MFJS 4912 – Border cultures, communication and immigration rights
June 9-16, 2013
This class will take
place in Tucson and south to the US-Mexico border area (but will not cross into Mexico) to study the role of
communication/media in border cultures and immigration rights.
Immigration issues
are front and center in news headlines, but this often masks the complex
realities of many immigrants’ lives, both undocumented and documented.
For those who decide to cross the border,
it is an extremely dangerous and arduous journey that all too often
results in arrest by the Border Patrol and deportation. For others who
are deported, they may have lived in the United States for many years,
working and raising families. The towns along
the US-Mexican border are a unique cultural site of people living
transient lives, moving back and forth, some voluntarily, others forced
across, with the massive 20-foot border security wall looming overhead.
The course will be conducted in collaboration with
Borderlinks, an organization located in Tucson, Arizona that has
offered educational programs along the US-Mexican border region for the
past 25 years. Students will also meet twice during Spring Quarter 2013
to discuss assigned readings and prepare
for the trip. They will complete short papers and journal assignments,
as well as a final project due after the trip is over.
Activities on the
trip include walking the migrant trail in the harsh Sonoma Desert and
talking to human rights groups active in the area; a visit to the Tucson
courts where the controversial “Operation Streamline”
policy is in effect, moving 60-80 immigrants in shackles through the
legal process everyday; and discussions with immigrant defense attorneys
and officials. We will also cross the border into Nagales, Mexico to
visit a shelter with recently deported immigrants,
and HOGAR (House of Hope and Peace) which provides meals and services
for children of maquila workers and immigrants in the area, as well as
visit a maquila (factory in the free trade zone area).
The course will be
co-taught by Margie Thompson, Associate Professor in Media, Film &
Journalism Studies and Director of the MA in International &
Intercultural Communication, who has worked as a journalist
in Central America for the past 16 years, along with María Suárez Toro,
a longtime journalist and feminist human rights activist and educator
from Puerto Rico/Costa Rica.
The course is offered for 4 credits, but students may sign up for an additional credit as independent study.
(June 9 & 16 are travel days; June 9-15 – Borderlinks program – 6 1/2 days)
Scholarships are available.
To apply for this course contact Diana Carvalho at: diana.carvalho@du.edu in the Special Programs Office.
For more information, contact: Margie Thompson at:
mthompso@du.edu; or 303-871-3947.
