Week 1: Introduction
Tuesday, February 16
Introduction to the course
Why do people immigrate to the United States?
Exercise #1: Find a graph that charts immigration into the U.S. over the long 20th century (late 19th to early 21st). Discuss how the data is organized and the dominant narratives conveyed through the graph. Print this out and write a 1-page response. Due Feb. 18.
Thursday, February 18: Exclusion
Lee, Erika, “The Chinese Exclusion Example: Race, Immigration, and American Gatekeeping, 1882-1924”*
Week 2: Immigration and Racialization
Tuesday, February 23
Read: Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color, pp. 1-136
Interview Assigned
Thursday, February 25
Read: Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color, pp. 137-200
Week 3: Gender and Immigration
Monday, February 29
Film Screening: The Jazz Singer (1927) Axinn 100, 7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 1
Read: Yezierska, Bread Givers, Book I, p. 1-151
Exercise #2: How are ideas of gender and sexuality framed within the context of the immigrant family in The Jazz Singer and/or Bread Givers? Due March 3.
Thursday, March 3
Read: Yezierska, Bread Givers, Book II & III, p. 153-297
Interview due March 4
Week 4: Biopolitics
Tuesday, March 8
Read: Shah, Nayan, “Making Medical Borders at Angel Island”
Read: Molina, Natalia, “Medicalizing the Mexican”*
Exercise #3: How are eugenic principles applied in today’s immigration rhetoric? Print out a newspaper article that connects biopolitics and migration, and write a one-page response about the article. Due March 10.
Thursday, March 10
Read: Dwyer, “Disease, Deformity, and Defiance” Writing the Language of Immigration Law and the Eugenics Movement on the Immigrant Body.”*
Week 5: Illegality
Tuesday, March 15
Read: Ngai, “The Strange Career of the Illegal Alien, 1921-1965*
Thursday, March 17
Read: Ngai, “Braceros, ‘Wetbacks,’ and the National Boundaries of Class”*
Week 6: Adoption
Tuesday, March 22
Read: Choy, Catherine Ceniza, “Race and the Center: The History of Cold War
Asian Adoption”*
Exercise #4: How does adoption challenge the idea that immigration as a choice? Find a newspaper article about transnational adoption during the 1950s – 1960s and write one page response to the article. Due March 24.
Thursday, March 24
Read: Volkman, Toby, “Transnational Adoption”* and “Embodying Chinese Culture”*
Essay Due March 25 at 5:00 p.m.
SPRING BREAK!
Week 7: Refugees and War
Monday, April 4,
Film Screening: “Daughter from Danang” Axinn 100, 7:30-9:30
Tuesday, April 5
Read: Nguyen, The Sympathizer
Thursday, April 7
Read: Nguyen, The Sympathizer
Week 8: Trafficked Labor
Tuesday, April 12
Read: Brennan, Life Interrupted, Part I
Exercise #5: Find an article about human slavery or trafficking in the United States Print the article and write one page response. Due April 14.
Thursday, April 14
Read: Brennan, Life Interrupted, Part II
Week 9: Queer Migrations
Monday, April 18
Film Screening: The Wedding Banquet, 7:30-10:30 Axinn 100
Tuesday, April 19
Read: Manalansan, “Queer Intersections: Sexuality and Gender in Migration Studies”*
Exercise #6: How do you think that marriage equality has changed the terrain of LGBT/queer migration into the United States? Find a newspaper article that addresses this question and write a 1-page response. Due April 21.
Thursday, April 21
Read: Soloman, “Trans/Migrant” Christina Madrazo’s All-American Story.”*
Randazzo, “Social and Legal Barriers: Sexual Orientation and Asylum in the
United States”*
Week 10: Undocumented and Deportations
Tuesday, April 26
Read: David Hernandez, “Persuant to Deportation: Latinos and Immigrant Detention”*
Read: Ngai, “No Human Being is Illegal”*
Exercise #7: Find an article about immigrant detention in the Obama era and write a one-page discussion of the article. Due April 28.
Thursday, April 28
Film: In class “9500 Liberty” (2010)
Essay Due April 29 at 5:00 p.m.
Week 11: Transnational Migration
Monday, May 2
Film Screening: “Sugar,” 7:30-10:00 Axinn 100
Tuesday, May 3
Read: Junot Diaz, “Otravida, Otravez,” “Invierno”*
Thursday, May 5
Group Presentations
Week 12: Advocacy
Monday, May 10
Final Class
Group Presentations
No Class, Thursday May 12
Finals Week
Final Projects should be emailed to rjoo@middlebury.edu by Monday, May 16