Regulating Bodies: Migration, Race, and Colonial Legacies in Central America

Catalog description

This course examines the colonial roots of forced migration and the contemporary immigration policy that affects the lives of Central Americans. We will begin by studying the ways that race and gender hierarchies emerge through colonialism and how these hierarchies connect to recent histories of state violence that determine who may move freely in the Americas. Then we will connect the recent armed conflicts in Central America to the forced migration we recognize today. Building on this foundation, we will trace colonial and conflict-time ideologies about race and gender to learn about contemporary immigration policies like Safe Third Country agreements, coordinated repression of migrant caravans, the Migrant Protection Protocols, and Zero Tolerance. The end of the course will look to the political futures of transnational immigration regulation through the lens of migrant justice activisms.