Global Migration (Hist 110)

Syllabus

HIST 104D – History of Global Migration

Professor: Dr. Benjamin Bryce

Term: January 2021 (2020W, 2)

Time: Mondays, 16:00-16:50 (4 synchronous sessions on Jan. 11, Feb. 1, March 15, and April 12)

Tutorials: There are four tutorial sections. Students are to register for one tutorial section. If a section is full, the instructors cannot move students to another section. Tutorials are led by a teaching assistant or the instructor. The tutorials take place at the following times:

Hist 104D L1A, Thursdays, 19:00-19:50

Hist 104D L1B, Fridays, 9:00-9:50

Hist 104D L1C, Fridays, 11:00-11:50

Hist 104D L1D, Fridays, 13:00-13:50

Course Description: This course explores the mass migration of people in the modern world. Taking a global perspective, it starts with the rise of industrial and export-oriented economies in the mid-nineteenth century and continues to contemporary issues of border regulation and refugees. Topics include work, industrialization, empire building, exclusion, and forced migration. Students are also introduced to the discipline of history, including to historiographic and primary source analyses.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1) Describe and debate how human migration has shaped societies around the globe.
  • 2) Identify and assess the ways that historians use evidence to construct and revise narratives about global migration.
  • 3) Demonstrate a capacity for analyzing and contextualizing historical sources.
  • 4) Using historical research methods to examine global and transnational history.

Course Structure: Each week, students will listen to one lecture in audio form (to be accessed through Canvas), do assigned readings, and attend one 50-minute tutorial via Zoom. There will also be four lecture classes that take place on Zoom in Weeks 1, 4, 9, and 13. The lecture classes are to discuss the course, the two assignments, and the final exam with the instructor.

Tutorial sessions will led by either the instructor or a teaching assistant and have approximately 8 students. Tutorials are dedicated to a group discussion of the assigned readings and to a lesser extent the lecture (podcast). Attending tutorials is a crucial aspect of this course. It is in tutorial that you will work closely with the teaching assistants to develop your critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students who do not attend tutorial on a regular basis generally receive low grades on the written assignments and exam.

Required Readings:

All readings in this course will come from journal articles or chapters of an eBook in the library. The articles are listed in the weekly topics below. All readings are mandatory. They can be accessed via the library’s catalogue or simply by clicking this link: https://courses.library.ubc.ca/c.tJhRPV

Evaluation:

1) Tutorial participation, 20%

2) Primary document analysis. Due Friday, February 12, 20%

3) Historiographic research essay. Due Wednesday, March 31, 30%

4) Final exam. Take-home. Due Friday, April 23, 30%

* Note: A detailed grading rubric for the written assignments appears at the end of the syllabus. 

1) Tutorial participation. Students are expected to attend and participate in all twelve tutorials and in the weekly discussions of the readings. Evaluation will be based on a demonstrated mastery of the readings. Students are required to read an average of 45 pages per week.

To prepare for tutorial, students should read the assigned materials thoroughly and come prepared to state their own views about the work and engage with those of other students. Quality of insight into the readings will be assessed by the tutorial leader according to the student’s depth of analysis into and clear engagement with specific ideas from the text and in response to the questions asked by the tutorial leader. Active engagement in the discussion will be assessed according to the student’s engagement with other students’ ideas, volume of contributions, and general collegiality in the classroom. If actively participating in class discussions is difficult for you, please come and talk to me. You may also visit the Centre for Accessibility for more assistance. Participation will be assessed as follows: Demonstration of knowledge about the readings: 25%; quality of insight into the readings: 30%; active engagement in the discussion: 30%; collegial and congenial interaction with classmates: 15%. Through tutorial, students will reinforce information presented in readings and assess arguments and sources in global perspectives.

2) Primary documents analysis. 3-4 pages. Students are required to critically analyze four primary documents related to Chinese exclusion in Canada between 1885 and 1904. They are to draw from the Chinese Immigration Act (1885) and its amendments and two newspaper articles. The documents can be accessed through the course Canvas page. Students should identify a common theme (such as race, labour, democracy, international relations, national progress, the economy, etc.) and build an argument supported by evidence. Students are welcome to discuss their ideas with their tutorial leader in the weeks leading up to the due date.

Due: On TurnItIn by 23:59 on Friday, February 12, Week 5

For information on how the papers will be graded, see the rubric at end of syllabus.

