LATA 3065

Immigrant America: Race and Citizenship in Modern Working-Class History

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

Immigration discourse and policy has played a central role in shaping the modern American nation-state, including its composition, values, and institutions. This course begins in the late nineteenth century, defining it as a pivotal moment in U.S. immigration and labor history when efforts to regulate immigrant entry and naturalization became increasingly bureaucratized. As part of the course we will examine the causes and consequences of working-class migration to the United States from a comparative historical, ethno-racial, class-based, and gendered perspective. We will also address questions regarding the perceived benefit and cost of immigration at both the national and local (i.e., community) levels. In this sense, we will explore the economic, social, cultural, and political impact immigrants have had on the United States over time. Finally, we will consider how immigrants have negotiated the pressures of their new surroundings, and challenged dominant conceptions of American national identity and citizenship in the process.

When Offered Spring.

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