GLOBAL MIGRATION

Anthropology 475/WWU – Fall 2015

Instructor: James Loucky

Office/phone: AH 322; 650-3615
Email: James.Loucky@wwu.edu
Office Hrs: TR3-4:15 (AH322), W3-4 (WL Learning Commons) & by appt.

Course Overview

The heartbreaking image of the limp body of a 3-yr-old boy who drowned attempting to
reach safety in Europe brought to world attention the plight of vast numbers fleeing
violence in the Middle East. Thousands of children and youth arriving at the U.S.-
Mexico border are deported without due process or remain in limbo. Estimates of
people displaced by Boko Haram in West Africa top one million. Migrant crisis, moral
crisis, or both? What is to be done? What are we in the United States to do? What am I
to do?

Those questions are among many that we will consider in our class on the anthropology
of migration. People have always been on the move, beginning in our bipedal evolution.
As ubiquitous as it is inevitable, though, human migration today has also become
inherently political and problematic. Migration entails crossing borders, challenges to
concentrations of power, and struggles for life-sustaining resources. Migration also
means transformations, of participants as well as places. So the issues and impacts of
migration are as wide-ranging as they are profound. They encompass demographic and
social trends, economic vitality, security concerns, public education, and the very nature
of nationality, citizenship, and rights to be and to belong. Little wonder, then, that
efforts to “reform” immigration have been controversial and of limited success.

Our seminar will demonstrate how addressing something so fundamental to our species
and to the global future requires drawing on historical and contemporary evidence,
interdisciplinary and international perspectives, and both personal and collective
accounts of movement across both space and time. We begin by asking what motivates
people to move, often for long distances and durations, and at considerable financial
and psychological costs. How do societies and governments respond, through
ideologies as well as structures of control? Are rules and receptivity changing with
globalization? We also address how people influence developments, changing
themselves along with both destinations and places of departure.

Later classes focus on policy implications. This involves individual and team research
on key issues, such as: impacts of separation; benefits and costs of immigration;
potentials associated with diaspora communities and transnational identities; the
significant roles of youth; elements of humane migration; and scenarios associated with
growing ecological challenges.
 GLOBAL MIGRATION - Anth 475 Fall 2015

Course Objectives

1. Gain a deeper understanding of the roots, routes, and rights of migrants.

2. Come to recognize how dreams, demands and destinies of migrants are everywhere
provoking a re-thinking of society, and of the future.
3. Become better able to be civically engaged in helping shape fair and sensible policies.

Resources

Castles, Stephen, and Mark J. Miller. 2014. The Age of Migration, 5/e. New York:
Guilford. [CM]
Ho, Christine G.T., and James Loucky. 2012. Humane Migration: Establishing Legitimacy
and Rights for Displaced People. Kumarian. [HL]
LeBaron, Alan, and James Loucky. 2012. Mesoamerican/American Partnerships for
Community Wellbeing. Practicing Anthropology 34(1).
Migration Policy Institute. migrationinformation.org (selected reports) [MPI]
Additional resources: posted to Canvas modules, from mainstream and alternative
media, and through active searching by class members.

Course Format & Climate

Dynamic, interactive inquiry will build on a mix of lectures (including by invited

speakers), visual resources, and learning and sharing what we discover in and out of
class. Time will be devoted to weekly to working in small groups and with colleagues in
other classes and disciplines, noted as To Be Arranged (“ARR”) in class scheduling.

Feedback about what you are learning, and what could be included or beneficial, is
welcome. Developing modules will be evolutionary and collaborative, within a class of
co-inquirers. Brainstorm and exchange writing with peers, and consult me about
topical ideas and resources.

Mutual respect and encouragement of each other as colleagues are expected, along
with practice of academic integrity. Consult your handbook regarding the latter,
and your instructor and the many services available to you as a student should
difficulties arise that affect your performance.

Requirements & Evaluation

To gain better sense of the prevalence and complexities of migration, we will engage in
brief sequenced writing projects, as well as collaborative policy research.

