American Studies 115: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
Leighton 402, MW 9:50-11:00, F 9:40-10:40
Spring Term 2008
Profs.Clark, Akimoto
What makes America distinctive? Is the American experience that different from that of other nations? The
course will examine questions of national self-image and national identity by looking at the theory and practice
of immigration and ethnicity from multiple perspectives including history, psychology, sociology, anthropology,
economics, and politics. We begin with an examination of the actual experience of immigrants, both in the past
and today. We then turn to the analytic models that have been used to compare the experiences of different
national and ethnic groups. We will also look at the various ways immigrants “make it” in America. The final
part of the course will examine our current immigration policy and explore ways in which it might be changed.
Course Requirements
You will be expected to attend class regularly and participate in class discussions. Since we will use assigned
readings as a basis for class discussion, you should complete the assigned reading before class on the date
designated on the syllabus. Note: on most Fridays we will give a quiz or collect assignments (see schedule
below). In addition to class readings and participation, you will be required to complete the following
assignments:
1. Immigrant narrative – Each member of the class will interview an immigrant and write a narrative of that
individual’s experience. (Due Friday, April 4)
2. Two short essays (the first, approximately 2 pages; the second, 3-4 pages) – These essays will ask you to
explore issues that we examine in class. Each will count for 20% of your course grade.
3. Group project – Groups or pairs will work together to research a current immigration issue or policy debate.
Each group/pair will present this issue to the class in debate format during the last few weeks of the term.
Groups/pairs will also be required to turn in a short (2-3 page) abstract or position paper. This project will count
for 20% of your course grade.
4. Final essay – In lieu of a final exam there will be a final group (or optional individual) essay of
approximately 6-7 pages, due at the end of the term. This essay will ask you to bring course readings and
discussions to bear in thinking about contemporary policy options. This essay count for 30% of your grade.
5. Quizzes, discussion questions, class participation - in order to facilitate discussion on Fridays, you will be
given two quizzes (see schedule for dates), and two opportunities to bring discussion questions to class.
Altogether, these will be worth 10% of your grade.
Guidelines and due dates for all assignments are noted below and/or will be passed out as the course progresses.
Although neither the immigrant narrative nor class participation alone will be given a letter grade, they may
influence your final course grade by as much as half a grade.
Texts (all required and available in the Bookstore; additional readings on e-reserve):
Thomas Dublin, ed., (1993). Immigrant Voices, University of Illinois Press, Chicago, IL.
Portes and Rumbaut, (2006). Immigrant America, 3rd Ed. University of California Press: Los Angeles, CA.
Mahalingam, R. (2006). Cultural Psychology of immigrants. Lawrence Earlbaum: New Jersey.
DeLeat, U.S. (2000). Immigration Policy in the Age of Rights. Praeger: Westport, CT.
Office Hours:
Professor Clark (Leighton 206) – MW 3-4, and by appointment
Professor Akimoto (Olin 131) –T 10-12, and by appointment; and after midterm: W 12-2
Tentative Schedule and Reading Assignments
Part I:
Week 1
IMMIGRATION, AMERICAN STUDIES, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
M
Introduction to the Course
3/31
Read: Dublin, ed., Immigrant Voices, Introduction
Oral History
and the Study
of Im/migration
W
4/2
Read : Virgina Yans-McLaughlin, ed., Immigration Reconsidered, Ch. 9,
“Metaphors of Self in History.” (e-reserve);
Portes and Rumbault: Ch. 1 (who they are and why they come);
Boneva, & Frieze: Toward a concept of a migrant personality (e-reserve)
F
4/4
Week 2
How do you learn about the people you study?
Interview Essay Due at the start of class: See e-mailed assignment sheet.
M
4/7
Approaches to Immigration
Read: Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted, introduction. (e-reserve);
Rumbaut: Immigration research in the US: social origins and future
orientations. (ch. 1 in Immigration research for the new century, on ereserve) Read article, plus the following at the end of the same article:
Sanchez, Race and immigration history (2C);
Deaux: A nation of immigrants, Living our legacy, Journal of Social Issues
(e-reserve).
W
Waves of
Immigrants: the 4/9
Melting Pot
Myth and
Beyond
F
4/11
Film: The Jazz Singer
Read: Dublin, “Rose Gollup, From Russia to the East Side” ;
Rumbaut: Immigration research in the US: social origins and future
orientations. (ch. 1 in Immigration research for the new century, on ereserve) Read the following contained in this article:
Waters: “Sociological roots and multidisciplinary future..” (2A)
Foner: “Anthropology and the study of immigration”(2B)
Zolberg: “Politics of immigration policy” (2D)
Discussion of film <QUIZ>
Read: Portes and Rumbault: Ch. 2 (moving)
Week 3
M
4/14
Models of immigrant experience
Read: Suarez-Orozco: Everything you ever wanted to know about
assimilation but were afraid to ask. In The New Immigration, SuarezOrozco, Suarez-Orozco, Qin. (e-reserve);
Mahalingam: Ch. 3 (assimilation or transnationalism? Conceptual models of
the immigrant experience).
The Meanings
of Assimilation
and adaptation
W
4/16
Read: Berry, J. W. (1995). Psychology of acculturation. In Goldberger,
Nancy Rule (Eds) The culture and psychology reader (pp. 457-488).
New York: New York University Press. (e-reserve);
Portes and Rumbaut, Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second
Generation, Ch. 3, “Not Everyone Is Chosen: Segmented Assimilation
and Its Determinants” (e-reserve).
F
4/18
Discussion: application of models < DUE: PAPER #1 (1-2 pages)>
Read: Gish Jen, "What Means 'Switch'?" in Hong, Growing Up Asian
American (e-reserve);
Philip Roth, “Eli the Fanatic,” in Goodbye Columbus (e-reserve);
Suarez-Orozco: The 21st Century’s debate over. Acculturation should be
worthy of our past-and look to our future, In Immigrant children and the
American project, Education Week, 2001, 20 (e-reserve).
Part II:
Week 4
M
4/21
MAKING IT IN AMERICA
Labor Markets, Economy, and Economic Mobility
Read: Portes and Rumbaut: Ch. 4 (making it in America: occupational and
economic adaptation)
Dublin: “The Galarza Family in the Mexican Revolution”;
Ngai, Impossible Subjects, Ch. 4 (Braceros) (e-reserve).
Economics,
Politics,
Identity
W
4/23
Read: Portes and Rumbault: Ch. 5 (From Immigrants to ethnics: identity,
citizenship, political participation).
Cornelius & Rosenblum: Immigration and politics, in Annual Review of
Political Science.
F
4/25
Refugees and colonized minorities <DUE: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS>
Read: Joane Nagel, “American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Politics and the
Resurgence of Identity” American Sociological Review 60:6 (Dec.
1995), 947-965 (e-reserve);
Mahalingam: Ch. 8 (Black immigrants to the United States: confronting and
constructing ethnicity and race);
Mahalingam: Ch. 12 (Refugees and gendered citizenship);
Pipher (2002). The Middle of Everywhere (African Stories, pp. 247-274).
Week 5
M
4/28
Bafa Bafa (cross cultural simulation game)
Read: Mullen (2001). Ethnophaulisms for ethnic immigrant groups, JSI.
Inter-cultural
encounters
W
4/30
Discussion of game
Read: Mahalingam: Ch. 6 (two level approach to anti-immigrant prejudice
and discrimination),
Mahalingam: Ch. 7 (role of prejudice and discounting of immigrant skills)
F
5/2
Film: Wausau Wisconsin <DUE: PAPER #2 (3-4 pages)>
Read: Ngai, Impossible Subjects, Ch. 5 (the WWII internment of Japanese
Americans and the citizenship renunciation cases) (on closed reserve);
Dublin, “Kazuko Itoi: A Nissei Daughter’s Story, 1925-1942”
Week 6
M
5/5
W
5/7
Midterm Break--no class
Stress, coping, well-being
Guest Speaker: Yeung Chan
Read; Portes and Rumbault: Ch. 6 (A foreign world: immigration, mental
health and acculturation);
Mahalingam Ch. 5 (Transnational ties and mental health);
Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind & Vedder (2001). Ethnic identity,
immigration and well-being: an interactional perspective, Journal of
Social Issues, 57, 493-510.
Mental Health
and well-being
F
5/9
Help seeking and cross-cultural misunderstanding <QUIZ>
Read: Beiser & Heiman (1997). Southeast Asian refugees in Canada, In AlIssa & Tousignant, Ethnicity, Immigration and Psychopathology (ereserve);
Fadiman (1997). “Do doctors eat brains?” In The spirit catches you and you
fall down, pp. 32-59. (e-reserve)
Week 7
M
5/12
Growing up American
Read: Portes and Rumbault: Ch. 8 (Growing up American: The new second
generation);
Mahalingam: Ch. 16 (on the development of identity: Perspectives from
immigrant families); Ch. 17 (Negotiation culture and ethnicity:
Intergenerational relationship in Chinese Immigrant families in the US).
Intergenerational
dynamics
W
5/14
F
5/16
Film: “My American Girls”
Film application <DUE: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS >
Read: Espiritu, “We Don’t Sleep Around Like White Girls
Do” in Home Bound (e-reserve);
Finnegan, “New in town: The Somalis of Lewiston” New Yorker, Dec. 11,
2006 (e-reserve);
Peterson, “Refugee flow switches to smaller cities” Star Tribune (e-reserve).
*Group debate set up
Part III:
Week 8
M
5/19
FOUNDATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY POLICY DEBATES
Overview
Read: Ngai, Ch. 7 and epilogue (on closed reserve);
DeLaet, Chap. 1
Foundations of
Contemporary
Policy Debates
W
5/21
Immigration Reform Acts of 1986 and the 1990s
Read: DeLaet, Ch. 3, 4, Appendix C.
F
5/23
Immigration, Rights, and National Security
Read: DeLaet, Ch. 5;
“Battered and Unprotected: Lack of Law Adds Risk for Illegal Immigrant
Wives” NY Times, April 18, 1999 (e-reserve).
Week 9
Week 10
M
5/26
W
5/28
F
5/30
M
6/2
W
6/4
Group Debate
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Wrap Up Discussion