2019 Midterm1 (assignment)

Sample Student Midterm Answers 2019

Part 3. Research Report Topic proposals
 (alphabetical order)

 LITR 4340 American Immigrant Literature

Model Assignments

Ronni Abshier

Cajun Immigration

I would like to do my research paper on the Acadian, or Cajun, migration to the United States from modern day Nova Scotia. They were exiled by the British in the 1700s and settled in the United States during this time, mostly populating Louisiana, but also showing a strong presence in Texas. Because part of my taking this course requires me to focus on pre-1800 content, I believe this immigration event perfectly rests within the boundaries we have set for my research proposal.

I chose to submit this topic for my research project because my family shares some heritage with the Cajun people of South Lousiana, and I find their culture interesting. Although there was a mechanism of “force” in their departure from what is now Canada, I still believe the Cajun presence in the United States is considered immigration simply because they could have gone anywhere, but they chose the Louisiana Territory in which to settle. I have two questions about whether or not this particular event still counts as immigration: Firstly, because the Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803, and the Cajuns already lived on the land, they technically were annexed into the USA a few years after settling rather than immigrating to what was already the USA. Also, because their expulsion from Canada is the only reason they settled in modern-day USA, it seems to be a fine line on whether or not they count as immigrants or minorities to me.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: As we’ll see with New World Immigrants, it’s OK to describe a group as having some possible minority as well as immigrant characteristics, though I’m only a little inclined to see Cajuns as minorities partly because their expulsion happened centuries ago and they weren’t much mistreated or exploited once they reached Louisiana, though they suffered some over having their language banned from schools, and their language barrier doubtless created discrimination by government—though of course there was a previous French presence in New Orleans and at least nominally in all Louisiana Territory, so there may be more of interest in the language beyond our guess-timations.

With no disrespect intended, I generally lump Cajun culture with the Scotch-Irish hillbilly end of the USA’s dominant culture, in that both peoples lived in some isolation from government and more cosmopolitan traditions, and broadly speaking, both peoples partly want to be left alone and partly want to escape the general poverty of their economic cultures. You don’t need to go with this, as we haven’t reached the dominant culture yet in the course, but several students in this course’s past have researched Cajun culture on account of family connections, but despite some nostalgia for traditional ways, there seems to be no yen to return to the swamps.

Welcome to use some of those previous research reports as sources or leads to other sources, but yes to the topic, which your proposal defends well enough, and yes, it’s pre-1800. If you want to involve some post-1800 but still early American literature, you could learn about Longfellow’s narrative poem Evangeline, which I liked well as an undergraduate—you may already know it tells a love story regarding the title character after her and her people’s expulsion from Acadia.

Anyway thanks for working with our pre-1800 cause. Another possible term for Cajuns as immigrants might be “internal migration” comparable to the Trail of Tears or, somewhat more positively, the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern cities in the first half of the 20th century and some before.

Well, sorry to go on, but the Cajuns are indeed a special case. You’re discussing them responsibly, and you’ll learn a lot. One aspect that I’ve never seen developed is how much or whether the Cajuns ever developed much of an ethnic literature, and doubtless there are some Cajun descendants who’ve described their families, but since Cajuns never had much in the way of cities or population cultures, did they have newspapers and such, perhaps in the Cajun language?

Erica Adams

Research Report Proposal

I am still undecided on my research report topic. I am very interested in expounding more on the African American culture, but I am not sure in what capacity. I believe there is something to be said about African American immigrants and their journey to the New World. I also feel it is important to talk about African American minorities because that is the basis of our existence here. I can explore the difference between the two and the effects it has on the outcome of our future in America. It is important to know that back in the day, we were involuntarily brought here, but as time as progressed, some people have come of their own free will.

I think this is a pretty straight forward topic and I will be able to use assigned texts for this assignment. We have several texts that tell different stories from different perspectives to help expound on the points. This topic will be interesting because a lot of people just associate African Americans as the minority. I want to highlight the different perspective. This is a great way to learn information and educate others.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I want you to find a way to write about African American literature or culture, Erica, but the catch is that your topic has to have something to do with immigration. I’ll make a couple suggestions, but anyway communicate further with me, as you don’t want to get behind, as you need to start writing your report in only about a month.

One possibility would be to write about the so-called “Great Migration” of African Americans, mostly in the early 20th century, from the old South to northern cities and even some western cities like L.A. or maybe even Houston (though Texas was a slave state, so I’m not sure).

Anyway you could start just by googling “Great Migration,” or I just found the Wikipedia page on the subject at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American), which would give you some basic facts and ideas that you could then research further and possibly tie to literature as with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1910s and 1920s (which wasn’t restricted to Harlem).

Another possibility would be to research Afro-Caribbean immigrants or Afro-Caribbean writers who moved to the U.S. and led literary or cultural movements, e.g. Claude McKay, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, etc. Scroll down to our April 1 class if you want some more names. Here’s our instructional page for that day: Afro-Caribbean identity as immigrant and minority.

Erin Bates

Mixed Signals and Crossed Borders

While I know we will be delving into Latin American immigration later, I think that my current interest is in examining the historical context for anti-Latino immigration nowadays. An option for research could be U.S. interference in Central and South American politics leading to immigrants fleeing unrest or violence. My sister’s currently working with an immigration law firm handling asylum cases, and she has access to U.N. reports on human rights abuses in the area. A case could easily be made linking U.S. interventions designed to install friendly governments to current issues.

Another topic I’m interested in researching would be Mexican immigration in the early 1900’s culminating in “Operation Wetback.” The U.S.’s relationship of both relying on and vilifying Mexican laborers proves a particularly relevant example of the theme of the dominant culture’s problematic gatekeeping. I’ve been familiar with the U.S.’s reliance on Mexican labor during WWII and the resulting “Zoot suit riots,” but I was unfamiliar with the operation officially named after a slur until watching an episode of “Adam Ruins Everything.” The website on trutv.com gives an extensive list of sources for the information provided and should prove to be very useful in researching this topic: https://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/blog/adams-sources/adam-ruins-immigration.html.

Overall, what most draws me into these subjects is the inherent injustice of the U.S. either contributing to the issues driving people from their country of origin or relying on immigrant labor while standing fast against allowing them to become citizens. In the highly politicized conversation about immigration, some historical context is desperately needed.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Either topic can work for fulfilling the assignment, Erin, so follow your mind or heart, whichever leads strongest. For heart, you sound more committed to the first topic. My instructional page on New World Immigrants (scroll down) provides some background on U.S. interventions in the Americas. But it’s a very big subject, so you’d likely have to choose between doing a broad but superficial survey of the subject or focusing on one or two specific recent interventions and their impact, e. g. Nicaragua or Honduras. As for following your head, a historical, localized subject like Operation Wetback would be far easier to research and contain in the assignment’s parameters. Welcome to discuss further. I didn’t click on the Adam Ruins Everything link, but as of last week I’m familiar with the series since a grad student showed part of an episode concerning redlining and African American housing. Anyway I think Operation Wetback has been mentioned in some recent political controversy over possible policies toward Mexican American immigration, but I don’t remember specifics as there are so many controversies daily now. The issue probably came up as some effort to reconcile limiting Mexican immigration with American farmers’ (and consumers’) needs for Mexican laborers, which again complicates the two nations’ relationships and everyday attitudes.

Eileen Burnett

Research Proposal

As I study the Immigrant and Minority Experience through their literature, I was drawn to the idea of expectations, how that plays out in Immigrant cultures through the concept of the American Dream as a contract. I am also interested in how this contract seems to have been voided in the eyes of new world immigrants, who come here hoping to prosper from this ideal, only to be sorely disappointed. My plan is to take a look at the viewpoints of the immigrant narratives, and how their mentalities and false ideas of this American ideal, coupled with a distrust of the dominant culture, border on the minority experience.

What I already know about the new world immigrant is limited, as we have yet to cover these narratives in class yet, but having a mother who is an immigrant/refugee from Cuba, and having dealt with various family members who each have their differing opinions to the concept of the American Dream, I feel that I am at a unique advantage to relate in a way that would make for a rich paper. I plan on using the upcoming reading and course materials to accomplish this task, as include personal interviews and experiences of members of my family for added support.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Your topic, as with most proposals, is potentially too large and essay-like for the research report, but also as with most proposals, you should stay with it and figure out how to make it work. The greatest difficulty may be finding sources other than our course that define the immigrant social contract quite so definitely, so consider consulting with a reference librarian, as the sources are probably out there somewhere. (My objectives for the course are built from lots of sources but mostly my common sense and historical knowledge, however limited.) Your strongest angle now is your family’s competing ideas, but you’ll want to ballast those more or less personal takes with some heftier scholarship. One possibility that first occurred to me, though it doesn’t immediately meet the immigrant subject, is to research the concept of “social contract,” for which you’ll find scads of research, some of which may lead you to some immigrant connections. For whatever it’s worth, here’s my term-page on social contract, which I developed at some earlier phase of our course but gave up on teaching it b/c the students who were familiar with the term had such an advantage over those who’d never heard of it before. Anyway that could be a source, esp. since it mentions the immigrant social contract, but welcome to find more.

Liliana Campos

The one topic that has really caught my attention since the beginning of this class has been the difference between African Americans as minorities and Mexican Americans as immigrants, I am really interested in learning what the big differences between these two groups are.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: You’ll need to send me another proposal, Liliana. First, look at the assignment for the proposal, which requires two paragraphs, a source, and a question. You sent two sentences, and the topic suggests that you need to see better what the research report is about. Briefly put, your brief proposal suggests a topic like the essay assignment for this midterm, but the research report is more of a “report” on something more or less factual. So look again at the proposal assignment, and then look at some of the Model Assignments, esp. the research proposals from our class but also more of the final research reports from previous classes. I’d like to give you more suggestions, but you didn’t give me much to work with. Send me another proposal in the next few days so you don’t get behind.  

