Human Migration: Freedom and Bondage

Core 107: Exploration and Discovery II, Spring 2011

Class Schedule	Texts/Films	Guidelines	Requirements

Overview:

Should babies born in the US have a right to US citizenship?  What kind of rights should undocumented immigrants in the US be afforded? Should migration be considered a human right?  Should the ability not to migrate also be considered a human right?  These questions are at the center of this course that explores the costs and benefits of migration.  We will also touch on other regions of the world, but our main focus will be on migration to and from the US.  Students will examine cases in which people have been forced to migrate due to slavery, famine, war, political persecution and economic crisis, as well as looking at the positive pull factors that draw people to the US.  The course ends by exploring the increasing phenomenon of transborder lives, where people simultaneously belong to two or more geographically distant communities.  The research project throughout the semester will be focused on immigrants in Portland.  Finally, students will be encouraged to join an optional alternative spring break trip to El Salvador to work in a community that sends many migrants to the US.

Questions

• Should people have a right to migrate, and also a right not to migrate?

• What are the push and pull factors that have led to human migration since the 16^th c.?

• How has the experience of migration affected individual and group identity?

• What kinds of legislation and laws have encouraged, limited and prevented immigration?

• What does it mean for someone’s identity to participate in two or more communities simultaneously?

•  Should people born in a particular country have the right to automatic citizenship?

Elliott Young Associate Professor of History Lewis & Clark College 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd. Portland, OR 97219 Tel. 503-768-7454 eyoung@lclark.edu	Class MWF, 1:50-2:50 pm Howard 254 Office Hours: M, W 9:30-11 am or by appt. Office: Miller 424