3) Historiographic research essay. 7-8 pages. Students are asked to write a historiographic research paper. Students will be given a set of five scholarly articles that speak to a common historiographic discussion and will write a thesis-driven scholarly analysis of the arguments in the readings. Students are urged to discuss their ideas with their tutorial leader in the weeks leading up to the due date. This essay requires proper citation following the Chicago Manual of Style, and all essays should have properly formatted footnotes and a bibliography.  

Due: On TurnItIn by 23:59 on Wednesday, March 31, Week 11.

For information on how the papers will be graded, see the rubric below.

4) Exam. Take-home. The exam questions will be posted by March 12. Evaluation will be based on the demonstrated mastery of lectures and the assigned secondary readings from the entire course. The exam will consist of 4 long answer questions and 2 essay questions. It will be graded based on the following criteria: accuracy of information: 45%; breadth of information from course content: 35%; coherence of answers/essays: 20%.

This is a take-home test. Due on TurnItIn by 23:59 on Friday, April 23.

Course Overview:

Week 1: January 11 and 13 – Migration History

  • Zoom synchronous session #1: Monday, January 11, 16:00-16:50. Course introduction.
  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #1: What is migration history?
  • Tutorial #1
    • Tutorial Topic: Is North America unique?
  • Readings:
    • Adam McKeown. “Global Migration, 1846-1940.” Journal of World History 15, no. 2 (2004): 155–89.

[Total weekly reading load: 34 pages]

Week 2: January 18 and 20 – Industrialization

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #2: Industrialization and Emigration from Europe and East Asia
  • Tutorial #2
    • Tutorial Topic: Causes of emigration
    • Readings:
      • José Moya. “A Continent of Immigrants: Postcolonial Shifts in the Western Hemisphere.” Hispanic American Historical Review 86, no. 1 (2006): 1–28.
      • Adam McKeown. “Chinese Emigration in Global Context, 1850-1940.” Journal of Global History 5 (2010): 95-124.

[Total weekly reading load: 56 pages]

Last day to withdraw from course without financial penalty and without W standing on transcript. January 22.

Week 3: January 25 and 27 – Agriculture and Commodities

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #3: Slavery, Indenture, and Commodities
  • Tutorial #3
    • Tutorial Topic: The industrializing world and agricultural production
    • Readings:
      • Dale Tomich and Michael Zeuske. “Introduction, the Second Slavery: Mass Slavery, World-Economy, and Comparative Microhistories.” Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 31, no. 2 (2008): 91-100.
      • R.B. Allen. “Slaves, Convicts, Abolitionism and the Global Origins of the Post-Emancipation Indentured Labor System.” Slavery & Abolition 35, 2 (2014): 328-348. 

[Total weekly reading load: 31 pages]

Week 4: February 1 and 3 – Exclusion and Borders

  • Zoom synchronous session #2: Monday, February 1, 16:00-16:50. Primary document analysis.
  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #4: Asian exclusion in the Americas
  • Tutorial #4
    • Tutorial Topic: Exclusion in an era of mass migration
    • Readings:
      • Beth Lew-Williams. “Before Restriction became Exclusion: America’s experiment in Diplomatic Immigration Control.” Pacific Historical Review 83, no. 1 (2014): 24-56.
      • Erika Lee. “The ‘Yellow Peril’ and Asian Exclusion in the Americas.” Pacific Historical Review 76, no. 4 (2007): 537–62.

[Total weekly reading load: 56 pages]

Week 5: February 8 and 10 – South Asian Diasporas

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #5: South Asian Diasporas
  • Tutorial #5
    • Tutorial Topic: Empire and Migration
    • Readings:
      • Seema Sohi. “Race, Surveillance, and Indian Anticolonialism in the Transnational Western U.S.-Canadian Borderlands.” The Journal of American History 98, no. 2 (2011): 420–36.
      • Sana Aiyar. “Anticolonial Homelands across the Indian Ocean: The politics of the Indian diaspora in Kenya, ca. 1930–1950.” The American Historical Review 116, no. 4 (2011): 987-1013.

[Total weekly reading load: 44 pages]

Primary document analysis. Due on TurnItIn by Friday, February 12 at the end of the day

February 15 and 17 – Reading Week (and Family Day)

  • No classes. University is closed February 15 for Family Day

Week 6: February 22 and 24 – Nations of Immigrants

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #6: Neo-Europes and Colonialism in the Americas
  • Tutorial #6
    • Tutorial Topic: Digital history and migration
    • Readings:
      • Tyler Anbinder, Cormac Ó Gráda, Simone A. Wegge. “Networks and Opportunities: A Digital History of Ireland’s Great Famine Refugees in New York.” The American Historical Review, Volume 124, Issue 5, (December 2019): 1591–1629.

