Immigration in the United States of America

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Lectures; textual analysis; reading and written assignments; analysis of films and other visual materials; group discussion, oral presentations, tests.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the semester students are expected to have

– deepened their awareness of the diversity of cultures that compose American society, and their connection to the social and historical context;

– acquired more detailed knowledge of the circumstances and characteristics of immigrant groups under study and their integration in American society;

– become aware of the social and economic inequalities as well as of the racial and ethnic conflicts that pervade US society.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The syllabus will either provide a general overview of the diversity of ethnic minorities in the US, or address a particular historical period, focusing on their origins and development within American society, contitions of integration, strategies of assimilation or resistance. The syllabus is designed to deepen students’ knowledge of and critical perspective on the cultural diversity and deep unequality of American society, and to promote the discussion of concepts such as minority, migration, stereotype, discrimination, integration, diaspora, assimilation, acculturation, etc. The concept and the politics of multiculturalism will also be critiqued.

Different kinds of materials may be used (essays, literary texts, films, photos, art, etc.).

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria José Florentino Mendes Canelo

Assessment Methods

Final assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Continuous assessment
In-class participation and oral presentation: 15.0%
Synthesis work: 40.0%
Mini Tests: 45.0%

Bibliography

Anderson, B. (1983, 1991). Imagined Communities. Verso.

Glazer, N. (1997). We Are All Multiculturalists Now. Harvard UP.

Goldberg, D. T. (1995). Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. Blackwell.

Hall, S. (1998). Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In J. Rutherford (ed.) Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Pp 222-237. Lawrence & Wishart.

Kammen, M. (1995). Contested Values: Democracy and Diversity in American Culture. St. Martin’s P.

Kaplan, A and D. Pease (eds.) (1993). Cultures of United States Imperialism. Duke UP.

Saldívar, J. D. (1997). Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies. U. California P.

Schuman, H.et al. (1997). Racial Attitudes in America. Cambridge: Harvard UP.

Sollors, W. (1986). Beyond Ethnicity. OUP.

Takaki R. (1993). A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Takaki, R. (ed.). (2002). Debating Diversity: Clashing Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America. OUP.