Politics 10-401, section 4:
Seminar on Identity, Culture, and International Relations: Migration/Immigration
Fall 1997
Prof. Chip Gagnon
310 Muller Center
tel.274-1103
e-mail:
Office hours: MWF 12-1, 3-4, and by appointment

Description

In recent years there has been among scholars, journalists, and policy makers an increasing focus on "culture" as key to understanding international politics. The apparent rise of "ethnic conflicts," the growth of culturally-defined nationalist and religious movements, the seemingly growing movement and mixing of peoples of different cultures, all are pointed to as evidence of the centrality of culture. But what is culture? Although the term's use is on the rise, its meaning remains almost indeterminate.

We'll try to gain some understanding of the term and of the broader trends that seem to be marking international politics, especially the relationship of culture and identity to international politics, by looking at one particular phenomenon often pointed to in the IR literature on culture: immigration, or more generally, migration. Immigration is a key political question throughout the developed world, and indeed in the world in general.

We'll do a number of readings, many of which focus on the question of immigration into the United States. As we do the readings, I'd like to have us think of them not so much as political arguments, but rather as stories, or more specifically as different genres of stories all looking at a similar phenomenon. Each story has beginning situations and main characters, both positive and negative; the characters in the course of a story undergo various kinds of events and occurrences; and the end or the end-to-be finds the characters in (perhaps) a different situation; often they themselves are changed. In stories about immigration and migration, the key event is movement. But what kind of movement? What makes immigration a special kind of movement? To begin, think about movements that you've done in your life, why you've done them, how they've affected you, how they've affected the people in the places from which and to which you moved. Also think about the concept of "border" or "boundary". By looking at migration and immigration in these ways, I hope we will have a constructive and innovative set of discussions on this important topic. It should also provide some interesting insight into the set of readings we'll be discussing over the course of the semester.

Readings

The following books should be purchased at the IC bookstore:

• T. Corraghesan Boyle, The Tortilla Curtain
• Peter Brimelow, Alien Nation
• Nigel Harris, The New Untouchables
• Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration
• Dale Maharidge, The Coming White Minority

Other readings, mostly articles, will be handed out during the semester.

We will also see several films on migration: Journey of Hope, a joint Swiss-Turkish production; El Norte, about Mexican migrants in the US; and, hopefully, a documentary Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary about anti-immigration legislation in California.

Assignments

Participation (25%): The most important part of the seminar is participation in discussions. I therefore expect you to be well prepared, to have done the assigned readings and thought about themes or questions we pose ahead of time.

Essays. Over the course of the semester I'd like you to be thinking about a few themes: movement, borders, culture and cultural difference. I'll be asking for 2 or 3 short (5-6 pages) essays on these topics.

• The first one is due Sept. 23. In it I'd like you to think about movement and culture in terms of your own life and family. Where do you come from? Your parents? Who or what are you? What's the relationship between where you come from, where you are, and who you are? How has coming to IC changed you? Explore the question broadly: consider changes in your sense of dependence, freedom, age, class, desires, habits. How does this relate to your sense of self, including in "cultural" terms? To what extent does your "culture" determine who or what you are?
• Review Essay, due November 4. This should be a 6-7 page essay that uses Harris, The New Untouchables and at least one other book on migration/immigration (either books we'll discuss during the semester, or other books on the topic) as starting points. I'd like a summary of the main arguments (or the particular arguments of most interest to you) of the books, but also your reactions to the arguments, your critique and analysis based on comparing the books you've chosen.

There will also be a final paper due during final exam week. Drawing on our readings and discussions I'll ask you to write an essay on the topic of migration and culture. This too will be discussed in more detail in class.

Discussions

Tu 9/2 Introduction

Tu 9/9 Civilizations and clashes?
Reading: Samuel Huntington, "Clash of Civilizations?"
For discussion: What does Huntington mean by culture? What is a culture? How do we draw boundaries around civilizations? Are they doomed to clash? Think about the particular examples that Huntington uses to illustrate his arguments. What story is he telling? What is the role of "the West" in this saga?

Tu 9/16 Immigration and "American Culture"
Reading: Peter Brimelow, Alien Nation, Chapters 1-3, 6, 9-12, 14-15
For discussion: What story is Brimelow telling? What is the situation at the beginning of the story? Who is the "hero"? What obstacles or events take place that change the initial situation? Who is responsible for these events and why are they undertaken? How are the "heroes" affected by these changes? Think about the many kinds of assumptions that underlie his story.

Tu 9/23 Culture and Conflict: The case of Yugoslavia
Reading:
"Historical Roots of the Yugoslav Crisis"
"Collapse or Destruction: The Construction of the Yugoslav Wars"
In class: We are all neighbours
For discussion: What was the role of cultural difference in the Yugoslav wars? Was cultural diversity the root cause of the conflict? What role did fear play? How did fear arise?

Tu 9/30 Migration and Globalization, part 1
Reading: Harris, The New Untouchables, chapters 1-4
For discussion: How does immigration/migration highlight the contradictions between a global economic order on the one hand and the traditional role of the nation state on the other?

Tu 10/7 Migration and Globalization, part 2
Reading: Harris, The New Untouchables, chapters 5-8<
For discussion: Why does Harris argue that global flows of labor are inevitable parts of the modern capitalist world economy?

Tu 10/14 - 10/21 Migration: The case of California, part 1
Reading: Boyle, The Tortilla Curtain,
In class: El Norte
For discussion: Compare the characterizations, motivations and other parts of the story of movement in Tortilla Curtain and El Norte. How do the portrayals of the migrants differ? How and why are their experiences so different? What's being left out or unsaid in each of the two accounts?

Tu 10/28 Migration: The case of California
Reading: Maharidge, The Coming White Minority
For discussion: What is driving the fears of each of the groups Maharidge discusses? How does his journalistic account compare to the fictional accounts of migration we discussed before? How does it compare to the other readings' portrayals of immigration?

Tu 11/4 - 11/11 Migration: European experience
Reading: Jonathan Marcus, The National Front and French Politics, chapters 4, 5, Conclusion
Max Mehr and Regine Sylvester, "The Stone-thrower from Eisenhuttenstadt"
Wesley Chapin, Germany for the Germans?
In class: Journey of Hope
For discussion: How does the question of immigration in Europe compare to the situation in the United States? What seems to be driving the issue in the political arena? How and why are different political forces reacting differently to the issue? Compare the images of European immigration we see with our discussions of immigration into the US.

Tu 11/18 and Tu 12/2 Migration: The experience of the migrants
Reading: Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Gendered Transitions
For discussion: How does this micro-level look at migration compare to what we've seen in the other readings and films? What does this analysis tell us about borders and movement? What distinguishes the movement of migrants/immigrants from other kinds of movements that do not involve borders?

Tu 12/9 Conclusion
Reading: Zygmunt Bauman, "Towards a Sociological Theory of Morality"
For discussion: Why and how is the "other" dehumanized? Think about this in the context of migrants, comparing their lived experiences to the demonization of immigrants seen in right-wing politics in the US and elsewhere. Why is it so easy to see immigrants as essentially different, as a threat, as dangerous?
Also in class: We will be visited by two former migrant workers, from Mexico and Haiti, who will discuss their experiences. Please come prepared with questions.

Last revised 12/4/97