[Total weekly reading load: 39 pages]

Week 7: March 1 and 3 – Health and Borders

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #7: Health and Borders
  • Tutorial #7
    • Tutorial Topic: Historiography
    • Readings:
      • Krista Maglen. “‘In This Miserable Spot Called Quarantine’: The Healthy and Unhealthy in Nineteenth Century Australian and Pacific Quarantine Stations.” Science in Context 19, no. 3 (2006): 317-336.
      • Amy Fairchild. “The Rise and Fall of the Medical Gaze: The Political Economy of Immigrant Medical Inspection in Modern America.” Science in Context 19, no. 3 (2006): 337–56.
      • Alison Bashford. “At the Border Contagion, Immigration, Nation.” Australian Historical Studies 120 (2002): 344-58.
    • Suggested readings. Students will have to use all five of these articles for their final paper.
      • Julia Rodriguez. “Inoculating against Barbarism? State Medicine and Immigrant Policy in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina.” Science in Context 19 (2006): 357-380.
      • Howard Markel and Alexandra Minna Stern. “The Foreignness of Germs: The Persistent Association of Immigrants and Disease in American Society.” Milbank Quarterly 80, no. 4 (2002): 757–788.

Week 8: March 8 and 10 – Exile and Deportation

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #8: Refugees and Deportation in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, 1920s-1930s
  • Tutorial #8
    • Tutorial Topic: Authoritarianism and ethnic cleansing
    • Readings:
      • Dirk Hoerder. Chapter 17, “Forced Labor and Refugees in the Northern Hemisphere to the 1950s.” In Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium, 445-488. Duke University Press, 2002.

[Total weekly reading load: 44 pages]

Last day to withdraw from course with W standing on transcript. March 12.

Week 9: March 15 and 17 – Displaced Persons and the Free World

  • Zoom synchronous session #3: Monday, March 15, 16:00-16:50. Historiographic research essay.
  • Podcast:
    • No podcast
  • Tutorial #9
    • Tutorial Topic: Remaking borders
    • Readings:
      • Philipp Ther. “A century of forced migration: the origins and consequences of ‘ethnic cleansing’.” In Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, edited by Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak, 43-72 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).  

[Total weekly reading load: 30 pages]

Week 10: March 22 and 24 – Cold War Refugees

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #9: Refugees and the Cold War
  • Tutorial #10
    • Tutorial Topic: Ideology and departure
    • Readings:
      • Laura Madokoro. “Surveying Hong Kong in the 1950s: Western Humanitarians and the ‘Problem’ of Chinese Refugees.” Modern Asian Studies 49 (2) (2014): 493-524.

[Total weekly reading load: 32 pages]

Week 11: March 29 and 31 – No Class

  • Podcast:
    • No podcast
  • Tutorial:
    • No tutorial. University is closed on April 2 for Good Friday

Historiographic research essay and bibliography. Due at end of day on Wednesday, March 31

Week 12: April 5 and 7 – Guest Workers in Germany and the United States

  • Podcast:
    • Podcast #10: Temporary Workers in West Germany and the United States
  • Tutorial #11
    • Tutorial Topic: Migration without belonging?
    • Readings:
      • Dirk Hoerder. Chapter 19, “New migration systems since the 1960s.” In Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium, 508-564. Duke University Press, 2002.

[Total weekly reading load: 56 pages]

Week 13: April 12 and 14 – Latin American Migrations

  • Zoom synchronous session #4: Monday, April 12, 16:00-16:50. Exam preparation
  • Podcast:
    • No podcast
  • Tutorial #12
    • Tutorial Topic: Nuestra América
    • Readings:
  • Vicki L. Ruiz. “Nuestra América: Latino History as United States History.” Journal of American History, Volume 93, Issue 3 (December 2006): 655–672.
  • Lara Putnam. “Citizenship from the Margins: Vernacular Theories of Rights and the State from the Interwar Caribbean.” Journal of British Studies 53, no. 1 (2014): 162–91.

[Total weekly reading load: 48 pages]

Canvas: This course uses Canvas. Detailed descriptions of the assignments are posted on Canvas. Students should check this site regularly.

