Immigration, Integration, and Identity
Psc 3192w, CRN 26516
Wednesdays, 11:10 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Hall of Government 325
Professor Kimberly Morgan
Office: Hall of Government, Rm 418
Phone: 994-2809, email:
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:30-4:30 p.m., Friday 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Please make an appointment at:
SUMMARY
This is a research seminar about the politics of immigration, integration, and identity in the United States. We will be discussing the past, present, and future of immigration policy, evaluating future possibilities in light of the knowledge that has been produced by historical and social science research. In addition, you will be writing an independent research paper on some aspect of immigration or immigration policy. Through this assignment, you will not only be learning a good deal about a substantive area of interest, but you will learn how to write a research paper in political science.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
In this class, you will:
Explore fundamental concepts in the field of immigration, including national identity, citizenship, and integration/assimilation;
Examine the historical foundations of these concepts and how they have evolved in the United States;
Analyze contemporary conflicts over immigration policy;
Improve your ability to read critically;
Expand your independent research capabilities;
Learn how to write effectively in the discipline of political science.
READING
Required texts
The following texts are required and available for purchase at the GW bookstore. They also are available on reserve. Please note that we will not be reading all of these books in their entirety, so you may not wish to purchase them.
Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton University Press 2002). 978-0691088051
Peter Andreas, Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide(Cornell University Press 2009; earlier edition also ok.) ISBN 0801475406
LisaBaglione, Writing a Research Paper in Political Science (CQ Press 2012). ISBN 978-1-60871-991-4
Blackboard
The other required readings (marked with *) are available as pdf files through the e-reserves on the Blackboard system – you can either read them on-line or print them out.
To access Blackboard, you must have a Colonial e-mail account and be registered for this course. To log in, go to and type in your NetID and email password. If you have problems or questions, try going to Please try to access Blackboard as soon as possible, to make sure that you are in the system and that you understand its various features.
CLASS REQUIREMENTS
Seminar participation
Informed and active participation is essential to the seminar. Please do the reading before class and come prepared and ready to talk. Your participation grade will consist of attendance and the quantity and quality of your oral participation in the seminar. I will provide an evaluation mid-semester to let you know where you stand on participation.
Writing assignments
1. Weekly paragraphs.As participation is crucial to the success of the seminar, you need to complete the assigned readings before class and come prepared to talk about them. To make sure that you are keeping up with the reading, each week you will send me two to three paragraphs summarizing your reactions to that week’s reading. For example, you might summarize the main arguments made, discuss the quality of the evidence used, or evaluate the persuasiveness of the pieces. You might also react to some of the arguments being made. You can focus in-depth on one reading or, even better, draw connections between them – contrasts, tensions, congruencies, etc. You must send me these paragraphs by 9 a.m. on the day of class. I will deduct points from late submissions. Everyone has two “amnesty” days from having to write these paragraphs. More information about these weekly paragraphs is available on Blackboard under the tab “writing assignments.”
2. Research paper. You will write a 20-to-25-page research paper on a topic of your choosing. We will be discussing how to write a research paper throughout the class, and you will be turning in pieces of the paper throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, we will hold two peer review sessions that will be dedicated to discussing both the substance of your findings and providing feedback on the structure of the paper and quality of the writing. You will then be able to revise the paper before you submit a final draft.
There is a lot of information on Blackboard about how to write a research paper, under the tab “Writing Resources.” There also are many links and sources under the tab “Research Resources” that may help you think about and begin to research topic ideas. I will be continually updating these tabs over the semester.
Research paper components
(1) Paper topic memo: you will turn in a memo of no more than three doubled-spaced pages that addresses the following questions:
-- What is the question you will answer? What case or cases will you examine?
-- What are the potential hypotheses or explanations?
-- What potential sources or evidence will you use? Include a brief biography.
(2) Literature review: you will turn in the review of existing literature on the topic that you will include in your paper.
(3) Thesis, empirical analysis: you will turn in the thesis statement and preliminary empirical analysis you’ve conducted.
Each component will be graded and I will provide you with detailed feedback. You may rewrite and resubmit any of these pieces after receiving my feedback. The due dates for the paper components are as follows:
Friday February 15: Paper topic memo
Friday March 8: Literature review
Friday March 30: Thesis statement, empirical analysis
Paper review sessions:
At the end of the semester we will hold two paper review sessions. These will be devoted to both discussing the substance of your findings and providing detailed feedback on how the paper is written. You can then use these comments to help revise the paper. The two sessions will be held on April 17 and April 24, in class.
