ABOUT IMMIGRATION STUDIES COURSES

The university regularly offers many courses for students interested in immigration. They can be used as requirements or electives in the minor in immigration studies. This wide range of multidisciplinary coursework provides students with a rich understanding of issues such as the immigrant experience, ethnic identity, assimilation, ethnic exclusion and conflict, and refugee situations.

 

Anthropology

ANTH 331 - Refugees
Introduction to causes and consequences of forced dislocation as a global issue. Covers formally recognized refugees, as well as people such as internally displaced persons and asylum seekers who are in refugee-like circumstances. Focuses on understanding the personal experiences of refugees, and examining efforts on their behalf at national and international levels.


ANTH 340 - Comparative Perspectives on Immigration
Considers the dimensions and meanings of the immigrant experience in the United States, with a focus on the diversity of immigrants and refugees who have arrived during the past 30 years. Emphasis on the social context in which immigration occurs and on the bearing of institutional and cultural influences on patterns of adaptation, assimilation, and exclusion from the host society.

 

Conflict Analysis and Resolution

CONF 302 - Identity Conflicts and their Resolution
Covers deeply rooted, intractable, or protracted social conflicts around core issues of identity, including race, ethnicity, religion, and nationalism. Explores cultural, symbolic, and discursive approaches to identity conflict.

 

English

ENGL 375 or 352 - Ethnic American Literature (or Topics in Ethnic American Literature)
Studies particular ethnic American literatures. Focuses on literatures such as Asian American, Native American, Latino/a, Arab American, or Jewish American.

 

ENGL 479 - Ethnicity and Immigration in Folklore
Explores U.S. immigration trends and the historical basis for the concepts of ethnicity, identity, and immigration in folklore scholarship, literature, film, and popular media. The course explores at least three of the following ethnic groups: Latino, Asian, Jewish, European, Arab, or African.

 

Foreign Languages

FRLN 385 - Multilingualism, Identity, and Power
Study of individual and societal aspects of multilingualism including language choice, linguistic maintenance and shift, code-switching, language planning, educational policy, and representations of multilingualism. Interdisciplinary approach emphasizes the social and political aspects of multilingualism, as well as the relationship of language to cultural, ethnoracial, and national identities and categories.

 

Government and International Politics

GOVT 445 - Human Rights
Explores philosophical, legal, and political issues at heart of modern international human rights movement. Examines historical background legal architecture of modern human rights movement.

 

GOVT 337 - Ethnic Politics in Western Europe and North America

Studies resurgence of ethnic nationalism in industrial democracies of Western Europe and North America, and the comparative analysis of policy issues related to ethnonationalism. Case studies drawn from the industrial democracies.

 

History

HIST 418 - Ethnic Groups in America
Explores ethnicity and race in American urban society by comparing experiences of different ethnic groups as migrants to American cities.

 

Integrative Studies

INTS 361 - Neighborhood, Community, and Identity
Examines processes of neighborhood formation and transformation in the context of urbanism, suburbanism, immigration, and transmigration. Students explore the history and meaning of neighborhoods in the Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

 

INTS 416 - Refugee and Internal Displacement

Provides students with a deeper understanding of refugee and internal displacement. Explores causes of displacement and its impact on people and societies. Studies the role played by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international community in addressing problems faced by refugees in internally displaced persons in terms of relief assistance and humanitarian services.

 

INTS 475 - (Special Topics) Human Trafficking

 

Sociology

SOCI 308 - Racial and Ethnic Relations
How race and ethnicity have been shaped by the policies and practices in Western and non-Western societies. Background given on evolution of racial and ethnic sentiments from Western colonial period in African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries as well as contemporary U.S. racial and ethnic relations. Explores how changing demographic racial patterns may affect future definitions of race and ethnicity.

 

SOCI 330 - US Immigrants and Immigration

Explores theoretical, empirical, and policy-related issues pertaining to immigration. Examines case studies of immigrant communities and their adaptation patterns, paying particular attention to immigrants from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

 

SOCI 332 - The Urban World
Urban community: historical development, demography, and ecology of metropolitan areas; urbanism as a way of life; emergence of suburbia; and future of cities.

 

SOCI 394 - Sociology of Human Rights

Provides an overview of sociological, theoretical, and methodological approaches to understanding human rights. Examining connections between inequality, conflict, social justice, governance, and human rights, the course focuses on the contexts of meaning within which human rights are invoked and practiced as well as the role that non-state actors play in shaping the development and institutionalization of human rights.

 

Spanish

SPAN 388 - Introduction to Latino/o Studies

Interdisciplinary approach to the study of U.S. Latina/o cultural production, designed to promote critical thinking in understanding Latina/o histories, literatures, and cultures.

 

SPAN 430 - Spanish in the United States
Covers both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of Spanish in the U.S. by discussing demographic aspects and a historical overview of the varieties of Spanish spoken in the United States. Gives a foundation in issues such as linguistic variation, language choice, the relationship among race, ethnicity, and language; official language policies; individual and societal bilingualism; and language diversity in education.

 

Special Topics Courses

Each semester there are also many special topics courses relevant to the minor that cut across disciplines and provide new perspectives. They may be used to fulfill elective credit for the minor with permission of the director.