Turn It In: Students are required to submit their essays, midterm, and final exam through TurnItIn. See the course ID and enrolment key on page 1 of the syllabus. TurnItIn is a tool to maintain authenticity and ownership and to prevent plagiarism. I use it to encourage students to properly cite and attribute ideas to their authors. It should not only be seen as a deterrent but also as an educational tool. Essays submitted to TurnItIn go into an anonymized database that compares submitted assignments with others and with secondary sources on the internet. Students can remove their name from the file and blind the document. Please note that once you submit your papers to Turnitin.com your work is stored on an American server and is subject to US privacy laws. You can create an alias for yourself and notify your tutorial leader of the alias you use. If you do not want to submit your assignments through TurnItIn, you can instead submit scanned or digital copies of all your research notes along with your assignments through Canvas. If you choose this option, please notify your tutorial leader ahead of time.

Office hours: Office hours will be held via Skype or telephone (for Dr. Bryce) or Zoom (for Jake Harms). You can simply call or message us in the same way that you would knock on our doors. If we don’t answer during the scheduled office hours, we are talking with another student. You can contact Dr. Bryce any time on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 10 am to 4:15 pm. He will have his Skype open, and the telephone number on page 1 is his office landline. Please try to spontaneously contact him before writing to set up an appointment.

Evaluation of written work: Assignments will be returned accompanied by comments noting areas that need attention. Assignments will only be returned to the writer. Questions about grades cannot be answered effectively by e-mail and students should instead come to the instructor’s office hours. If you ask for an assignment to be reconsidered, note that your grade could go either up or down.

E-mail policy: Please use e-mail to communicate with us only for administrative matters. Please come to the scheduled office hours to address questions that you have, raise them in class, or participate in the Canvas discussion. If you cannot meet during our scheduled office hours, please e-mail us to set up an alternative appointment. We will respond to e-mails within 48 hours, so please do not leave your inquiries to the last minute. Please take the time to compose a formal e-mail. Assignments will notbe accepted by email. Please use your UBC e-mail address to communicate with us, and please check this e-mail account regularly to receive updates about this course.

Canvas discussion board: If your question is somewhat general, please post it to the Canvas discussion board rather than sending me an e-mail. I will answer it there, and this help other students learn as well. Please take a look at past discussions to make sure there is not overlap.

Censorship: During this pandemic, the shift to online learning has greatly altered teaching and studying at UBC, including changes to health and safety considerations. Keep in mind that some UBC courses might cover topics that are censored or considered illegal by non-Canadian governments. This may include, but is not limited to, human rights, representative government, defamation, obscenity, gender or sexuality, and historical or current geopolitical controversies. If you are a student living abroad, you will be subject to the laws of your local jurisdiction, and your local authorities might limit your access to course material or take punitive action against you. UBC is strongly committed to academic freedom, but has no control over foreign authorities (please visit http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,33,86,0 for an articulation of the values of the University conveyed in the Senate Statement on Academic Freedom). Thus, we recognize that students will have legitimate reason to exercise caution in studying certain subjects. If you have concerns regarding your personal situation, consider postponing taking a course with manifest risks, until you are back on campus or reach out to your academic advisor to find substitute courses. For further information and support, please visit: http://academic.ubc.ca/support-resources/freedom-expression

Writing Centres: Take advantage of the free services offered at the Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication (https://learningcommons.ubc.ca/improve-your-writing/). This year they are offering remote and asynchronous services.

Technology etiquette during class time: Please put cellphones on silent and only use them for emergencies. It is inappropriate to surf the web or send text messages during any class at the University of British Columbia. It is inappropriate to surf the web or send text messages during any class at the University of British Columbia. I advise that you print a copy of the notes that you take on the assigned readings or view them on a second screen so that you can concentrate on the Zoom discussion on your main screen.

Submission of written work and lateness penalty: Assignments are due at the end of the day (Vancouver time) on the date specified in this syllabus. The late submission of an assignment will be penalized in an exponential manner. For each day an assignment is late, the penalty will be as follows: 1%, 2%, 4%, 8%, 16%, 32%, 64%, 100%. This late penalty applies to weekends and holidays as well. No assignments will be accepted after eight days without a self-declaration form for an academic concession. If you do hand in an assignment late, please send us an e-mail in addition to submitting the assignment through TurnItIn. If you have extenuating circumstances that will prevent you from submitting your assignment on time, discuss your situation with Dr. Bryce (rather than your tutorial leader) before the due date.

Illness and absences: Notify me as soon as possible if a serious illness or other concern is affecting your ability to keep up with the course. It is also wise to contact the UBC Wellness Centre or your Faculty’s academic advising office if you are experiencing academic or personal difficulties.

