Political Research Seminar (395-0-26)

Topic

The American Border

Instructors

Elizabeth S Hurd
Scott, #209

Meeting Info

Scott Hall 107 Burdick Room: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

This political research seminar is for advanced undergraduates interested in U.S. borders of all kinds. We will read widely in politics, history, religious and cultural studies, anthropology, and border studies, paying close attention to the history of U.S. borders, political and religious dissent on and around borders, Indigenous communities and borders, legal aspects of border sovereignty and border exceptionalism, the history of the passport, and environmental politics of the borderlands. We will evaluate border issues from multiple perspectives, including but going well beyond questions of surveillance and enforcement. Students will work with the professor to develop and complete a research paper on a topic of their choice involving border studies.

Registration Requirements

Juniors/Seniors

Learning Objectives

Summarize and critically evaluate arguments;

Formulate persuasive arguments, orally and in writing, based on careful analysis of evidence;

Cite sources appropriately;

Write competently and clearly.

Teaching Method

Discussion seminar.

Evaluation Method

There will be 3 assignments: one op-ed piece, one final paper outline, and one 8-10 pg. final research paper on a topic of your choice developed in conversation with the professor.

Class Materials (Required)

Valeria Luiselli, Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions (Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 2017). Todd Miller, Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World (New York: Verso, 2019). Rachel St. John, Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012).
Greg Grandin, The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2019).

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression