In this seminar, students investigate the role of immigration and migration in shaping New York City’s past, present, and future. Seminar topics include: the factors that have driven and draw people to New York since the 17th Century; the different ways that religion, race, gender, and ethnicity have shaped immigrant encounters with and within the city; the formal and social organization of immigrant communities in such neighborhoods as the Lower East Side, Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown, Astoria, Flushing, Sunset Park, and Stapleton; the relationship between immigrants and their role within the city’s economy; the impact of successive waves of newcomers on urban culture and politics; and the continuing debates over integration, assimilation, and Americanization.

Reading and writing assignments will be enriched by neighborhood walking tours, guest lecturers, film screenings, and more. The class will also receive training on documentary filmmaking and other on-line mediums to help enrich the culminating project. The culminating project for this semester is a short documentary film that will be shared in-class and exhibited at a final common event.