Reflective essay. Migration narratives are part of the history of most peoples of the
world, including the United States. What is your story? Compose a reflective essay on
the significance of migration for your life, highlighting influences and adaptive
responses you consider most relevant. [10/8; 800-1000 wc; 15%]

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 GLOBAL MIGRATION - Anth 475 Fall 2015

Belonging. Our university, community, state, and country include people of diverse
origins and attributes. Develop an interview protocol that explores experiences of
inclusion/exclusion of a person from outside the United States. This may include events
and examples your respondent shares about challenges and barriers, as well as sources
of receptivity and support. Providing contextual information about a particular
migration flow or immigrant community may be useful. [10/29; ~1000wc; 15%]

Imagining Migration. Reading and discussing in pairs any recent ethnography of

migration (I can suggest or lend many), weave together examples and images of the
most surprising or enlightening aspects of evolving diversity and complexity as
chronicled by the author. [11/13; ~1000 wc; 15%]

Policy Research: Through a staged research and writing process, we will engage in
individual and team research on critical policy concerns. As you develop a primary area
of interest, we will form small groups to promote feedback and refinement. Potential
topics include: “trans” categories and identities, children and youth, comprehensive
reform, and implications of climate change. We will develop research sequentially:
posing a topic and plausible thesis; prospective outline of direction, resources, and
problems being encountered; and presentation of findings and policy implications in
class, as well as through wider dissemination (poster, op-ed, SfAA/Scholars Week
preparation, etc). Dates TBA; 1500-2000 wc. [35%].

Participation: In-class and on-line discussion about what one thinks, reads, and is
writing is vital to a seminar. Come to each class with questions and insights about topics
and readings (feel free to draw on what you journal, if you like). Actively share what
you are learning with others. To encourage inquiry and insights, contribute at least
twice weekly to online discussions; one will be open-ended, others thematically-based
that we develop as we learn together. Specific prompts will sometimes be posed in
class or draw on assigned readings. Consistent attendance is expected as a matter of
fairness (be prepared to verify death rattling coughs and dying relatives). [20%]

Course Topics

Learning is rarely a simple linear process, so while we will address topics in a logical
sequence, we will also remain flexibly insofar as issues overlap and our comprehension
grows. Schedule is also subject to modification for inclusion of speakers, timely
resources, and other opportunities that arise, such as through our “lab” work. This is an
opportunity to fully engage in probing and in turn conveying essential information,
issues, and implications of immigration, from local to global. Your input is both
welcome and vital.

The Anthropology of Migration [9/24]

overview of course themes, format, assignments
human migration across time and space: who, how many, why & where?
immigration as problem? - what we (think we) know, what is uncertain/unforeseen
assignment: HL preface; MPI - Top 10 Migration Issues of recent years

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Human Movement in Time and Space [9/29-10/1]

Evolutionary and biomedical perspectives on migration
emigration/immigration as social-economic aspects of globalization
approaches & explanations from anthropology and other disciplines
putting a human face on migration
assignment: HL 1; CM1-4

The Emerging Political Economy of Migration [10/6-10/8]

pre/post-WWII migration; colonialism, industrialization, globalization
emerging patterns of regional and trans-regional migration
growing sources, numbers, destinations: African & Asian cases
labor migration policies, problems, and prospects
Beyond ‘Fortress Europe’- The EU’s Current Refugee Crisis (Dr. Wojciech Michnik)
assignment: CM5-7; HM2; reflective essay (10/x)

The Quest for Control [10/13-10/15]

new dislocations & destinations, similar forces & rears
politics of asylum
gating the world: (il)legalities, warehousing and disposability
assignment: HL3-5; CM8; research topic

Researching Global Migration (10/20-10/22)

Finding and Using Resources – Research/Writing Studio, HH 2nd floor (10/20)
Harvest of Empire: immigration legacies of the US role in Latin America (10/22)

Multiculturalism as Human Experience [10/27-10/29]

learning from lived experiences
ethnicity & ethnogenesis
the “new normal”: everyone a minority, migrants R us
immigration reform: moving from hyperbole to reality
assignment: CM9-11; HL6; MPI on multiculturalism; interview (10/x)

Mesoamerican/American Borderblur [11/3-11/5]

immigrants to and beyond the U.S. - historical & contemporary experiences
the (re-)Latinization of the U.S.?
receptivity & resilience
diasporic dynamics & potentials
assignment: begin Tobar; LeBaron & Loucky (selections)

Becoming American - America Becoming [11/10-11/12]

either/or?: assimilation and differentiation?
learning the ropes: language and education
imagining migration: migration & immigrants in literature & film
assignment: HL7

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To Be(long) or not to Be(long): Rethinking Citizenships [11/17-11/19]

costs and benefits, short and long-term perspectives
contexts of acculturation
UN conventions & US immigration and refugee laws
immigrant rights as human rights?
assignment: HL8; CM12

Acknowledging Mobilities, Affirming Diversity [11/24]

rights to move in a tougher world
moving from exclusion to inclusion
the intercultural-intergenerational imperative
mutual beneficence
assignment: CM13; HL9

Toward Sane and Humane Migration Policies [12/1-12/3]

assignment: presentation of policy research (12/8 – 8-10 am)