Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0282 - Settler Nation: Race, Immigration, and US Politics

This seminar will examine the history of US immigration from the founding of the American nation to the great waves of European, Asian, and Mexican immigration during the 19th and early 20th centuries, to the more recent flows from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In addition to investigating how these groups were defined and treated in relation to each other by the media, we will consider the following questions: Who is "American"? How does the American Dream obscure US settler colonialism and slavery? How do US immigration narratives, historically and currently, reveal the racial limits of citizenship? How do contemporary political debates about immigration compare with those from previous eras? Is public opinion about immigration shaped by the media? Special attention will be paid to the role of immigration in national politics; Hollywood's fabrication and circulation of ethnic stereotypes; and the virulent xenophobia routinely exhibited in the media. (keywords: ethnic studies, critical race theory, american studies, media studies, political science)

Time and Narrative Students in this course can expect to spend 10 to 12 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.