Jasmine Choate

The New Youth of America

          For my research proposal, I really want to dive into reading more about the immigrant narrative but from the perspective of young adults. So essentially, I would focus on the Young Adult literature genre through full length novels, poem collections, and graphic novels about American immigrants. I was inspired to do this after talking to my mom about her experience immigrating here to the US from Mexico when she was 15 alongside her two siblings. She had to grow up rather quickly, away from her parents and the rest of her family.

I then realized as a future 7-12th grade teacher, I may have an immigrant child walk into my classroom who is living that similar experience. I want to be prepared and knowledgeable of the hardships they have to face and how they may vary from the adult perspective. I also think becoming aware of the more diverse books available within the Young Adult genre would be beneficial to my future students. Just because I think it would be good to expose them to these sorts of narratives that I don’t remember encountering while in school. One question I have is, how many works do you recommend I look into for my research?

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Recently I wondered about the same issue, Jasmine, so yes, welcome to continue this topic. Maybe my stimulus was seeing an article about 30- and 40-something readers of Sweet Valley High that mentioned how monocultural that world was. As far as research, remember that you’re not expected to read any such books yourself but only to learn about them. One starting point might be to interview a professor in School of Education who potentially specializes in these issues—is that program labeled SILC? Sorry not to know who those faculty are, but the ones I knew have retired. In any case, googling for news on the subject would probably find some relevant articles or reviews, and I’ll let you know if I spot anything helpful. Welcome to communicate any questions, as this is worth pursuing. Probably some former young adults who were from immigrant or minority parents and grew up reading Sweet Valley High are now writing themselves into the story.

Virginia Deleon

Vietnamese Immigration During Times of War

          As a minority myself, and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, I understand firsthand the trials and tribulations that immigrants and minorities must undergo. However, I had no idea how far and wide the history of immigration went. This course has not only extended my knowledge of immigration, but it has shed light on other groups of immigrants and minorities that make up the U.S. This is why, for my research paper, I would like to challenge myself to learn about another group of immigrants. With my my research paper I seek to expand my knowledge of U.S. immigrant history.

After reading Le Ly Hayslip’s powerful Child of War, Woman of Peace I became compelled to research the Vietnam war and the vast numbers of Vietnamese immigrants that fled to the U.S. in the 1960’s. Like Hayslip, many other immigrants from Vietnam came to America in search of freedom and opportunity. I would like to write a research paper that explores the tragic conflicts that occured in Vietnam during the 60’s and 70’s. Additionally, I would research how Vietnamese immigrants managed to come to America despite the war sentiments of the time. My paper would highlight Vietnamese immigrants’ strength and bravery when faced with horrible adversity.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Your research topic sounds inspired, so by all means make it happen. Do your background research on the Vietnam War but summarize it quickly, as the subject of immigrants will be a big enough topic to fill the assignment (and then some). I wish I knew more! I was about your age when the war ended, but by then Americans were, as Hayslip observes, so sick and tired of the situation that refugee settlement probably didn’t get the attention it deserved—I remember a vague awareness of this or that effort or problem, but so many other issues to think about that one hoped would turn out better. I’m grateful that our government probably acted more responsibly than citizens like me, but probably the government’s record is far from perfect. My other guess is that Vietnamese immigration as a result of the war was probably not only to America but also to some of its allies and especially to nearby countries, But as soon as I start thinking about that, I think of all the other refugees in that period, especially from the Cambodian Civil War in the early 1970s, which the USA probably helped generate, but so much to know. Laotian Hmong immigrant-refugees also drew some attention, as their resettlement was often clumsily managed. But I imagine your interest may be more in where Vietnamese immigrants settled in the U.S. and how that went. Again I’m short on details, but one settlement that was fairly local was Vietnamese shrimp fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. Otherwise I heard more about resettlement efforts in the northern Midwest, but more to know—An American writer named Robert Olen Butler won the Pulitzer Prize for a book of short stories about Vietnamese immigrants in Louisiana titled A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (1993), which I taught in this course about 20 years ago. The field is yours!

Justin Hillson

Proposal: Research Topic

          I really enjoyed writing my first essay on Immigrant literature. I would like to continue my tone that “assimilation is difficult and can be almost impossible.” Americans are sensitive to change and fear what they don’t understand, especially in the current world. The new world was built with ambition and drive. Where has that mentality gone? I want to continue to write about the trials and fears that these immigrants have went through and continue to go through. Without immigrants we wouldn’t have culture, we would essentially be a white washed nation.