GRADING
Weekly paragraphs15%
Class participation20%
Research paper components15%
Research paper review 5%
Research paper45%
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
I personally support the GW Code of Academic Integrity. It states: “Academic dishonesty is defined as cheating of any kind, including misrepresenting one's own work, taking credit for the work of others without crediting them and without appropriate authorization, and the fabrication of information.” For the remainder of the code, see:
Plagiarism is a serious offense. Students who plagiarize will receive an F on the assignment and be referred to the Academic Integrity Council. We will discuss the problem of plagiarism before the first writing assignment. If you are uncertain about what plagiarism is, you can consult a number of websitesthat are available on blackboard.
SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS)
Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability should contact the Disability Support Services office at 202-994-8250 in the Marvin Center, Suite 242, to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information please refer to: Please speak with me in the first week of class to discuss what kinds of accommodations can be made for you.
OTHER CLASS POLICIES
University Policy on Religious Holidays:
Students should notify faculty during the first week of the semester of their intention to be absent from class on their day(s) of religious observance.
Absences from class:
Everyone gets one “no-questions-asked” absence from class. Otherwise, you will need to justify any further absences with sufficient documentation. Unexcused absences will count against your participation grade.
CLASS SCHEDULE AND READINGS
Introduction and Historical Background on Immigration
January 16: Introduction and Overview
January 23: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues in the Study of Immigration and Identity
*
Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut (2006), Chapter 1: “Who They Are and Why They Come,” Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3d edition, pp. 12-36.
* Aristide R. Zolberg (1999), “Matters of State: Theorizing Immigration Policy,” p. 71-93 in The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Daniel Tichenor, chp. 2 “The Politics of Immigration Control,” pp. 16-45.
Van Evera, “Hypotheses, Laws, and Theories: A User’s Guide,” pp. 7-48 in Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. NOTE: This is available in Gelman, two hour reserve.
January 30: Historical Foundations of Immigration and Integration, Part 1
Tichenor, chps. 3-4 (pp. 46-113).
* Rogers M. Smith, “The Hidden Lessons of American Citizenship Laws.” Pp. 13-39 in Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History (Yale 1997).
Baglione, chp. 2, “Getting Started: Finding a Research Question.”
February 6: Historical Foundations of Immigration and Integration, Part 2 Immigration Restrictions 1920-1960s
* Mae M. Ngai, “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924,” Journal of American History 86, 1 (June 1999): pp. 67-92.
Tichenor, chp. 5-6 pp. 114-175.
Baglione, chp. 3, “Learning Proper Citations Forms, Finding the Scholarly Debate, and Summarizing and Classifying Arguments.”
February 13: Opening the Doors, 1965-present
Tichenor, chp. 8-9, pp. 219-88.
* James Hollifield, Valerie F. Hunt, and Daniel J. Tichenor (2006), “Immigrants, Markets, and the American State: The Political Economy of U.S. Immigration,” Washington University Journal of Law & Policy.
* Peter H. Schuck, “The Disconnect Between Public Attitudes and Policy Outcomes in Immigration,” pp. 17-31 in Carol M. Swain, Debating Immigration (2007).
* Please review the file folder on recent immigration laws.
*** Paper topic memo due Friday February 15
February 20: The Politics of Border Control and Illegal Immigration
Peter Andreas (2009) Border Games: Policing the U.S. Mexico Divide, chps. 1-3, 5, 7, afterword. [note: if you bought the earlier edition, you can find the 2009 afterword on Blackboard.]
* Douglas Massey (2005), “Backfire at the Borders: Why Enforcement without Legalization Cannot Stop Illegal Immigration.” Cato Institute papers.
* Mark Krikorian, “The Perpetual Border Battle.” The National Interest July/August 2012: 44-52.
Baglione, chp.4, “Making Sense of the Scholarly Answers to Your Research Question.”
February 27: Migrant Labor and Guestworker Programs
* Michael J. Piore, “The Shifting Grounds for Immigration” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 485 (May, 1986), pp. 23-33.
* Camille J. Bosworth, “Guestworker Policy: A Critical Analysis of President Bush’s Proposed Reform.” Hastings Law Journal (2004-5) 1095-1120.
* Philip L. Martin and Michael S. Teitelbaum, “The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers,” Foreign Affairs, 80, no. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 2001), pp. 117-131.
* Arlie Hochschild, “The Nanny Chain.”
* PierretteHondagneu-Sotelo, “Maid in L.A.” pp. 29-60 in Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence (UC Press 2001).
