PS 138F: Immigrants, Citizenship, and the State
(with special focus on the comparative politics of immigration and integration
in the United States, Western Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region)
SUMMER 2008 │ SESSION D │ M-Th 4-6PM │ 170 BARROWS HALL
Instructors:
Rebecca HamlinKen Haig
Mailbox: 210 Barrows HallMailbox: 210 Barrows Hall
Office Hours: 715 Barrows, Friday 2-4pmOffice Hours: 715 Barrows, Friday 8-10am
Section: 140 Barrows, Friday 12-2pmSection: 140 Barrows, Friday 10am-12pm
Unit Value: 4 Units
Instructor Format: Seminar
Prerequisites and Restrictions: None
Course Overview:
As migration has become an increasingly global phenomenon, more and more immigrant-receiving countries around the world find themselves embroiled in the same debates over the perceived costs and benefits of immigration that have long been a familiar part of American politics. In this class we examine how and why political conflicts over immigration arise and are played out in sometimes similar, sometimes dissimilar ways across different national settings.
Lectures and readings are thematically organized around three areas that commonly prompt political debate in liberal democratic, advanced industrial societies. First we look at the politics around entry and membership, such as policies regulating border control, visa quotas/categories and their determinants, undocumented migration, acceptance of asylum seekers, and the conditions placed on acquisition of citizenship status. We then consider the context of debates around immigrants’ perceived impact on jobs, taxes, the welfare system and other public services. Finally, we move on to political conflicts around immigrants’ assimilation/integration, looking at contention over language rights, ethnic and racial divisions, religious differences, voting rights and citizenship attainment, to name a few.
The aim of this course is not to weigh in on any side of any particular debate, but to give students the analytical tools with which to critically compare and contrast the relevant issues, actors, political institutions, and political processes that form the basis of immigration-related policy debates in a variety of different national contexts. We start with the United States but then look for parallels and comparative reference elsewhere, including in-depth looks at the experiences of France, Japan, and Australia. In each case, academic works will be supplemented with empirical examples drawn from the instructors’ own research, narratives of immigrants’ lived experiences, documentary films, political cartoons, and journalistic accounts of policy developments, public opinions, and political debates related to immigration.
Course Requirements:
Grades in this class will be based on the following:
Class attendance and participation 10%
In-class midterm exam 30% (due Friday, July 25)
Documentary film analysis30% (due Wednesday, August 6)
24-hour take-home final30% (due Friday, August 15)
In-class midterm exam (30%): The midterm exam will take place on Friday 7/25 during section. It will cover the U.S. portion of the course and will consist of a number of essay questions.
Documentary film analysis (30%): Students will analyze a documentary to be shown in section on Friday, July 18 (Farmingville, U.S.A, see below), and should reference lecture materials and at least four (4) assigned readings for this course in their analysis of how and why immigration is been problematized and politicized in particular ways. This assignment will be due in lecture on Wednesday, August 6, and should not exceed ten (10) double-spaced pages in 12-point font (excluding the works cited page).
24-hour take-home final (30%): Students will receive the take-home final (and exam formatting requirements) at the end of lecture on Wednesday, August 13. The typed final exam is due on Friday, August 15, and needs to be handed in at the beginning of the last section (no e-mail submissions will be accepted). The final exam is cumulative and comprehensive in nature. It will cover both the U.S. and non-U.S. portions of the course, and will contain a mix of short answer and longer essay questions.
Course Materials:
All readings (see below) will be contained in one course reader, available at Copy Central on Bancroft Avenue. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss all assigned readings by the dates designated. When doing these readings, students should focus less on the specific details of each country, and more on the main points and arguments of each reading, and how these connect with the main themes of the course.
