SYLLABUS (Fall 2019)

WEEKLY LECTURES AND VIDEO

WEEK 2. THEORIZING MIGRATION

Explore the theoretical explanations of migration, asses their validity, and discuss implications for social policy and social behaviors (norms, values, aspirations, ideals, etc.).

Fact Finding Activity:

• What do immigration scholars mean by 1st generation, 2nd generation, and 3+ generation immigrants?
• When did the US have the highest proportion of foreign-born, i.e. first generation immigrants?
• What are the current numbers of foreign born and the percentage of foreign born in the U.S.?
• How do immigrants’ education levels today compare to native-born US residents education levels?

Required Reading:

1. Theories of international migration: A Review and Appraisal, by Douglas S. Massey, Joaquin Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino and J. Edward Taylor
2. Migration Theory for a Changing World, by Aristide R. Zolberg
3. Migration, People on the Move

Week 3. Crossing Borders

Who is an immigrant? Exploring Immigrants, refugees, international students, overseas workers, refugees, diplomats, tourists, and asylum seekers…

Fact Finding Activity:

• What country is the second largest source of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.?
• In what ways can individuals be undocumented, or more specifically, out of status, other than crossing the border undetected

Required Readings and Video:

1. Catalan, Julissa. How My Mother Illegally Crossed the Border. http://www.latina.com/lifestyle/our-issues/mother-illegal-immigration-story. January 7, 2016.
2. Immigration Story: The story of U.S. immigrants in their own words. https://myimmigrationstory.com/. Read at least two (2) of these stories. Most are only a couple of paragraphs long.
3. Connolly, Daniel. More Mexicans are crossing the border—to leave the U.S. Here’s one family’s story. PRI’s The World, January 18, 2017. https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-18/more-mexicans-are-crossing-border-leave-us-here-s-one-family-s-story. The webpage has a transcript and a link to the audio of the story. You can choose which you want.
4. PolitiFact: Dreamers and Background Checks www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/dec/12/context-dreamers-and-background-checks/
5. Tobar, Héctor. Avoiding the Trap of Immigration Porn. New York Times, August 7, 2017.
6. Video In the Shadows: Undocumented Immigration in America,

Suggested Readings:

1. FiveThirtyEight on unauthorized immigration https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/immigration-is-changing-much-more-than-the-immigration-debate/
2. Protecting Immigrant and Undocumented Students, Townhall with Anthropologists Action Network for Immigrants and Refugees, March 15, 2017
3. EDUCATORS FOR FAIR CONSIDERATION (E4FC)
4. Massey, Doug. The Mexican-U.S. Border in the American Imagination. Proceedings of The American Philosophical Society Vol. 160, No. 2, June 2016. PDF on D2L.
5. Portes, Alejandro and Ruben G. Rumbaut (2014). Immigrant America: A Portrait, University of California Press (2014). Immigrant America: A Portrait, University of California Press: Chapter 3, Moving: Patterns of Immigrant Settlement and Spatial Mobility

Week 4. Family and Migration

• what is a mixed status family?
• What is a transnational migrant?

Required Reading:

1. Chose one of the NYtimes articles on Family Separation (click on link) and be prepared to discuss them in class on Wednesday.
2. Stephen, Lynn (2007). Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California: Chapter 6, Women’s Transborder Lives: Gender Relations in Work and Families

Suggested Readings:

1. Stepick, Alex. (1998) Pride against Prejudice: Haitians in the United States. Allyn and Bacon: Chapter 2, Family Across the Seas
2. Gonzales-Berry, Erlina V. and Marcela Mendoza. Mexicanos in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives. Chapter 5: The Changing Faces of Migration: Immigration, Gender, and Family Dynamics, pp 175-202, Testimonio by Loyola, pp 203-205, Testimonio by Maria Damaris, pp 206-207, Testimonio by Marco Antonio Chavez, pp. 208-209.

Week 5. Work and the Economy

Fact Finding Questions for February 06

• What are the most typical jobs immigrants have?
• Give examples of high income, high skilled and low income, low skilled

Required readings:

1. Reston, Laura. (2015) Immigrants Don't Drain Welfare. They Fund It. The new Republic
2. Porter Eduardo. (2017) The Danger From Low-Skilled Immigrants: Not Having Them. The New York Times
3. Stephen, Lynn (2007). Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon: Chapter 4, Transborder Labor Lives: Harvesting, Housecleaning, Gardening, and Childcare

Suggested Readings:

1. Card, David. Mariel Impact. 1990, Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43:245-257. PDF on D2L

Week 6. The State, Politics, and the “management” of Migration

Fact Finding Questions for February 13

• How Many immigrants does the U.S. allow per year?
• what are the categories for admission?
• how are these numbers broken down (who is included and who is not)?

