Across the Americas: The Literature of Immigration and Migration

Catalog description

This graduate-level seminar focuses on the migration and immigration of people across the Americas during the 20th century. We begin the course by reading critical theory on the topic, from anthropology to economics, to the law. Then we explore the literature of migration and immigration, to and from the Americas, from the dawn of the twentieth century to the present. We first will investigate subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in the law and language of migration at the turn of the twentieth century, as the customary influx of northern European migration to the Americas mitigates and is complemented by waves of southern Europeans, eastern European Jews and Puerto Ricans moving west and north. Next, we study the mid-century, particularly the continued immigration and emigration of Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Finally, we look at population movement through the Americas late in the century, with special attention paid to Mexican, Caribbean and South American migration and immigration, and an unusual look at indigenous 'migration.'