American History

Academic Credits: 3
Mode of Instruction: Lecture
Syllabus: Fall 2021

Syllabus Disclaimer: The information in this syllabus is subject to change. For up-to-date course information, please refer to the syllabus on your course site (Canvas, etc.) on the first day of class.
Course Description

Every year, thousands of immigrants arrive to the United States in pursuit of new lives through various methods and means, including invoking the right of asylum. Asylum is a protection granted to those immigrants already in the United States or at the border who meet the international law definition of a “refugee.” As a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, the United States is obligated to recognize valid asylum petitions. Such petitions are part of asylum hearings, conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials, to determine the validity of the claim, and can become part of a record that leads to subsequent court litigation. This course is an advanced research seminar and practicum that will explore how historical research can be applied to the practice of asylum law in the United States.

Academic Credits: 3
SAS Core: CCD, HST
Mode of Instruction: Lecture
Syllabus: Fall 2021

Syllabus Disclaimer: The information on this syllabus is subject to change. For up-to-date course information, please refer to the syllabus on your course site (Sakai, Canvas, etc.) on the first day of class.
Course Description

This course explores the social and legal history of homelessness and unhoused populations in the United States, from the colonial period to the present. It will begin with an exploration of the contemporary crisis of houselessness and work backwards in time, considering the legal, political, cultural, and economic factors that led to current conditions. This course will challenge the dominant notion that poverty and homelessness are unfortunate but inevitable facets of life and society by exploring the contexts in which poverty and houselessness have been constructed and addressed throughout US history. Students in this course will read about, write about, and discuss the shifting relationships between “homes,” “houses,” residence, and settlement have evolved in this context, and how these definitions have developed alongside the advent of racialized capitalism, policing, and the criminal justice system. To this end, we will consider epistemological questions about how scholarly and popular understandings of poverty and homelessness have developed and the archive on which that knowledge is based.

Academic Credits: 3
Syllabus: pdf Spring 2022 (3.26 MB)

Syllabus Disclaimer: The information on this syllabus is subject to change. For up-to-date course information, please refer to the syllabus on your course site (Sakai, Canvas, etc.) on the first day of class.

01:512:264 Black Lives Matter at Rutgers