[URBANTH-L]References Request--MX-US Migration

[Luis F.B. Plascencia]

Hilary:
I will review what I have in terms of readings and will forward some suggestions to you.
I teach a Mexico-United States Borderlands course and incorporate the following films:
a) “De Florida a Coahuila”--Seminole/Mascogos (African-descent/Native Am) who migrated to MX, and then some later migrated to the US;
b) Los Mineros/The Miners--about the recruitment of Mexicans to work in the copper mines in AZ, the labor struggles, and the involvement of some of the leaders in the Cananea, Sonora mining strike)
c) “Ancestors in the Americas: Coolies, Sailors, Settlers”--Chinese migration to Northern Mexico, and US West
d) The Guest Workers--MX migrant agricultural labor in North Carolina
e) El Contrato/The Contract--MX migrant agric labor to Canada
f) Los Trabajadores/The Workers--conflict around MX day labor in Austin, TX---good in moving the viewer from 'seeing' "undocumented/illegal" migrant to seeing the individuals as "persons" (particularly, Ramon, who end up as a man and father who has accepted his role as father with responsibility to provide the best he can for the well-being of his wife and daughters--i..e, family values, personal responsibility, etc.)
g_ The Lion King--coupled with the article by Martín-Rodríguez, "Hyenas in the Pridelands..The Lion KIng'--he argues that the subtext of the film, in the context of CA 1993-94 and Prop 187, is about the xenophobia about informally authorized migration (my term for "undocumented" migration)
h) Crossing Arizona--contemporary issues about post Op Gatekeeper impact on AZ
i) On the Edge--Femicide in Juarez

luis plascencia
arizona state university


-----Original Message-----
From: urbanth-l-bounces at lists.ysu.edu on behalf of Hilary Dick
Sent: Fri 12/19/2008 10:23 AM
To: URBANTH-L at lists.ysu.edu
Subject: [URBANTH-L]References Request--MX-US Migration
 
Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to ask for suggestions on non-social science readings on
Mexico-US migration. These suggestions are for an interdisciplinary
course in the humanities I will teach this spring.

My syllabus already covers the key anthropological and sociological
literature on Mexico-US migration, but I need to include more
"humanistic" readings. Unfortunately, I am not as familiar as I would
like with the literature on Mexico-US migration in the humanities, so
any recommendations on readings from literature, cultural studies, and
so on-including novels and poetry-are most welcome. Also, if you have
any favorite movies to recommend, I am interested in that as well. For
your information, I have included a brief course description after my
signature.

Thank you for your time and help-and Happy Holidays.

Yours Sincerely,

Hilary Parsons Dick, PhD
Humanities Fellow, 2008-2009
Center for the Humanities
Temple University

http://www.temple.edu/humanities/
hdick at temple.edu
Phone - 215-204-6386
Fax - 215-204-8371

COURSE TITLE--Words of Passage: Interpreting Mexico-US Migration

Using the tools of narrative and discourse analysis, this course will
examine the motifs, themes, and ideological frameworks that recur in
discussions and representations of Mexico-US migration. In so doing,
the course will examine images and ideas about migration found not
only in scholarship, but also in non-fiction essays, novels, poetry,
visual art, the news, and movies. These materials are selected in
order to make the experiences of migrants palpable. As part of this,
the course will consider some of the major economic and political
factors that shape migration patterns, placing contemporary Mexico-US
migration in its historical context. It will also investigate the
socio-cultural beliefs and practices inform migration processes.
Finally, it will use art and literature that captures the affective,
psychological, and spiritual aspects of migration to convey the
traumas and exhilarations that accompany it.

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