Through current events, discussion, digital storytelling, film, public history, and young adult literature, and from the multiple perspectives of European, African, Asian, and Latinx immigration, this course will introduce students to the inherent complexities of U.S. immigration history. By way of establishing the basic historical framework for understanding immigration studies, we will work to investigate the following questions: • What does it mean to be “American”? How does one become “American”? • How have ethnic, racial, class, and gender differences shaped debates about immigration policy, about who has access citizenship, and immigrants’ experiences? • How have memory, media, and popular culture influenced considerations on immigration? • How does our telling of this history shape our understanding of current political and cultural debates? • How does history and story help to better inform our conversations about immigration?
Prerequisite
3 credits of HIST.
Textbooks and Materials
Section 801
Required
- America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States (2019)
Lee, Erika
ISBN: 978-1541672604
Optional
- We are Not Free (2020)
Chee, Traci
ISBN: 978-0358131434
Not available at the CSU Bookstore - We are Not From Here (2020)
Torres Sanchez, Jenny
ISBN: ? 978-1984812261
Not available at the CSU Bookstore - Sanctuary (2020)
Mendoza, Paola and Sher, Abby
ISBN: ? 978-1984815712
Not available at the CSU Bookstore - Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (2019)
Vargas, Jose Antonio
ISBN: ? 978-0062851352
Not available at the CSU Bookstore
Textbooks and materials can be purchased at the CSU Bookstore unless otherwise indicated.
In addition to the required text, students will choose and read one of the optional texts. All texts will be available via course eReserve.
Instructors