          My question, is where do you think I would be able to focus my general ideas for my research essay? I want to pinpoint an issue that we Americans have with immigrants and tackle it head on, if this is a foolish goal or too broad, I am happy to change my approach and work towards a smarter conclusion.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Your question shows your awareness that the topic is broad at this point, but since you’re interested in it, let’s try to decide on some dimension of it that you can research. Your strongest point may be your sense that immigrants provide a sense of drive or ambition that native-born Americans often lack, so try to find a way to turn that into a topic? My first possibilities are economic, which isn’t necessarily a problem for me if it isn’t for you. Specifically, immigrants are often responsible for start-up businesses, especially small businesses built around family labor, where an extended family contributes—all of which may be associated with “model minority” immigrants if you like. Another economic possibility might be immigrants’ filling of “niche economies”—that is, they see a “niche” or opportunity (see definition below) that other Americans don’t see or don’t want to fill. Chinese laundries and Vietnamese nail salons are classic examples. But if you want to do something more literary, welcome to discuss in any case.

(Oxford English Dictionary: niche: A position from which an entrepreneur seeks to exploit a shortcoming or an opportunity in an economy, market, etc.; [hence] a specialized market for a product or service.) + Wikipedia has a page on “niche market”

Kristen Hoover

Research Proposal

          For my research project I would like to dive further into the difference between immigrant literature and minority literature. I believe that the status of the author does make for a different style of writing and for a different type of story. While this class is primarily focused on that of the immigrant narrative, I think it would be an interesting topic to cover. I would like to see how each of the narratives are shaped by the authors’ experiences.

          There are two authors I would like to highlight. The first being Toni Morrison (minority) and the second being Jamaica Kincaid (immigrant). I know I will not be able to cover all their works, but I know I would like to look at Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (my favorite book of all time) and Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl. The concerns I have are is this too broad of a topic to cover, how many pieces of literature should I use, and is this topic within the guidelines of what you are looking for?

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Welcome to confer further, Kristen, but what you’re proposing looks more like a traditional research essay done outside of class than this research report, which has to fit into our exam framework. You’ll probably see the light by looking at some more final research reports at our Model Assignments. But in brief, you could make your current topic happen by exploring some secondary criticism of both-and or either-or Morrison and Kincaid to make a foundation for further research in future courses. The simplest approach would probably be simply to learn more about Kincaid as an immigrant author and report on what you found. One potentially interesting issue might be how much she is or isn’t regarded as an immigrant author, as I can certainly see her career itself fitting that pattern, but she’s probably more often characterized as a postcolonial author, since so much of her fiction concerns her early life on Antigua. You could research some basic definitions of postcolonial authorship and how Kincaid fits there but also how her texts may fit into the immigrant category. FYI I taught Kincaid’s Lucy regularly in my graduate Colonial-Postcolonial literature seminar, but whenever I taught the course I always wondered what to do with the fact that it ended up connecting with immigrant literature in a lot of ways. However, the simplest and least daunting approach might be simply to start learning what you can about Kincaid in general and make her career in general the subject of your research report, as she fits easily into our Afro-Caribbean category, which most students in this course tend to ignore, probably because they’re already so daunted by African American status in general, and Afro-Caribbean status just adds to such complications. Well, sorry to go on, but I want you to research something you’ll be interested in and benefit from, so discuss further as you like, but be clear that the research report is less thematic than an essay and more devoted to gathering some basic or practical knowledge about a subject you may continue with elsewhere or beyond.

Nathzely Jaime

For my research paper I am considering writing about Mexican Americans other wise known as Chicanos. As the daughter of immigrant Mexican parents I am serious to research Mexican Americans in the time of Cesar Chavez and how he inspired Chicano culture.  How Chicano culture differs from Mexican culture. Because Chicanos are generations of Mexican Americans whom already assimilated into the dominant culture, yet still keep in touch with their Mexican culture. I would also like to see if any writers were inspired by the movement that Cesar Chavez created, or any writers that are inspired by Chicano culture as I know there are plenty of films but not so sure of literature. Somewhere along these lines is what I am planning on writing my essay on

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: You’ll find plenty to research on Mexican American heroes like Chavez or other aspects of this culture or its history, Nathzely, so your main need is to narrow the topic down to something you can research and report on within the assignment’s limitations. Perhaps the simplest topic would be Chavez (or his colleague Dolores Huerta), but either of them is also a big topic, so you could start researching and then narrow your topic as you found which part you wanted to research more about. Yet another possibility would be what you mentioned about Chicano culture differing from Mexican American culture, which gets into the complicated and variable subject of names, which can have different meanings in different contexts, but certainly you’d find some research. Anyway keep the assignment in sight and remember that this is not exactly an essay but more like a search and report for information you want to know and to share.

