This module focuses on the history of immigration and the construction of ethnic identities in Modern America. It begins during the mid-late nineteenth century when "New" immigrants - those from Southern and Eastern Europe and from Asia and Latin America - arrived in significant numbers contributing to the already-complex ideologies of race and citizenship in the United States. This module is organized thematically although chronology also structures the themes to be studied. After first consideration of the meanings and definitions of the broad categories of "ethnicity" "race" and "immigrant", this module delves into the historical construction of immigrant and ethnicized people as "other" in American society, while highlighting the ways that immigrant people have resisted, embraced and/or reinvented that status.
Immigrant experiences and ethnic identity formation will be analysed through exploration of the interconnectedness of gender, class, race, sexuality, language, religion and colour. While it is impossible to cover every immigrant and ethnic group in detail, this module offers a chronological and thematic study of at least one immigrant group from Asia, Europe and the Americas and the African Diaspora. The Autumn term is organized by focused study on particular immigrant and ethnic groupings; the Spring and Summer terms are organized by themes pertinent to the immigrant and ethnic experience as a whole. This organization allows for the initial examination of ethnic groups within the boundaries of that specific experience, and then later, by comparing the experiences of immigrant and ethnicized people in the U.S.
Immigrant experiences and ethnic identity formation will be analysed through exploration of the interconnectedness of gender, class, race, sexuality, language, religion and colour. While it is impossible to cover every immigrant and ethnic group in detail, this module offers a chronological and thematic study of at least one immigrant group from Asia, Europe and the Americas and the African Diaspora. The Autumn term is organized by focused study on particular immigrant and ethnic groupings; the Spring and Summer terms are organized by themes pertinent to the immigrant and ethnic experience as a whole. This organization allows for the initial examination of ethnic groups within the boundaries of that specific experience, and then later, by comparing the experiences of immigrant and ethnicized people in the U.S.