Additional Information

Instruction Mode: In Person
This course explores the varied experiences of Latinx workers in the United States from the early Industrial Period to contemporary debates concerning the transnational effects of migrant labor. We will examine both the formal and informal ways that immigrants from Latin America and their families have organized at a regional, national, and international level, and in both rural and urban settings, for fair employment and civil rights. Close attention will be given to several historical factors that have helped shape Latinx working-class identity, including the role of: community-based unionism; intra-ethnic tensions related to generational differences and citizenship status; U.S. and foreign state intervention in repressing and/or aiding workers’ movements; and cross-border organizing, beginning with its early radical traditions. Ultimately, the course will determine how Latinx workers have contested their purported role as “cheap” and “tractable” labor to demand better wages, working conditions, and an end to the socioeconomic discrimination they encountered. As this course is a writing seminar, we will spend a lot of in-class time discussing the material we read from both an analytical and writing-structure standpoint—i.e., interrogating the organization and clarity of the author’s argument(s) and evidence in addition to the subject matter. Students will also be required to critique and revise their own writing, and to complete an original research paper at the end of the term."
This course fulfills the ILR Advanced Writing requirement. Enrollment is restricted to ILR Sophomores and ILR junior transfer students in their first two semesters of study. ILR juniors and seniors who have not fulfilled their Advanced Writing Requirement should waitlist and if seats are open during the add period they may be granted permission to enroll.