Heidi Kreeger

The New Normal: America's Image in 2043

     It fascinates me that when my parents were born interracial marriage was still illegal in much of America. Of course we have grown as a country since then but I have personally witnessed how slow the process has been. I was born to a white American father and Korean immigrant mother so I am mixed-race but growing up there was only one family in our school that had one white and one black parent and everyone seemed keenly aware of it. However my generation seems to have embraced multi cultural marriage at a much larger rate and as I myself have half-black children I am curious if this trend will continue and what the face of America will look like when my daughters have children. 

     I hope to look into evidence of what supports cultural blending, which factors inhibit it, the rate in which experts believe mixed race children will be born in 2043, as well as the percentage of the overall population that will be mixed race in 2043. I chose that year because my mom was born in 1959 and had me in 1987 at the age of twenty-eight. When I turned twenty-eight I had my first child, a daughter, born in 2015, and when she is twenty-eight years old it will be 2043. I am also interested in when "mixed race" will become the largest claimed category in this country, and if/when experts believe the population will be so uniformly mixed that the perception of race is done away with completely. I expect most of my sources to be scholarly papers or research studies but could also use stats from the U.S. census or various related news articles. 

     Where I struggle is whether or not it is connected enough to the immigrant narrative on its own or how I can better relate it to an immigrant narrative, and would love some feedback in this department!

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I understand your misgiving whether the topic involves immigration directly enough, but depending somewhat on how you define “mixed-race marriage,” immigration is at least partly a driver of these “new Americans”—a concept we’ll study with the dominant culture. A particular contributor to these developments is Hispanic immigration—as we’ll see in a few weeks, Latinxs are almost by definition mixed-race, and not to joke, they more or less marry everybody, or every distinct ethnicity intermarries with them, making “brown” the short answer to your question about what America looks like a generation from now. But back to your misgiving, just be sure to mention immigration a few times along with issues of assimilation and we’ll be OK. Since assimilation ultimately requires intermarriage, that model can be part of your comprehension of the subject. The catch for African Americans is of course that intermarriage at least with whites was legally prohibited for a long time, and both cultures still maintain some resistance to it. (African American men intermarry more often than women, who in some cases remember white rape from slavery times.) So anyway the topic works with enough of our course as designed, and I don’t mean to exclude minority topics as much as make sure they relate to immigration in some way, as this does. At one point a few years ago I collected some notes on the subject that I’ll attach. They’re all notes from sources, so use if they help, but naturally you can find plenty of your own, so no expectations.

Lauren Kruse

Research Proposal

          I have been torn between two topics for research—Exploring how and why the dominant culture came to be and how it became so closely associated with “white-ness.” Or, researching factors related to the Scandinavian immigration of the late 1800s (since my family came from Sweden in 1886).  In researching the dominant culture and its relation to white-ness, I would like to research the impact of the Puritan/Protestant values on the dominant culture.  I would also like to explore the evolution of the dominant culture and how it relates to “white culture,”   If I was to choose the Scandinavian route, I would like to research the immigration patterns, where people tended to settle (Minnesota/Montana are popular), if/why people later shifted (my family came to Pasadena following their first Winter in Montana), and any factors driving them to leave Scandinavia.

          I would use scholarly articles to research either topic, as well as pulling information from Model Assignments (I’ve found one for either topic on the coursesite).  I suppose my question to you would be for any advice on which topic to pursue.  I’m not sure if the dominant culture approach would be too nebulous a topic to approach—any words of wisdom on narrowing the topic, or am I on the right track?

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I trust you could handle either topic, Lauren, and I’d be pleased to read your discoveries on whiteness, etc., so proceed as inclined, but we don’t really deal with the whiteness / dominant culture topic till later in the semester, so you wouldn’t get much traction from the course, and besides, you’ll get a chance to write about the subject at least somewhat in the final exam essay. On the other hand, as already indicated, I have no objections to your continuing this subject, as I myself have done only so much research on it and I’d like to know more. I’ve seen the general subject of “whiteness studies” criticized for over-concentration on “trailer-park Americans” or however that demographic is labeled—anyway there’s research out there, though whether it answers your particular questions is unknown.

Surveying the history of Scandinavian immigration would certainly be the easier topic to fit into the research report assignment, since the information would be fairly definite to research and report on, compared to the comparatively polemical temptations of whiteness, but again I think you’d make a good show of either topic, so follow the topic that takes you where you want to learn, and welcome to check in on your progress.

 

Cassandra Lafferty

 

 

 

Audrey Lange

A Complication of Race: American Indigenous Populations and the Blood Quantum

          American Indigenous populations have been the subject of much torturous, discriminatory legislature and social commentary since the advent of the Americas as we know them. Their tribal customs, languages, and social markers have been stripped from them, leaving continents of Native peoples to rebuild from mere ashes, if they can rebuild at all. Indigenous identity has long and powerful roots, but those roots were disrupted by the forces of colonization on every continent that claimed Native people. However, peoples and tribes native to the United States pose a different problem, in a different social context: in a world that organized people neatly by color, what does that mean for indigeneity, which claims no unified color? More importantly, how did European colonization affect how we view race sociologically and biologically, beginning with Native Americans and continuing into the present day?

