Presenters: Lindsey Jaynes, Stephanie Holcek, Sandra Ledezma, Veronica Koch
Readings:
1. “We Can’t Go Back: Immigrant Women, Intersections, and Agency,” Pp. 1-15 in Immigration and Women”
Biographies of the authors: Susan C. Pearce is Assistant professor of Sociology at East Carolina University, whose major works include Reformulations: Markets, Policy, Identity and Identities in Central and Eastern Europe and Mosaics of Change: The first Decade of Life in the New Eastern Europe. Elizabeth J. Clifford is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Towson University and serves as Coordinator of the Baltimore Immigration Summit. Reena Tandon is the Coordinator of Service learning at Ryerson University, Toronto and is the author of Contemporary Hindi in Australia.
Summary:
In this chapter, the authors challenge the “monolithic” image of the “typical immigrant” and explain that the true “American immigration landscape,” which encompasses men, women, and children from over 140 countries (page 2). Because “foreign born women are not recognized as leaders and contributors to the cultures and structures of the U.S.,” immigration and refugee policy has failed to reflect the needs of almost 50% of all migrants, not only to this country, but worldwide (ibid).
It is mentioned more than once that the book is written by women who are themselves immigrants, and represent “four of the major waves of American immigration.” (p.4) Their combined perspectives represent the basis of the Conflict Theory; there is relatively little availability of “social and political power” and immigrant women as a group are marginalized at best- invisible at worst. The authors credit the “continued imbalance of privilege and power based on gender and the association...
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...sanctioned ideologies to justify relations of domination and subordination.” (page 246) This refers to symbolic images that are applied to different racial or ethnic groups, which maintains a system of domination and subordination between Whites and minorities and women and men.
Individual dimension of oppression refers to our political choices. Do we reproduce the systems of domination and subordinates imposed on us at the symbolic and institutional levels, or do we reject or undo them at the individual level, which would led to social change?
Discussion Questions:
1. Why does Collins suggests that we should reconceptualize race, class and gender as parallel and interlocking systems as opposed to categorizing them dichotomously?
2. What do you think Collins means by "examining your position"?
3. What can you do, at the individual level, to create social change?
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
The story “Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of Mexicans in a Chicago neighborhood. She depicts the life that women endure as Latino wives through her portrayal of the protagonist, Cleofilas. For Cisneros being a Mexican-American has given her a chance to see life from two different cultures. In addition, Cisneros has written the story from a woman’s perspective, illustrating the types of conflicts many women face as Latino wives. This unique paradigm allows the reader to examine the events and characters using a feminist critical perspective.
Oppression is not always brought on in a violent and oppositional way, it can take on a peaceful and silent form; however regardless of the way oppression is introduced, it maintains the same characteristics of “imposing belief systems, values, laws and ways of ...
Gjerde, Jon. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History: Documents and Essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.
Ruth, Seán. “Theories of Internalized Oppression.” Leadership and Liberation: A Psychological Approach. London: Routledge, 2006. 155-173. Print.
Martinez, Demetria. 2002. “Solidarity”. Border Women: Writing from la Frontera.. Castillo, Debra A & María Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 168- 188.
Sonia Nazario, herself an immigrant, was aware of the acrimonious debate on undocumented migration through her work as a prominent Los Angeles journalist. The issue was brought to a head when her housekeeper’s son arrived unannounced from Guatemal...
In recent discussions, the topic of immigration and the fundamental question of what is to be done with immigration? has been circulating in many american homes today, especially the closer we get to election day. As David Cole puts it in his essay Five Myths about Immigration “But just as in the 1850’s, passion, misinformation, and shortsighted fear often substitute for reason, fairness, and human dignity in today’s immigration debates”(185). Despite misconceptions of immigrants, Cole believes that immigrants positively affect society in several ways. In addition, Cole challenges and questions the beliefs of others in his essay. Whereas, Victor Davis Hanson’s essay Our Brave New World of Immigration focuses
The delicate balance of power unendingly tips between groups, leading to the favoring of one over the other. The magnitude of this power struggle varies from that of the political parties in government to the fight for authority between parents and their children. The faction in power most always resorts to a dictatorial means of maintaining that power: oppression. It is known, however, that the group not in power often manages to metamorphosize and win dominance over the once supreme rulers. The ability of the oppressed to overcome their oppressors lies in the fact that oppression strengthens those who are oppressed, and moves them to take action against their rulers. The strength derived from oppression, however, does not come from mutual support among those oppressed, but rather from an infatuation with the reattainment of power which has been taken from them.
Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic phenomenon that has caused widespread controversy throughout the last decade. Many have taken to debate whether or not immigrants are socially and culturally accepted within society. The article “How Immigrants Are Marked as Outsiders” by Michael Correa argues that it is difficult, if not impossible, to truly define what makes an insider versus an outsider. Louis Mendoza, however, states in his article “No Longer an Outsider, but Still Distinct” that, even though immigrants may never be completely included in society, with the technology we have today it is possible. While Mendoza and Correa both create convincing arguments, Mendoza constructed an argument that is more effective due
Text 1 is an excerpt from Sonia Nazario’s book, titled “Enrique’s Journey” that serves the cultural context of Mexican immigrants who are mothers, who left their children to earn money from the city. The narrative text is targeted to individuals who are blessed with a good quality of life. Text 2 is “In Trek North, First Lure is Mexico’s Other Line”, an article by Randal C. Archibold with accompanying photographs by Rodrigo Cruz, published in The New York Times in April 6, 2013. Similarly, it serves the cultural context of determined workingwomen, intended for the American audience, specifically New Yorkers. Although both texts excludes the cultural context of men, but highly considers women, this social group is depicted differently; in the excerpt, women are represented as an inspiring, heroic character, which enables the audience to easily empathize with their struggles, whereas the article, with its intended purpose to inform the audience of the doubling number of illegal crossers, portrays women as a short-sighted romantic.
Mae Ngais’s Impossible Subjects embraces the history of our modern term “illegal alien” by exploring the history behind immigration policy. The legal and social history explains the progression of the term, “illegal alien’s” throughout American life in the early 1900s and the 2000s. Ngai focuses on the era after the Johnson-Reed Act in 1924 and the reform of quotas by the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 to the bracero programs and so on. Impossible Subjects already accepts that white privilege has already expanded in the early 1900s of American history, and she modifies her concentration on immigrants not accepted as the typical ‘white’ American but not yet of African descent either. Throughout Impossible Subjects the book is written in topological order with a chronological order of events within each section. Ngai writes this way in order to better convey her thesis about tracing the origins of the "illegal alien" in American law and society, and explain why and how illegal immigration became one the fundamental problems in U.S. immigration policy. In the below excerpt, Ngai perfectly embodies the intent of her book.
To say that immigrants in America have experienced discrimination would be an understatement. Ever since the country formed, they have been seen as inferior, such as African-Americans that were unwillingly brought to the 13 colonies in the 17th century with the intention to be used as slaves. However, post-1965, immigrants, mainly from Central and South America, came here by choice. Many came with their families, fleeing from their native land’s poverty; these immigrants were in search of new opportunities, and more importantly, a new life. They faced abuse and Cesar Chavez fought to help bring equality to minorities.
Even though immigration brings in people from all over the world, many people tend to focus and stereotype all undocumented immigrants as coming from Mexico. As we can see through the novel and through the recent immigrant influx during the summer, the United States is seeing more and more people from Central and Latin America. These native countries are unable to provide a safe, productive environment for its people, so they need to look for a way to support their families. Even if that means going through the dangers of the trains, crossing the Rio Grande, and realizing that the “picture perfect” society of the U.S. is nothing but a
Introduction: America now houses 42.2 million legal and illegal immigrants, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Ten million of these immigrants live in California, approximately ¼ of the total population. The subject of this paper, a 54-year old undocumented women employed as a domestic worker referred to as Myra, was interviewed with the purpose of obtaining a better understanding of the intersecting factors of race, class, gender, and legal status in the experiences of immigrants in the United States. Myra represents only one of 10 million, and as such she cannot be held as a representative of all undocumented women from Mexico, much less all immigrants. However, her experiences do provide some useful insight into the daily lives & perspectives of women in similar situations. In particular, her role as a mother shone through as a motivator in remaining in the United States and obtaining access to social services such as healthcare.