Managing your mental health: Amidst the current outbreak of COVID-19, you may be developing feelings of fear, stress, worry, and isolation – these feelings are natural when facing threats that are beyond our control. Everyone reacts differently to these feelings and they can be overwhelming for some.   If you need help in coping with these feelings, here are some articles and resources compiled by UBC that will guide you in managing your mental health.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Authors do not cite sources properly merely to avoid accusations of plagiarism but also to establish credibility, bring other work to the reader’s attention, and demonstrate competing viewpoints. For more on the use of citations, see the History Department’s guidelines: http://www.history.ubc.ca/content/common-questions-about-citations

The University of British Columbia takes academic honesty very seriously.  Any suspected cases of plagiarism will be investigated and academic offences could lead to permanent expulsion from UBC. More information on the University’s procedures on academic offences can be found here: http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,54,111,959

The code of academic conduct disallows the following:

  • Plagiarism, which the university defines as an individual submitting or presenting the oral or written work of another person as his or her own.
  • Submitting the same, or substantially the same, essay, presentation, or assignment more than once (whether the earlier submission was at this or another institution) unless prior approval has been obtained from the instructor(s) to whom the assignment is to be submitted.

Accessibility and Accommodations: Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. If you have an accessibility or health consideration that may require course format accommodation, please feel free to approach me to discuss your needs.  If you require accommodations for a disability or for religious observance or if you have accessibility concerns about the course, the classroom, or course materials, please contact me or the Centre for Accessibility (https://students.ubc.ca/about-student-services/centre-for-accessibility).

Academic Concessions: If you miss marked coursework for the first time (assignment, exam, presentation, participation in class) and the course is still in-progress, speak with me immediately to find a solution for your missed coursework. If this is not the first time you have requested concession or classes are over, fill out Arts Academic Advising’s online academic concession form immediately, so that an advisor can evaluate your concession case. If you are a student in a different Faculty, please consult your Faculty’s webpage on academic concession, and then contact me if appropriate.

Student Conduct: The University of British Columbia is a community of students, faculty and staff involved in learning, teaching, research and other activities. In accordance with the UBC Respectful Environment Statement, all members of this community are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that contributes positively to an environment in which respect, civility, diversity, opportunity and inclusiveness are valued, so as to assure the success of both the individual and the community. The Student Code of Conduct reflects a concern for these values and tries to ensure that members of the University and the public can make use of and enjoy the activities, facilities and benefits of the University without undue interference from others. The university’s policy and procedures involving disruptive and/or harassing behaviour by students in academic situations is available on this website: 

http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,54,0,0

UBC Values: UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious and cultural observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how toaccess support are available here: https://senate.ubc.ca/policiesresources-support-student-success

Rubric for Primary documents analysis and Historiographic research essay

 Poor (F-D) – Under 59%Fair (C- C+) – 60-69%Good (B) – 70-79%Excellent (A) – 80% and up
Analysis. 45%Analysis is incomplete. Does not present enough evidenceSummarizes material. Analysis is not comprehensive and/or persuasive. No clear argument or goal.Analysis is accurate and persuasive. Contains a thesis statement but it does not advance a compelling, original argument throughout the paper.Analysis is comprehensive, accurate and persuasive. Argument is clear and supported throughout.
Structure. 35%Does not follow the conventions of an academic essay. Specific examples are not used, no quotations.Contains a weak introduction. Sources are cited, but often paraphrased. The content of the sources is misunderstood or misrepresented.Contains clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Sources are often paraphrased. Evidence not used in order to advance a clear point.Contains clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Paragraphs have clear topic sentences. Sources are quoted and analyzed and used to advance main argument.
Style and grammar. 10%There are numerous stylistic and grammatical issues that make paragraphs difficult to understand.There are several stylistic and grammatical issues. Spell check was not used, and  the author did not re-read/revise the text enough.Grammar is good, but some words and concepts are misused. Some minor grammatical errors that would have been caught with an extra reading by the author.The essay is polished.
Bibliography and citation. 10%Poor and insufficient citation.Attempts to follow the Chicago Manual of Style, but there are numerous formatting issues. No distinction between the footnotes and bibliography in terms of formatting.Follows the Chicago Manual of Style well, and the paper distinguishes between formatting differences of footnotes and bibliography. There are minor errors in italicization and punctuation.Follows the Chicago Manual of Style perfectly, and the paper distinguishes between formatting differences of footnotes and bibliography.