          In my final essay, I will be examining how and why Native American identity has changed, and what changed along with it. Native identities are largely tribally based, not racially based, but the prevailing narrative among Western societies is that of a race-based identification system. This completely undermines the idea of cultural identity in favor of racial or “blood” identity, and has given way to misgivings about what being Indigenous means (i.e. Elizabeth Warren). The Bureau of Indian Affairs only forwards this point by writing on their website, which I will utilize in my research, that they will send someone “a Certificate degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) that shows your blood quantum and tribal affiliation.” I know quite a bit about the idea of a blood quantum rule from Native scholars, but would like to learn more about the background and origination of the blood classification. I would also like to gain a clearer, more cohesive understanding of how that ties in with modern narratives about immigration and race.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: As a strict instructor my first response should probably have been that your topic doesn’t have enough—or much of anything—to do with immigration, but in fact my first response was interest, as Elizabeth Warren’s plight has been fascinating and affecting. I personally regard her as the most gifted and admirable public figure available today, with as many of the requisite sympathies one can expect, but she fell into a position that I could imagine myself or many people falling into quite innocently or dumbly. If no way else, your topic fits into our course by confronting one of the many challenges to defining “ethnicity” and whether one belongs to or is accepted as a member of a particular ethnic group. You’ll hear more of this as we study Latinx / Hispanic identity. For purposes of organization and appeal, you could introduce the topic via Warren’s situation and the questions it raises. One way this shows up in classes like ours is whether to say race or ethnicity. Race connotes biological or blood differences, while ethnicity opens to cultural status, broadly put. Well, you may be opening a can of worms, but you and your reader will at least equip ourselves with some more basic knowledge. 

Aundrea Montalvo

Cubans Migrating to America

          Being that half of my bloodline is Cuban. I was thinking of doing a little more research in the struggles and challenges the Cubans had to face just to gain their freedom and come to America. Unlike the Mexicans that migrate over to America, they do not only have to cross a border and river to get to their freedom, they have to cross an ocean.

          However, now that things are getting a little better over there in the Cuban land, it will be interesting to know how many native Cubans plan on returning home, and how many plan on staying here and just starting a new generation of life here in America.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I had to make several surface corrections (wrong words, word endings, punctuation) to your proposal, Aundrea, so compare what you sent with what I posted online so you can see those corrections. The overall point is that you need to edit and proofread your submissions before they reach me, as we’re not used to seeing this many errors in a small space. Welcome to review with me, as I don’t wish to give you a hard time or be insensitive to difficulties, but you want to keep up with your classmates.

But your topic sounds right, so welcome to continue. Your memories and even your parents’ memories of Cuban immigration are probably different from mine, as the first big wave was during the Cuban Revolution and the Cold War of the 1950s-60s. You’re right about the border being different than with Mexico, but the distance isn’t very far. This was relevant to those early immigrants’ unique identity, in that they often didn’t think of themselves as immigrants committing to a new life in America as much as they thought of themselves as “exiles” waiting to return to Cuba whenever Castro died or was overthrown. They never dreamed he would live and reign so long, so now those original immigrants’ children and grandchildren are starting to conform to traditional immigrant patterns. The later waves of Cuban immigration were more like traditional economic (rather than political) immigrants.

That’s standard information, and you’ll learn more from reading any standard encyclopedia history of Cuba, so consider starting there, but also feel free to interview family members for their attitudes and sense of things.

This proposal was shorter than required. Keep your eye on the assignments, again as a normal criterion for meeting standards. I wrote way more than you did!

Rosa Ramos

I would like to research the children of Mexican immigrants and the struggles they face while attempting to assimilate and struggling to keep their culture. This is a topic that hits close to home because I think that my sister and I both went through this. As children we wanted nothing more than to fit in, and she would pretend like she did not speak Spanish because she was embarrassed. I am also familiar with the shame that she speaks of and I tried my best to fit in with my American cultured friends. As adults, we have come to love our culture and have realized how important it is to our identity.