March 6:The Politics of Citizenship
* Rogers Smith and Peter Schuck, “Citizenship without Consent,”
* Mae Ngai, “Birthright Citizenship.”
* Hiroshi Motomura (2012), “Who Belongs?: Immigration Outside the Law and the Idea of Americans in Waiting.” UCI Law Review.
* David D. Cole, “Against Citizenship As A Predicate for Basic Rights,” Fordham Law Review 2006-7 (8 pages).
* Linda Bosniak, “Multiple Nationality and the Postnational Transformation of Citizenship,” Virginia Journal of International Law (27 pages).
Baglione, chp. 5, “Effectively Distilling the Argument: The Thesis or the Model and Hypothesis.”
*** Literature review due Friday March 8.
SPRING BREAK
March 20: Whither the Melting Pot?
* Samuel P. Huntington (2004), “The Hispanic Challenge,” in Foreign Policy March/April 2004: p. 30-45.
* Jack Citrin et al., “Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity?” Perspectives on Politics, 5, 1: 31-48.
* Min Zhou, “Assimilation, The Asian Way.” Pp. 139-53 in Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It Means To Be American. New York: Basic Books.
* Douglas S. Massey and MagalySánchez, “Constructing Immigrant Identity,” pp. 1-25 in Brokered Boundaries (Russell Sage 2010).
* Aristide Zolberg, “Why Islam is Like Spanish: Cultural Incorporation in Europe and the United States,” Politics & Society (March 1999): 5-38.
Baglione, chp. 7, “Making Your Plan and Protecting Yourself from Criticism: The Research Design.”
March 27: Political incorporation and participation
* Gary M. Segura, “Latino Public Opinion & Realigning the American Electorate,” Daedalus (2012): 98-113.
* Kathryn Pearson and Jack Citrin, “The Political Assimilation of the Fourth Wave,” 217-42 in Transforming politics, transforming America, eds. Taeku Lee, S. KarthickRamakrishnan, and Ricardo Ramírez.
* Francisco I. Pedraza, Gara M. Segura, and Shaun Bowler, “The Efficacy and Alienation of Juan Q. Public.” Pp. 233-49 in Voss and Bloemraad, Rallying for Immigrant Rights (UC Press 2011).
* Lisa GarcíaBedolla, “Rethinking Citizenship: Noncitizen Voting and Immigrant Political Engagement in the United States.” pp. 51-70 in Transforming politics, transforming America, eds. Taeku Lee, S. KarthickRamakrishnan, and Ricardo Ramírez.
* Stanley A. Rehnson “Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote in the United States? Why Not.”
Ch. 8, Baglione, “Evaluating the Argument: The Analysis and Assessment Section.”
*** Thesis statement and initial empirical analysis due Friday March 30.April 3: Ethnicity and Race
* Cybelle Fox and Thomas A. Guglielmo (2012), “Defining America’s Racial Boundaries: Blacks, Mexicans, and European Immigrants, 1890–1945.” American Journal of Sociology.
* Victoria Hattam (2005) “Ethnicity &the Boundaries of Race: Rereading Directive 15,” Daedalus, 134, no. 1 (Winter): 61-69.
* Mary C. Waters (1999) Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and AmericanRealities. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), chp. 3 “Racial and Ethnic Identity Choices,” pp.44-93.
* Jennifer Hochschild, Vesla Weaver, and Traci Burch, Creating a New Racial Order: How Immigration, Multiracialism, Genomics, and the Young Can Remake Race in America, chp. 2 “Immigration” (pp. 21-55).
April 10:Economics of immigration
* Darrell West (2011) “The Benefits and Costs of Immigration,” Political Science Quarterly, pp. 427-33.
* George J. Borjas (1999), “Reframing the Immigration Debate,” p. 3-18 in Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
* AnnaLee Saxenian (2002), “Silicon Valley’s New Immigrant High-Growth Entrepreneurs,” in Economic Development Quarterly 16(1): p. 20-31.
* Thomas J. Espenshade and Gregory A. Huber (1999), “Fiscal Impacts of Immigrants and the Shrinking Welfare State,” p. 360-370 in The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Baglione, chp. 9, “Bringing Your Paper Together in Three Essential Ways: The Conclusion, Introduction, and Title.”
Optional
* Frank D. Bean and Gillian Stevens (2003), “Immigrant Economic Incorporation,” p. 114-142 in America’s Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
April 17: Paper presentations and peer review, part I
April 24: Paper presentations and peer review, part II
FINAL PAPER DUE: Friday May 10 at 5 p.m.