Defining Nationality and the Nation Essay

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Prompt Questions/Essay

For the writing assignment, you can respond to as few/many prompt questions as you like, so long as you have written a combined 875-1000 words, which are equal to 3.5-4 pages in Times New Roman font size 12, double-spaced with 1” margins. This assignment will be due twice—at the end of Week 5 and at the end of Week 10. Or, if you prefer a family history project (or that of someone else) pertaining to nationality and citizenship, or any other topic related to the course, please seek permission from me no later than the second Friday of the Quarter.

Paper Rubric (up to 5 points each)—must be about immigration/comparative perspective

  1. State thesis clearly–what are you trying to say? Be direct! This should be no more than a paragraph at the beginning. Also, have a descriptive title consistent with your topic.
  2. How you use evidence to support your statements–did you cite correctly? In simple terms, back up your argument. Always cite quotes and any claim a casual reader wouldn’t believe! If you need a citation style to follow, see the ASA Quick Tips Style Guide at the end of the syllabus.
  3. Analysis consistent with thesis statement. Be consistent throughout the paper. The thesis/intro statement should match the rest of the paper, and vice versa.
  4. Mechanics are good (grammar, sentence structure, and diction). To avoid long run-on sentences, where papers can get lost, write shorter sentences. Also, avoid colloquial and vague language.
  5. Use of in-class readings. For a weekly assignment, you can just reference the reading for that week/set of weeks pertaining to the question you’re responding to. If it’s a term paper, then you don’t have to use all in-course readings but demonstrate understanding of at least three of them, plus one scholarly source away from the syllabus. Term papers will be graded more strictly.
  1. Be original! Use your own words to describe/analyze. What does the topic/prompt mean to you? Limit quotes to one sentence.

Week 1: January 5: Defining Nationality and the Nation

  • Benedict Anderson. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 10
  • Writing Prompt: Why does Anderson argue that the nation is imagined? How does this affect our perspective of nationality? Please explain.

Week 2: January 12: Defining Citizenship

  • Linda Bosniak, 2006. The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton University Press, pp. 17-76
  • Writing Prompt: How can we define citizenship and who is this in contrast to? What are the limits of citizenship? Please explain

Week 3: January 19: Citizenship’s Ambiguities

  • Bosniak, pp. 77-121
  • Writing Prompt: Just how inclusive are the various types of citizenship? Explain one or more type(s).

Week 4: January 26: Race and Citizenship

  • George Frederickson. 2003. “The Historical Construction of Race and Citizenship in the United States.” Identities, Conflict and Cohesion Programme. UN Research Institute for Social Development, pp. 1-16
  • Evelyn Nakano Glenn. 2010. “Constructing Citizenship: Exclusion, Subordination, and Resistance.” American Sociological Review 76.1: 1-24
  • Patrick Wolfe. 2004. “Race and Citizenship.” OAH Magazine of History (October): 66-71
  • Ramon Grosfoguel. 2003. Colonial Subjects: Puerto Ricans in a Global Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press, Chapter 7 (pp. 192-212).
  • Writing Prompt: How has race shaped the meaning, practices, and standards of citizenship?

Week 5: February 2: Constructing “Illegal” People

    • Mae Ngai. 2014. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens in the Making of Modern America. Princeton, pp. 1-15
    • Corrie van Eijl. 2008. “Tracing back Illegal Aliens in the Netherlands, 1850-1940.” Eds. Marlou Schrover et al. Illegal Migration and Gender in a Global and Historical Perspective. Amsterdam University Press, pp. 39-58
    • Nicholas de Genova. 2013. “Spectacles of migrant ‘illegality’: the scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36:7, 1180-1198
    • Writing Prompt: How old a social construct is an “illegal” person and what really promoted its use? Be critical.
 
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