HIST 205 Immigration and American Identity

Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history,” historian Oscar Handlin quipped in 1951. This class follows this premise outside of the classroom, from Chicago to Notre Dame to Goshen to Shipshewana and Amish Country, interspersed with 4 sessions for on-campus reflection, reading, and project-based work. We will immerse ourselves in, and study, specific local religio-ethnic groups in order to enable a concrete experience. The understanding of these groups is the first learning goal of the class. The second one is to decenter the migration story away from current hot button political issues to help us understand that any American migration story, especially Midwestern ones, is part of a global story that has shaped all eras of American history from various points on the globe. Finally, the class calls on students to critically investigate their own identity in conversation with the other worlds they will encounter, construct their own journeys and boundaries, and critically interrogate the theme of global citizenship.