How have refugees experienced forced migration and resettlement in the United States, and what do their stories reveal about American life overall? Covering different historical periods and different refugee communities, this writing-intensive capstone seminar will address the history of the legal regulation of refugee migrations; the political debates surrounding refugees; the significance of religion, race, ethnicity, and national identity in refugee history; and the experiences of refugees in resettling and establishing a new life in a new society. We will take a transnational view of forced migration, with attention to the ways that war, empire, and foreign policy have shaped refugees’ lives. We will explore refugee experiences by reading recent historical literature and considering a rich array of the primary source material, including fiction, memoirs, government documents, oral history interviews, films, and maps. In particular, students will engage in the refugee oral histories collected through the Religion and Resettlement Project at Princeton University and produce writing that facilitates the public dissemination of that research.

Course Requirements:

This course requires regular participation in lectures and discussion sections, timely completion of reading and writing assignments, and active involvement in writing workshops. There is no midterm or final exam. As a course that fulfills the Upper-Level Writing Requirement, it includes the following components:

Intended Audience:

This course is accessible to all undergraduate students, especially upper-level students. It is particularly valuable for students in ethnic studies programs who would like to do research on a specific community of displaced people - e.g., Vietnamese refugees, Syrian refugees - and have the course count for their program requirements.

Class Format:

Seminar