05.866.412 Lecture 412 American Literature: The “Nation of Immigrants“ Revisited: Migration in U.S. History

Course offering details

Instructors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer

Event type: Lecture

Displayed in timetable as: 05.866.412

Hours per week: 2

Credits: 2,0

Language of instruction: Englisch

Min. | Max. participants: - | -

Requirements / organisational issues:
The famed “nation of immigrants” has historically felt deeply ambivalent about the people that came to its shores as slaves, indentured servants, contract laborers, free workers, or refugees.  Rather than welcoming the “tempest-tost”, the U.S. in its history has avidly sought to restrict, control, and manage immigration primarily based on ethnoracial categorization and class politics.  Indeed, according to Aristide Zolberg, the U.S. was from its inception a “nation by design”. Indeed, perceptions and policies related to immigration facilitated the expansion of both state and federal administrative capacities in a wide range of public policy arenas. This suggests that, while the “nation of immigrants” might largely be a myth, we can certainly talk about the U.S. as an “immigration state.” This course combines a historical overview of immigration with a closer look at salient issues in immigration-related state-building. It follows a chronological overview of U.S. immigration history, but also includes thematic weeks that cover topics such as the relationship between migration and political ideology, social policy, and industrial capitalism.  Primary and secondary sources offer historical context for exploring the shifting boundaries between political participation and exclusion, ethnic assimilation and segregation, and economic opportunities and
exploitation. 

Guest Lecture: May 9.
Professor Herman L Bennett, City University of New York, The Center for the Humanities. Lecture title: Imagined Pasts: Historical Thinking and Black Immigrants.
Herman Bennett is Obama Fellow in summer term 2022.

Guest Lecture: May 16.
Professor Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, University of Puerto Rico, Art and Sciences Department of Humanities.
Lecture title: Leaving America: Emigrant Culture When the Dream is Over.
Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera is Obama Fellow in summer term 2022.

Guest Lecture: June 13.
Professor Moustafa Bayoumi, CUNY Brooklyn College. School of Humanities & Social Sciences.
Lecture title:
The Muslims Are (always) Coming!: How Religion as a Category of Analysis complicates American Immigration Narratives.
Moustafa Bayouomi is Obama Fellow in summer term 2022 as well.

 

Appointments
Date From To Room Instructors
1 Mon, 25. Apr. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
2 Mon, 2. May 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
3 Mon, 9. May 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
4 Mon, 16. May 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
5 Mon, 23. May 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
6 Mon, 30. May 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
7 Mon, 13. Jun. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
8 Mon, 20. Jun. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
9 Mon, 27. Jun. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
10 Mon, 4. Jul. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
11 Mon, 11. Jul. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
12 Mon, 18. Jul. 2022 14:15 15:45 00 151 P3 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer
Course specific exams
Description Date Instructors Mandatory
1. Course Assessment Time tbd No
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Instructors
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Schäfer