HIST 399 Immigrant Exp US
CLASS SYLLABUS
Course Description
The Immigrant Experience in the United States, 1850-1990 as seen through
the eyes of immigrants and their children. Course materials include fiction,
autobiography, poetry and films/documentaries which provide personal accounts.
The three sessions featuring guest speakers are open to anyone on
or off campus who is interested in these topics. Please spread
the word!
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M. (or by appt.)
Office: 340W McKenzie
Phone:346-4820
E-mail: scarpaci@oregon.uoregon.edu
Course Policies
Students are expected to complete reading assignments and view
the films placed on reserve by the date they are listed in the syllabus.
The selections were chosen to illustrate a wide variety of immigrant
groups, situations/themes and time periods.
Take Home Question part of Final exam:
Read one or two chapters of a personal or fictional account of immigration
or view one film/documentary to evaluate (in 2-4 double-spaced type
written pages) how well the written material or film depicts the general
experience of the group. You will need to refer to a general history
of that specific group for your analysis. A list of suggested books
and films will be distributed separately from this syllabus. Students
will register their choice of film or literature by July 29th on the
bulletin board outside my office to reserve that topic--first come/first
served-- to use for the take-home final question.
A copy of this syllabus will be posted on the library's course
reserve web page. I also will post review questions for the mid-term
and final exams and the take-home question for the final exam.
I will also post copies on the bulletin board outside my office.
All exams will consist of short essay questions. Please use blue/green
books.
Grading Policies
Midterm (July): 35%
Take-Home Final Question (due August 13th): 20%
Final Exam: 45%
Bonus factor from bi-weekly voluntary "in
class written surveys" to briefly comment on your favorite reading
and film assignments = up to 5 points could be added to your
course grade
Students wishing "instant" news about their final and course
grades should bring a stamped, self addressed envelope or postcard.
Required Reading
Course Packet---A selection of short readings (excerpts) from
a variety of sources will be placed in a course packet available at
the UO Book Store. These selections are indicated with a * A copy of
the course packet is also on library reserve.
In Addition other readings will be placed on Electronic
Reserves which are accessed (through the user name/password summer03/beach)
on the Library web page under course reserves. These selections are
indicated with a +
Items denoted review in class means that we will read them in
class or that sections will be used in class. You’ll need to have
a printed copy of that text with you in class on the date indicated
in the syllabus.
Recommended Reading
Roger Daniels, Coming to America, second edition (Harper Perennial,
2002). This overview of immigration will provide a reference point in
time and relation to contemporary events of US History. Copies of Daniel's
book are available at the UO Bookstore and a copy is also on the library
reserve.
Course Schedule
| Week 1 |
|
July 21. Course Overview; Immigration from
the inside out: strengths and weaknesses.
- Film clips viewed in class depicting Why they came/come
July 22. Traditional immigration pattern
- Film viewd in class: The Emigrants
- Read in class: Chinese poems from Angel Island
July 23. Journeys to America
- read:
*Richard Rodriguez, "Go North, Young Man"
*Lona Tiv, "The Last Kilometer"
- Film viewed in class: The Emigrants (conclusion)
- Review in class:
*Golda Meir, "I Remember How Scared I Was"
+Chitra Banerjee Dirakaruni, "The Brides Come to Yuba City"
July 24. Jobs-immigrants in the work force and gender roles
- read:
*Thomas Bell, Out of This Furnace, pp. 149-153 & 172-178
*Maxine Hong Kingston, "The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains,"
pp. 279-297
*Carlos Bulosan "from American is in the Heart" pp. 60-73
- Film viewed in class: Five Points (Irish immigrants in
NY) documentary film clips from Taxi drivers in New York and
from We Do the Work (garment workers in New York)
- Review in class: *Paule Marshall, "The Making of a Writer:
From the Poets in the Kitchen" pp. 82-89
|
| Week 2 |
July 28. Mixed Messages
- read:
*Mitsuye Yamada "I Learned to Sew" pp. 154-158
- view on reserve: A Family Gathering (01621)
- Film viewed in class: Hot Summer Winds (Japanese American
farm family during the 1930s)
- Guest speaker: Edward Miyikawa, author of the
novel Tule Lake
July 29. Deadlinefor each student to designate his/her choice of a film
or literature selection to use for the take-home final question. Sign-up sheet is posted
on the bulletin board outside my office McKenzie 340W.
