Immigration: Images and Realities
Immigration has become a “hot button” political topic—and not for the first time in U.S. history. We’ll look at this issue from the perspective of immigrants themselves. We’ll explore some of the persistent myths about immigrants with special attention to Asian Americans and Latinos, and learn about the new immigrant rights movement.
Sub topic One Asian-America: common differences
Many groups constitute Asian America. Who are these groups? How are they different from each other? How does the history of their immigration (when they arrived, how they were received, what they brought with them) shape these differences?
Asian Nation Website: www.asian-nation.org
Sub-topic Two Asian Americans & The Model Minority
“Success Story of One Minority Group in U.S.” Us. News & world Report (1966) in Asian-American Studies, eds. Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (Rutgers U Press, 2000), pp. 158-163
Elaine Kim, “Home is Where the Han Is,” in Asian-American Studies, eds. Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (Rutgers U Press, 2000)
Min Zhou, “Are Asian Americans Becoming White?”, Contexts vol 3, iss 1 (Winter 2004)
Asian Nation: www.asian-nation.org
Sub-topic Three Asian American Movements 1980’s &1990’s.
Excerpts from Glenn Omatsu, “The Four Prisons” and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960’s) in Asian-American Studies, eds. Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (Rutgers U Press, 2000), pp. 176-194
Women and Gender Issues
http://www.asian-nation.org/gender.shtml
Sub topic Four Latinos in the U.S.
Who are the “new immigrants” among Latinos? How are they different from/similar to Latinos who came to this country earlier or people of Mexican descent who have always lived here?. What proportion of the Latino population are undocumented workers? How does the timing and character of the new immigration help to explain the emergence of immigration as a political issue?
A Statistical Portrait of Hispanics at Mid-Decade
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/middecade/
Rise, Peak, and Decline: Trends in US Immigration 1992-2004
http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/53.pdf
Sub topic Five: Resistance
Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride Coalition
http://www.iwfr.org/
PCUN (Northwest Tree Planters and Farmworkers United)
http://www.pcun.org/resources/aboutpcun.asp
Peter Ian Asen, “Boycotting Taco Bell: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers,” A Troublemaker’s Handbook, ed., Jane Slaughter (Labor Notes 2005)
Elizabeth Martinez, De Colores Means All of Us (South End Press, 1998) Chapter 25