Required Readings:

1. Congressional Budget Office. 2010. Immigration Policy in the United States, an Update. Washington, DC.
2. The 1952 Act: Excluding Communists, Homosexuals, and Other Undesirables. In Defining America Through Immigration Policy by Bill Ong Hing.
3. Nicholas Kulish, Vivian Yee, Caitlin Dickerson, Liz Robbins, Fernanda Santos and Jennifer Medina. Trump's Immigration Polices Explained. The New York times.

Suggested Readings:

1. Martin L. Philip, Susan F. Martin, and Patrick Weil. Toward a cooperative framework of Managing Migration. In Managing Migration. 2006.

Week 7. Is There an International Refugee Crisis?

Fact Finding questions for February 20

• Go to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Page and chose one of the groups depicted. Write the most important highlights and points.

Required Readings

1. Forced Displacement in 2017. Global Trends; a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
2. What is a Refugee Camp?
3. Read through The US State Department's page on refugee "Reception and Placement Program"

Week 8. Policy papers and short weekly questions due

Instructions for Policy paper:

• Policy paper must be written within the context of the Immigrants and refugees class.
• Chose a topic of your interest ans write your paper based on the resources and examples below
• Paper must have clear rationality (fix or improve a policy that may not be working or may need redesign)
• Your policy recommendations must be realistic (what would you actually propose to do to improve the condition)
• Provide data, professional opinions, comparisons to places where the policy has worked, and statements of how and what your policy prescriptions would do
• Paper must be 3-4 pages not including references
• Must include a works cited page
• You have formatting freedom (see samples below)

Resources for a successful policy paper

• https://politicalscienceguide.com/home/policy-paper/
• https://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/cmes.arizona.edu/files/Effective%20Policy%20Paper%20Writing.pdf
• https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/policy-briefs/

Sample policy papers

• https://www.piie.com/system/files/documents/pb19-7.pdf
• https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620857/bp-no-simple-solutions-women-displacement-south-sudan-030919-en.pdf
• https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620841/bp-gender-inequalities-food-insecurity-150719-en.pdf

Week 9. Exploring the Intersectionality of "Rrace," Gender, Class and Migration

Fact Finding Questions for March 6

• Chose an immigrant group that you will like to present on at the end of the semester. Use this activity to explore if there are enough resources online about this group (things like newspaper articles, books, journal articles, pictures, documentaries, reports). For your homework, just give us the quick facts....

Preparation for Class and Required Readings (They are short, I promise)

1. Watch this video explaining Intersectionality to children
2. Here is another video about immigrant, transgender women in detention in the US,
3. Living in Dual Shadows, LGBT Undocumented Immigrants
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/arts/music/kiddy-smile.html
5. LGBT Adult Immigrants in the US

Week 10. Integration, Assimilation and Incorporation

Fact Finding Questions for March 20

• What do sociologists generally mean by assimilation, integration, and incorporation?
• What proportion of first generation immigrants do not know English?
• What proportion of second generation immigrants do not know English?

Required Readings

1. Immigrants in the United States: How Well Are They Integrating into Society? By Tomas Jimienez
2. The Hispanic Challenge. By Samuel Huntington

Week 11. Involuntary migrations

A look at smuggling, slavery, sex workers, and the industries of human trafficking

Fact Finding Questions

• Are there specific, identifiable flows of Human Smuggling?
• Which “industries” (domestic work, child labor, sex industries) or criminal activities stand out in the world or particular regions?

Required Readings

• Visit the Page of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and review the state of current conditions, organizations, and policies available https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/smuggling-of-migrants.html?ref=menuside
• The Law at the Crossroads: the construction of Migrant Women Trafficked into Prostitution.

Week 13. Welcome to Miami

Fact Finding Questions for March 20

• What is the difference between and ethnic enclave and an ethnic neighborhood?

Fact Finding Questions for March 20

1. The Hispanic Challenge. By Samuel Huntington
2. Stepick, Alex. (1998) Pride against Prejudice: Haitians in the United States. Allyn and Bacon: Chapter 4, Just Comes and Cover-Ups: Haitians in High School
3. How the Enclave was Built (from City on the Edge), by Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick