WEEK 10

I hope you have a relaxing and productive spring break.  We’ll come back after the break and return to our regular class format–a student-led discussion of a book and a critical evaluation exercise.

When we come back we will be discussing Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California, by Daniel Martinez HoSang.  It is a wonderfully written and argued book that you’ll undoubtedly find useful to your own thinking about race and racism in the late 20th century.  It has 8 chapters and an introduction and a conclusion, so you might want to divide your reading into 10 sections total.

Here is the author discussing his book during a recent visit to Pitzer College.  (Unfortunately, the sounds if terrible quality, so you’ll have to crank it up.)

Take care…

WEEK 08

This is a breather week for us, a chance for you to get started on your Historiographical Essay assignment.

This week you have to make a decision about the topic of your essay and identify at least 4 sources you will use to frame the historiography. You will each present your four sources by author, name, and publication year. Come prepared to do so. As we discussed, the “Assignment Sheet” is now posted on the Assignments page.

We will also watch a documentary in class related to Latino immigration and labor.

And we’ll HAVE a picnic with the food you bring!

See you next week!

Historiography Essay

The “Assignment Sheet” for the Historiography is now posted. You can download it by clicking on the blue link under its description on the “Assignments” page above.

WEEK 07

This week we read the Cobb book on Native American activism. As we discussed, it is available in our password-protected “Digital Readings” page.

As you engage this history you might begin by asking what you know of Native American history. What do you know? How do you know it? Is your knowledge confined to the pre-20th century? What if anything do you know about 20th century Indian history?

Here’s one story that sort of acts as a follow-up to some of the themes and topics discussed in the book.

WEEK 06

We return to our regular format this week with the book Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol, by Kelly Lytle-Hernandez. As we discussed, your goal is to read at least one chapter a day for the next week, feeling free to skip a chapter or two as you see fit.

As always, our primary goal is to understand the historian’s main argument as well as the strategies she employs to support it. Secondarily you should make a bona fide effort to engage the text and its knowledge as it relates to your broader understanding.

Here’s an interesting news report from Arizona relating to the migration process for many. Have a great week…

WEEK 05

This week we’ll look more closely at the 20th century history of immigration in the US.

We’ll read two articles for class. The first is “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924,” by Mae M. Ngai. It is available for you to download from the “Digital Readings” page above. You will need to type in the case-sensitive password to access it.

The second article is for you to choose. Use the JSTOR database to find an article related to 20th century immigration history. Read it and come prepared to present the article to the class.

In addition to our discussion on the readings we’ll also look at some sources in class. You do NOT have to prepare a critical evaluation essay this week.

Here’s something to get you started:

WEEK 04

We move to a new book this week, American Workers, Colonial Power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941 by Dorothy Fujita-Rony. Bryan will facilitate our learning. As we discussed, read the introduction and chapters 1-5, skipping the 6th and final chapter if you feel crunched for time.

For those of us not leading discussion, a Critical Evaluation essay is expected.

This might be the first encounter with immigration history for many of us; it is the first scholarly encounter with Filipino American history for all of us. This is a great opportunity for us to consider what it is we know, how we know what we know, and how Fujita-Rony expands upon that. As you read you might want to consider some of the following over-arching questions:

• What is US colonialism? How is it part immigration history?
• What does it mean to talk about a “transpacific West”?
• What is particular (unique) about Filipino American history? What is reflective of larger stories?
• How is Filipino labor tied to US colonialism? To Filipino immigration history?
• How does this impact the common “understandings” of immigration which predominate in the US today?

Have a productive seven days. See you next week!

Next week