
-What is discourse? How do we find it? Identify it? Analyze it?
-Broad immigration trends over time, in U.S.
III. Immigrants and Jobs
-Labor force participation of natives and immigrants
-Public policies addressing labor force participation
IV. Immigrants and Assimilation
-Theoretical approaches to assimilation
-measures of assimilation, levels of assimilation
V. Immigration and Citizenship
-Public policies over time regarding citizenship
-The social meaning of citizenship
VI. Immigration in the post-9/11 World