Working on the land
- read:
*Cesar Chavez, "The Organizer's Tale," pp. 155-166
+Francisco and Isabela Ramirez "Blue Camp," pp.146-162
- Films viewed in class: The Oregon Story: Agricultural Workers
& Ten Cents a Dance
- Review in class: *Hope Williams Sykes, "Better We Glean
Than Our Children Starve," 95-98.
July 30. Immigrants Speak Out
- read:
*Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "The Lawrence Textile Strike pp. 127-151
*Ruben Salazar, "From Border Correspondent pp. 610-618
- Film viewed in class:
Remembering Union Town (Finnish workers in Astoria, OR)
- last 1/2 hour:review for midterm
July 31. Midterm (1:15 min)
- In class
- Bring blue/green book
- Film viewed in class:
Showdown at Century City (immigrant janitors on strike in LA) and other clips.
|
| Week 3 |
August 4. Refugee Settlement
- read:
*Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge pp. 20-25
- Film viewed in class: Moving Mountains: the story of the
Yiu Mien (refugees Portland)
- Guest speaker, Susan Hardwick, (UO Geography Dept.)
Refugees in Portland
August 5. Life in America
- read:
*Richard Rodriguez, "from Hunger of Memory," pp. 229-235
+Ernesto Galarza "from Barrio Boy," pp. 44- 52
*Frank Chin, "Donald Duk," pp. 318-324
- Review in class:
*Hope Williams Sykes, "The Vine and the Fruit" pp. 155-160
*Harriet Pawlowska, "The Lessons Which Most Influenced My Life...Came
from My Parents," pp. 229-234
August 6. Making It in America
- read:
+Cha Ok Kim, "The Peddler," pp.164-183
+Pedro Reboredo, "The Blue Eyed Cuban" pp. 368-392
- Film viewed in class: The Forward (Jewish American Socialist
newspaper)
- Review in class
+Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge pp. 141-144 & 203-209
+Bill Barish, "Hmong Temple," pp. 394-396
August 7. Ethnic Persistence
- read:
+Robert Masullo, Why I'm no Longer Ashamed to Be an Italian American
+Mario Puzo, Choosing a Dream: Italians in Hell's Kitchen
- Film clips viewed in class: Film clips of ethnic customs
- Guest speaker, Bob Masullo, staff writer, The
Sacramento Bee; freelancer for many Italian American publications;
founding member and a director of the Italian Cultural Society
of Sacramento; founder and cohost of the weekly radio program,
Sacramento Italian Style.
|
| Week 4 |
|
August 11. Interethnic relations
- read:
Chang-Rae Lee Native Speaker, pp. 49-57 and 182-188
O. E. Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth pp. 111-144
- Films viewed in class: Another America (Korean businesses
in inner cities and their African American patrons) & clips from
Matewan (Italian, Black and native white miners on strike
in West Virginia)
- Review in class: Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, "Life As An Alien,"
pp. 99-111
- Assignment cont'd.
August 12. Homeland Ties
- read:
Therese Saliba "Sittee(or Phantom Appearances of a Lebanese Grandmother)"
pp. 7-17
Tamim Ansary, West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American
Story, pp. 262-278 and 289-292
- Reveiew in class: Zana Macki, "Pulled" pp.
211-213
- Film viewed in class: So Far From India
- Final Exam Take Home Question Due
August 13.
- Round Table discussion on immigration themes depicted
in the books/films students selected for their final exam take-home
question. All students must be present and prepared to share
some of their insights.
- Review for Final
August 14. Final Exam 8:30-10:20 a.m.
- Exams will consist of short essay questions.
- Please use blue/green books.
|
|
|
