First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar: Migration & American Culture

Catalog description

This course will examine the immigrant and migrant narratives of varied racial and ethnic groups in the United States. What changes in identity and in political, social and economic status did they experience? What were the newcomers’ expectations of their environment, and what reality did they encounter? Our study will look at coping mechanisms, the forging of intra-tribal identity, the sociology of survival, and the concept of ‘otherness.’ We will be joined by guest lecturers from notable sites including the National Museum of the American Indian, the Tenement Museum, the African Burial Ground, the Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Museum of Chinese in America, and Ellis Island. Readings may include such texts as How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, The Lucky Ones by Mae Ngai, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, Dance and the Railroad by David Henry Hwang, and Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson. Films will include Family Name by Mackie Alston and A Raisin in the Sun.