ETHS 220
Fall 2002 - Eric Mar
See assignment at bottom of this page.
Chapters 5-7 - Discussion Questions on Immigration readings
I - your families
- What were the PUSH and PULL factors which led to your or your family's
immigration to the United States? If you are not an immigrant and have
no family members that you can trace who were the original immigrants to
the US, discuss the experience of an immigrant family or friend that you
are close to.
- What were the adjustments that your family had to make in new places
they settled [example: why did family members move to the US?; how did they
adjust after arriving]?
- What types of jobs did family members take after immigrating? What
neighborhoods has your family lived in since arriving in the US [ex. income
level, ethnic diversity of neighborhood, etc. What types of schools
did family members attend? Do you think there has been 'upward mobility'
within your family since arriving in the US? explain.
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II - Readings
- How did the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 alter the racist anti-Asian
immigration laws that preceded it?
- How did the 1965 immigration act alter the preference system? Explain
how a large wave of well-educated Asian immigrants entered the US after the
passage of the 1965 act?
- Explain why it is often said that Immigration policy is the 'flipside'
of US labor policy.
- Compare the different experiences of immigrants vs. refugees in the
US. What are the similarities and differences between Vietnamese, Laotian
and Cambodian communities in the US?
- What factors have shaped the patterns of settlement and secondary migration
for these groups as they adjusted to US life? To what extent have Southeast
Asian Americans relied on public assistance in the US? Explain.
- Explain what is meant by the 'social construction of gender.' What
kinds of constraints are imposed on Filipino women migrants as a result of
this social construction of gender and race.
- What are the implications of social construction of gender for our
understanding of international migration, both historically and in the present
day?
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Assignment - 500 word minimum/1000 word maximum - typed double-spaced -
DUE Tuesday 10/22.
Questions I. 1-3 on your families - answer all questions.
Questions II. 1-7 on readings - answer any 2 of 7 questions. you do
not have to answer all questions, just choose any 2 of them to answer.
maximum words = 1000 total for all answers combined. don't write too
much. write and try to edit your answers before turning them in.
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