To this day, many of my childhood friends do not know that I was not born here in the United States. I was about 5 years old when my family immigrated back to the United States. I say back to because my paternal grandmother was a US citizen and she immigrated with my paternal grandfather to Mexico when they were giving away land. I don’t know how the lie started, but it happened as a child and I kept it up my entire life. I did not want to be looked upon as different, or as less of a person. Thinking back on that now, I am saddened that as a child I did not feel that I could be open about myself. I have never told anyone about this.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: Thanks for a good proposal, Rosa, and welcome to develop the topic for your research report. The balance you’ll need to find is that you want to keep some of your own story as inspiration for your research, but you also need to narrow down a specific topic-within-the-topic that will be “researchable”—that is, something you can find some information or data on. I mention this especially because the story of an individual or members of a family crossing and re-crossing the border is somewhat common among Mexican Americans, so you might be able to make that the focus of your essay, but your own family’s particular history (as you related) may be somewhat unique—in other words, there may not be enough of such exact situations for you to find research on it, but at this point we don’t know. So welcome to start your research but remember that it has to be somewhat factual or historical. There are lots of possibilities. A simple but big approach that would have plenty of research available would be assimilation among Mexican American young people. We’ll talk about these issues when we return to class, but many Mexican Americans are, like you, torn between wanting to be like their American friends but then feeling that they don’t want to lose what they had. In these respects Mexican Americans and other New World immigrants can combine immigrant (assimilate) and minority (resist) characteristics. Another related possibility would be to investigate Mexican Americans as “a border people,” which has become a popular way to describe such mixed feelings about assimilation or resistance. Here’s a link that may help start that research:  Gloria Anzaldua. But there are other possibilities, so welcome to decide and check in with me as you decide. Looking at some final research reports may also give you more of an idea of what the assignment should look like.

Nallely Reyna

Laws and agencies involving immigration

For my research proposal I would like to focus on the laws and agencies involving immigration. This particular subject interests me the most because a few years back I faced this issue with a very close family member. I already know that some of the agencies that are involved and some are called ICE, and customs that work alongside with border patrol. I have also heard of the separations between children and their mothers that take place at the border when they are making their way into the country. Although I don’t fully agree on this issue being that the children are so young, I do feel that they should take into consideration and follow the steps provided to avoid those horrible consequences.

I want to learn the steps to avoid these heartbreaking stories and learn more as to how an immigrant can avoid the loss of time inside the ICE facilities and make the process a little more bearable. I plan on finding out this information by doing web search on ICE facilities, border patrol and customs. I also will be having a conversation with my cousin who works with some of the airlines flying out immigrant transportation to different ports in continuation of their immigrant status.

This was one of the sources I found some research.

https://thevisafirm.com/dc-immigration-lawyer/us-government-agencies-involved/

Should I continue my research strictly on the process of what ICE and the border customs do, or should I extend my research in the form of the process in which immigrants should follow to avoid these issues?

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: That’s a good, thoughtful proposal, Nallely, but wow, it’s such an overwhelming issue and so much is happening right now, that I (probably like you) feel some difficulty getting a handle on it for starters. Welcome to continue discussing with me as you make progress, since you’ll need to do what works within the assignment’s parameters, but things usually work out. At this point your heart seems most engaged in the issues of family separation and how to prepare asylum-seekers or immigrants for the challenges there. The downside is that my only recommendation for research would be to read what you can in recent journalism; for instance, today’s (5 March) New York Times led with an article about the growing numbers at the Mexican border. Reading a detailed article like that might help you get a sense of the conditions and preparedness and struggles of the arrivals there, but the catch is that often some time must pass before a reader really sees the story from the perspective of the people on the ground rather than observers like us at a distance. You could also consider speaking to Erin Bates who sits near you in our classroom and whose father is an attorney who works with immigrants.

A simpler if less engaging approach might simply be to learn what you can about the agencies and legalities involved. I looked at the source you offered, and from what I know most of the U.S. immigration agencies (including ICE along with maybe a couple others) are included in the department of Homeland Security, so you could start by learning about that department and those sub-departments. That knowledge could eventually lead you back to the families at the border and how they meet those agencies, with lots of other issues involved.

Anyway, with all these warnings and difficulties acknowledged, the point of the report is to learn what you want to know and share it with your reader. You may not finish learning all you want to know, but you and your reader will know more than when we started, which is good enough, so go ahead.

Kaytlynn Smith

One topic I would like to research more is the Chinese-American immigrant narratives that uphold traditional Chinese values while attempting to assimilate to contemporary society. Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter really piqued my interest in this topic because it was such a beautiful text that helped me develop a true appreciation for the impactful meaning that is layered into Chinese characters and the importance of preserving one’s cultural and historical narrative to maintain an identity.

Another interesting point I found in this text is the Chinese’s perception of the supernatural as more natural than not, and circumstances surrounding spirituality, like death. In the text, Tan exemplifies the issues of assimilation by building the relationship between Ruth and her mother, Lu Ling, a Chinese immigrant. Some ways that Lu Ling reveals her ties to China, show through her aptitude to reference suicide so casually. As the narrative unfolds, Tan explores the cultural differences that explain and even validates all of the “crazy” things that Lu Ling says. It is truly an amazing text, and I would love to look more into relationships like this, while also looking at how the supernatural plays a role in Chinese immigrants and how these superstitions pass on (or if they simply don’t pass on) to the subsequent generations.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I like your proposal, so yes, find a way to make it work in the context of the assignment. I’m afraid I haven’t read The Bone-Setter’s Daughter, but I taught Tan’s Joy Luck Club in some earlier versions of this course—maybe when you were in kindergarten, which I mention only to lament that I don’t remember Joy Luck Club very particularly, but much of the novel concerns mother-daughter relations and the mothers’ attempt to pass on some of their experiences or training or background, which the daughters more or less accept or resist. At least some of those maternal backgrounds had some spiritual dimensions to them, and back then I noticed some similar patterns in writings by Maxine Hong Kingston, another Chinese-American writer who broke through a little before Tan.

