Reflections

This semester, we learned a great deal about immigrants in New York City – why they come and their societal integration.  In terms of seminar discussion topics, the course began with a survey of the theories that explain why people migrate to another country and the key immigration laws that have affected which immigrants have moved to the United States and New York City and when.  Next, we examined various integration theories and focused more specifically on how language skills, educational background, religion, race and ethnicity, gender, and documentation status have shaped immigrants’ integration experiences in New York City.  A visit to the Tenement Museum and a guided walking tour of “Immigrant New York” helped us to understand more fully the theories we learned about and the readings we discussed.

We completed various assignments to gain a deeper understanding of immigration and integration dynamics in New York City.  We each wrote personal essays in which we explored our own and our family’s immigration histories and experiences with integration.  We also completed statistical profiles of five of the largest immigrant groups in the city today, forcing us to study and analyze statistical data and create charts, graphs, tables, and timelines to represent these data.  Finally, we conducted interviews with immigrants, which gave us an opportunity to learn from other immigrants firsthand about some of the struggles involved with migrating to the United States and getting settled in New York City.  Overall, it was a great experience, although some of us found aspects of the research frustrating and quite challenging.

On this page, you can read (and hear!) our reflections on the different kinds of research we conducted this semester.

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To read the class reflections, click here, or select any of the posts/authors below.