First-Year Seminar: Beyond the Melting Pot: Life in Immigrant America

3 units

This course uses a sociological lens to explore contemporary immigration to the United States. The more than 43 million immigrants living in the United States today come from across the globe. Their reasons for migrating to the United States are complex, as are the laws, policies, and social structures they must navigate before and after their arrival. In the first half of the course, students will get to know Mexican immigrants who split their lives between Brooklyn and their small hometown in Mexico, fourth-generation Chinese Americans who are still asked, Where are you from?, and West Indian immigrants forced to confront a U.S. racial order where they are defined by their Blackness. In the second half of the course, students will learn about Iranian-American youth navigating life in post- 9/11 America and the challenges of becoming a young adult when one learns that they lack any legal status. Who are these immigrants? Why and how did they come here? How well are they and their children integrating into American society? Readings will be drawn from sociological research that opens windows into the lives of immigrants in America. Students will also conduct their own hands-on research to better understand life in immigrant America. This course is open to first-year students only. No prerequisite.