The Bordering of America: Immigration and US Society

This course will explore immigration and patterns of immigrant incorporation in the United States. The course begins with a brief history of U.S. immigration and then covers thematic topics such as border enforcement, citizenship, assimilation, and social mobility and their relationship to the immigrant experience. International migration is an inherently political phenomenon. As a result, we will concentrate on the development and implementation of policies designed to control movement across U.S. borders and efforts to regulate who can become a member of the American political community. In this course, our goal is to gain a multifaceted understanding of the sociological underpinnings of international migration and ongoing debates over citizenship and rights in American society.