That background on my part is all to say that I’m not certain how to advise you to proceed with research, but if I noticed those trends in those few novels I read at the time, I’d be surprised if other scholars didn’t also notice them and write about them. So my best advice would be to consult a reference librarian at the UHCL library and ask them to help you find some secondary criticism via the MLA bibliography on Tan and / or other Chinese American women writers, with possible sub-topics like mother-daughter relations and maybe the supernatural, though there may be other, better terms. If you prefer, I could help you search the MLA database, but the librarians may be more agile and helpful than I’d be. Anyway, welcome to check in with me about your progress. You seem sharp and ready to at least test the waters of some advanced scholarship, but if you wanted something simpler to start with, you might ask the librarian to help you find some reviews of Bone-Setter’s Daughter in prestige publications like The New York Times or the New York Review of Books, but many other possible sites as well. Thanks for a good proposal with an intriguing idea about a recent classic text.

Lacey Smith

Swedish American Immigrants

I chose this topic because it has slowly become a big part of my life. My boyfriend’s mom is a Swedish immigrant and that made it so he has dual citizenship with Sweden and America. I have listened to stories from them, and I was amazed at the things that were told to me. I want to research and dig deeper into the history of these immigrants to see what they had to go through, what they wanted to get away from, and how they managed to get to America.

          I don’t know that much about the topic. I know the small things I have been told, but that’s it. I chose this topic so I would be able to learn more about it. I know in class we are learning of so many other groups of immigrants and minorities, and I wanted to learn even more about different groups. I plan to do my own research through books and online literary sources. I want to also look into our class books and see if I can find anything helpful.

Is there any literature that you know of that would be helpful? Is this a good topic for me to go with? Whether this is the topic I take and run with or another one, I am excited to learn more about the different people that have come to America over the years.

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I wish I knew more about Swedish immigration, Lacey, but it’s certainly the kind of topic that can meet the research report assignment. As you probably assume, you could research the major periods of Swedish immigration, why they immigrated and where they settled. Most of my limited knowledge is of settlements in the northern Midwest, like Minnesota and maybe Montana. When I was in college there was a popular international film titled The Emigrants (1971) that I saw and admired. Here’s the Wikipedia page—The Emigrants –which can give you information about the books on which it was based, which may give you lead you to information about literature on the subject. For what it’s worth, I’ve visited Christ the King Lutheran Church in Rice Village, which is Swedish Lutheran and has a sizeable model of a sailing vessel (signifying immigration) hanging from its ceiling—have a look if you’re ever at the corner of Greenbriar and Rice Boulevard. Otherwise you might speak to Lauren Kruse in our class, as she may research Scandinavian immigration—her family is Swedish-descended like your boyfriend, so she knows some about the subject already.

Matt Smith

 

 

Arielle Spiller

Research Paper Proposal

My high school best friend and her husband struggled with infertility for several years. After significant time prayerfully considering their options, they felt led to consider international adoption to begin their family. However, international adoption is extremely cost-prohibitive, and presents many challenges to hopeful families.

I would like to research the process of international adoption vs other kinds of immigration in an attempt to understand the difference in legal proceedings. Why should a wanted, helpless child undergo a more difficult process (even when sponsored by U.S. citizens) to enter the U.S. than the thousands of older would-be immigrants?

https://www.uscis.gov/adoption

https://www.usa.gov/immigration-and-citizenship

Instructor’s reply to research proposal: I’m broadly familiar with the subject you raise, Arielle, as my daughter and her husband looked into the possibilities several years ago before feeling discouraged, but before now I’d never really considered the subject as one having to do with immigration—only a failure of imagination on my part, so go ahead and develop this topic for your research report.

The strongest part of your proposal—the “why?” question—also may be the hardest part to research, simply because I suspect that many people like myself never previously thought of adoption and immigration together. One practical approach may be see what possible links (electronic or figurative) exist between the adoption page and its laws and the nation’s various agencies involved in immigration management. In other words, does the law or policy of the USA regard international adoption as a dimension of immigration? I’ve just barely started now on this, but the webpage you sent on adoption refers to “the Hague,” a name referring to the International Court of Justice in the city of The Hague in the Netherlands. In other words, that’s an international policy rather than a national policy, but that’s just a start and there’s more to it.

But the point of the research report is to start learning about a subject and to share your knowledge with your reader, so even if you don’t finish learning all you want to know, you and your reader will take some steps into the unknown, etc. Welcome to continue or discuss further as you proceed.