Film / Visual Media:
In addition to the readings, we will be drawing on a number of audiovisual materials in lectures and sections. Most of these we will only show small portions of, but one can view the films in their entirety at the Media Resource Center in the basement of Moffitt Library [the call numbers are in listed in brackets]:
Film for documentary analysis:
7/18* Farmingville, U.S.A (2004, 78 min), on tensions/politics over immigration in suburban NY [DVD 6599]
Other films/media from which excerpts may be used in class:
For Week 1, on entry and membership in the U.S.:
7/8* The Closing Door: An Investigation of Immigration Policy (1983, 58 min), on the history of U.S. immigration policy [Video/C 983]
7/8* Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, program three, “No Turning Back” (2003, 88 min), on the effect of 1965 immigration reforms on U.S. Chinese communities [DVD 1889]; also program two, “Between Two Worlds” [DVD 1888]; and program one, “Gold Mountain Dreams” [DVD 1887]
7/9* Patrolling the Border: National Security and Immigration Reform (2005, 22 min), on modern U.S. border patrol strategies [DVD 4288]
7/9* Rights on the Line: Vigilantes on the Border (2005, 43 min), on the Minuteman Project [DVD 6537]
7/9* Snakeheads (1996, 27 min), on Chinese “People Smugglers” [Video/C 6729]
7/10* Abandoned, the Betrayal of American Immigrants (2000, 55 min), on U.S. detention and deportation policies [online at or, DVD 6747]
For Week 2, on labor and welfare in the U.S.:
7/14*Clip from The Daily Show (May 23, 2007), on the 2007 immigration bill in Congress [
7/16* Go Back to Mexico! (1994, 57 min), on the lead-up to the passage of Prop 187 in CA [Video/C 5067]
7/17* Made in LA: Hecho en Los Angeles (2007, 70 min), on LA sweatshop workers organizing [DVD 9283]
For Week 3, on assimilation/integration in the U.S.:
7/21* Letter Back Home (1994, 14 min), on Lao and Cambodian youths in SF’s Tenderloin [Video/C 4187]
7/21* Lost Boys of Sudan (2004, 87 min), on Sudanese war orphans’ adjustment to U.S. society [DVD 3110]
7/23-4* The English-Speaking Amendment(1986, 28 min), on the political debate over making English the official language of the U.S.[Video/C 1920]
For Week 4, on tensions around ethnic diversity in the EU and France:
7/28* Help Wanted: Dynamics of the EU Labor Market (2007, 26 min), on the transition from temporary to permanent immigration patterns in Europe [DVD 9164]
7/28* Inside the European Union: Parliament Under Pressure (2007, 26 min), on the politics behind comprehensive EU immigration laws [DVD 9163]
7/30* La Haine (2007, 97 min), on the lives of immigrant youths in a Paris ghetto [DVD 7386]
For Week 5, on immigration and integration in East Asia and Japan:
8/4* Singapore: The Price of Prosperity (1997, 30 min), on the restriction of personal liberties and the molding of an “homogenous and efficient” society in pursuit of economic development [Video/C 5361]
8/4* Tokyo: The Neon City (2005, 26 min), on labor migrants and ethnic tensions in Tokyo [DVD 4302]
8/6* Shimon: Fingerprint (1990, 28 min), on zainichi Korean activism against the Alien Registration Law and the fingerprinting of foreign residents [Video/C 1780]
8/6* Salsa in Japan: A Japanese and Latino Mix (2002, 25 min), on Latin-American migrants and culture in Japan [Video/C 9745]
For Week 6, on immigration and asylum policy in Australia:
8/12* This American Life, episode 253, Act One: “No Island Is an Island” (aired December 7, 2007), on the relocation of Australian asylum seekers to the island of Nauru [
Readings:
Part One: The Politics of Immigration and Integration in the United States
Week1: Introduction & United States Admissions Policies
Who are immigrants? Why do they come? And what’s all the controversy surrounding them?
Monday, July 7:
[Suggested additional reading:
Aristide R. Zolberg (1999), “Matters of State: Theorizing Immigration Policy,” p. 71-93 in The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.]
Tuesday, July 8:
Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut (1996), Chapter 1: “Who They Are and Why They Come,” p. 1-27 in Immigrant America: A Portrait. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
James Hollifield, Valerie F. Hunt, and Daniel J. Tichenor (2006), “Immigrants, Markets, and the American State: The Political Economy of U.S. Immigration,” p. 91-107 in Marco Giugni and Florence Passy, eds., Dialogues on Migration Policy. Oxford: Lexington Books.
Wednesday, July 9:
Linda Bosniak (2006), Chapter 6: “Separated Spheres: Citizenship and Its Conundrums,” p. 122-140 in The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Peter Andreas (2001), Chapter 5: “The Escalation of Immigration Control,” p. 85-112 in Border Games: Policing the U.S. Mexico Divide. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Allan Greenblat (2008), “Can Politicians Find a Way to Curb Illegal Immigration?” in The CQ Researcher 18(5): p. 99-119.
Thursday, July 10:
Mary Beth Sheridan (June 13, 2005), “Immigration Law as Anti-Terrorism Tool,” in The Washington Post.
Rebecca Hamlin (2008), “Illegal Refugees: Asylum Seeker Policy in the U.S.” [to be handed out in class]
Week 2: Economic Debates
Are immigrants net contributors to, or drains on the American economy and public resources? Why and how have these become such politicized questions?
Monday, July 14:
George J. Borjas (1999), “Reframing the Immigration Debate,” p. 3-18 in Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Roger Lowenstein (July 9, 2006), “The Immigration Equation,” in The New York Times Magazine.
Tuesday, July 15: Guest lecturer: Shannon Gleeson
AnnaLee Saxenian (2002), “Silicon Valley’s New Immigrant High-Growth Entrepreneurs,” in Economic Development Quarterly 16(1): p. 20-31.
Wayne A. Cornelius (1998), “The Structural Embeddedness of Demand for Mexican Immigrant Labor,” p. 125-142 in Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, ed., Crossings. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Wednesday, July 16:
Thomas J. Espenshade and Gregory A. Huber (1999), “Fiscal Impacts of Immigrants and the Shrinking Welfare State,” p. 360-370 in The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Thursday, July 17:
Frank D. Bean and Gillian Stevens (2003), “Immigrant Economic Incorporation,” p. 114-142 in America’s Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Week 3: Assimilation and Integration
Do immigrants impact American society and culture more, or is it the other way around? And why does it matter?
Monday, July 21:
Samuel P. Huntington (2004), “The Hispanic Challenge,” in Foreign Policy March/April 2004: p. 30-45.
Tamar Jacoby (2004), Chapter 1: “Defining Assimilation for the 21st Century,” p. 1-16 in Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It Means To Be American. New York: Basic Books.
Tuesday, July 22:
Ian Haney Lopez (2005), “Race on the 2010 Census: Hispanics & the Shrinking White Majority,” in Daedalus Winter 2005: p. 42-52.
Wednesday, July 23:
Peter Skerry (2004), Chapter 17: “‘This Was Our Riot, Too’: the Political Assimilation of Today’s Immigrants,” p. 221-232 in Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It Means To Be American. New York: Basic Books.
Thursday, July 24: Guest lecturer: Ming Chen
Craig Donegan (1996), “Debate Over Bilingualism,” in CQ Researcher 6(3): p. 51-67.
John D. Skrentny (2002), “‘Learn, Amigo, Learn!’ Bilingual Education and Language Rights in the Schools,” p. 179-229 in The Minority Rights Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [skim]
Part Two: Immigration and Integration Politics in Comparative Perspective
Week 4: France (and Europe)
Do other nations have the same debates? How and why do they differ? We begin our comparative analysis by using the case of France to flush out immigration-related debates in the European context.
Monday, July 28:
Randall Hansen (2003), “Migration to Europe since 1945: Its History and Lessons,” p. 25-38 in Sarah Spencer, ed., The Politics of Migration: Managing Opportunity, Conflict and Change. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Tuesday, July 29:
Alec G. Hargreaves (2007), Chapter 1: “Overview,” p. 8-39 in Multi-Ethnic France: Immigration, Politics, Culture and Society (Second Edition). New York: Routledge.
George M. Fredrickson (2005), “Diverse Republics: French & American Responses to Racial Pluralism,” in Daedalus Winter 2005: p. 88-101.
Wednesday, July 30:
Alain Blum (2002), “Resistance to Identity Categorization in France,” p. 121-147 in David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel, eds., Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Erik Bleich (2004), “Anti-Racism without Races: Politics and Policy in a ‘Color-Blind’ State,” p. 162-188 in Herrick Chapman and Laura Fraders, eds., Race in France: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Difference. New York: Berghahn Books.
[Suggested additional reading(s):
Accounts of the November 2005 riots at “Civil Unrest in the French Suburbs, November 2005”
Thursday, July 31:
Elaine Thomas (2006), “Keeping Identity at a Distance: Explaining France’s New Legal Restrictions on the Islamic Headscarf,” in Racial and Ethnic Studies 29(2): p. 237-259.
Week 5: Japan (and East Asia)
How do immigration debates play out in a non-Western context? In what ways are the political conflicts surrounding immigration in the advanced industrial democracies of East Asia similar or dissimilar to the contexts of the other countries we’ve looked at?
Monday, August 4:
Keiko Yamanaka and Nicola Piper (2005), “Feminized Migration in East and Southeast Asia: Policies, Actions and Empowerment,” United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Occasional Paper 11, December 2005.
Tuesday, August 5:
Takeyuki Tsuda and Wayne A. Cornelius (2004), “Japan: Government Policy, Immigrant Reality,” p. 439-476 in Wayne A. Cornelius, Takeyuki Tsuda, Philip L. Martin, and James F. Hollifield, eds., Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective (Second Edition). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
John Lie (2001), Chapter 2: “The Contemporary Discourse of Japaneseness,” p. 27-52 in Multiethnic Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wednesday, August 6:
Chikako Kashiwazaki (2000), “Citizenship in Japan: Legal Practice and Contemporary Development,” p. 434-471 in T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer, eds., From Migrants to Citizens: Membership in a Changing World. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Week 6: Australia (and Conclusions)
Returning to another country that, like the U.S., was founded by immigrants, we complete our comparative analysis and consider what kind of general conclusions we can make about the ways in which immigration-related politics play out in immigrant-receiving advanced industrial democracies.
Monday, August 11:
Stephen Castles and Ellie Vasta (2004), “Australia: New Conflicts around Old Dilemmas,” p. 141-173 in Wayne A. Cornelius, Takeyuki Tsuda, Philip L. Martin, and James F. Hollifield, eds., Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective (Second Edition). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Katherine Betts (2005), “Cosmopolitans and Patriots: Australia’s Cultural Divide and Attitudes to Immigration,” in People and Place 13(2): p. 29-40.
Tuesday, August 12:
Matthew J. Gibney (2004), Chapter 6: “Australia: Restricting Asylum, Resettling Refugees,” p. 166-193 in The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to Refugees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Julian Burnside (2007), Chapter 6: “The Pacific Solution,” p. 83-90 in Watching Brief: Reflections on Human Rights, Law, and Justice. Carlton, Aus.: Scribe.
Wednesday, August 13:
Gary Freeman (1995), “Modes of Immigration Politics in Liberal Democratic States,” [and rejoinder by Rogers Brubaker] in International Migration Review. 19(4): p. 881-913.
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