HIST 387 - Immigration and the Contested American Identity

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-3; Diversity; US-1, US-3
Exploration of the history of immigration into the US, and how federal law and state politics have shaped our current debates. Focus on the era of exclusion: evolving concepts of race and ethnicity, notions of 100% Americanism, nativism and nationalism.

Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-3 - Upper-Division Arts or Humanities (Humanities); Diversity; US-1, US-3
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas 1A, 1B, 1C and GE-2 with grade C- (CR) or better (GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area 3 requirements (lower division Area C requirements for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Possible Instructional Methods: Hybrid or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Fall ONLY

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Discuss and analyze the concept of an “American identity”;
Explore the roots of exclusion from this identity by tracing the evolution of US immigration policy, constitutional law, California State constitutions and legal structures, and the concept of the “illegal immigrant”;
Identify the integral and pivotal role of immigrant communities in the evolving notions of nationalism, patriotism and citizenship in the US;
Discuss the role of race, gender, wealth, sexuality and politics in the construction of federal and state (CA) immigration policy and in the culture of ethnically diverse communities;
Contextualize the contemporary conversation about immigration and refugees in the US by employing the historical roots of these conversations.

GE-UD-3. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply principles, methodologies, values systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities.
Analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human.
Demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts or humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

US-1. U.S. History Learning Outcomes

Explain the significance or interpretation of major historical events in a period of at least a hundred years of American history;
Describe the contributions of major ethnic and social groups in a period of at least a hundred years of American history;
Explain the role of at least three of the following in the development of American culture: politics, economics, social movements, and/or geography.

US-3. California Government Learning Outcomes

Describe the role of California’s Constitution in state and local government;
Explain the place of California’s Constitution in the evolution of federal-state relations;
Describe the political processes that enable cooperation and conflict resolution between state and/or local governments and the federal government.

Diversity Overlay Learning Outcomes

describe the histories and/or experiences of one or more U. S. cultural groups and the resilience and agency of group members;
identify structures of oppression and the diverse efforts and strategies used by groups to combat the effects of oppressive structures;
analyze the intersection of the categories of race and gender as they affect cultural group members’ lived realities and/or as they are embodied in personal and collective identities;
recognize the way that multiple differences (including, for example, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, immigration status, gender expression, color/phenotype, racial mixture, linguistic expression, and/or age) within cultural groups complicate individual and group identities.