Dean’s Seminar: Immigration and Identity in Western Europe



Dean’s Seminar: Immigration and Identity in Western Europe

Psc 801(10): Fall 2010 (CRN 75177)

Wednesdays, 11:10 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Monroe B36

Professor Kimberly Morgan

Office: Hall of Government, Rm 418

Phone: 994-2809, email: kjmorgan@gwu.edu

Office Hours: Thursdays, 1:45-4 p.m. or by appointment

SUMMARY

This seminar is about the politics of immigration, integration, and identity in Western Europe. The class will explore the historical foundations of national identity; the migratory waves to Western Europe since World War Two; immigration, citizenship, integration, and anti-discrimination policies; and contemporary clashes over Muslim minorities, including debates over the Muslim headscarf, the cartoon controversy in Denmark, and the rise of Islamophobia. Readings will focus in particular on the cases of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this class, you will:

➢ Explore fundamental concepts in the field of immigration, including national identity, citizenship, integration/assimilation, multiculturalism, and toleration;

➢ Examine the historical foundations of these concepts and how they have evolved in an array of European countries;

➢ Analyze contemporary conflicts over religion and strategies for the incorporation of religious minorities into European communities and polities;

➢ Strengthen your writing skills – both the mechanics of writing and your capacity to construct analytical essays that aim to persuade.

READING

Required texts

The following texts are required and available for purchase at the GW bookstore. They also are available on reserve. Please note that we will not be reading all of these books in their entirety, so you may not wish to purchase them.

* Ian Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam (Penguin 2007): ISBN 978-0143112365

* Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (Harvard University Press 1998), ISBN 978-0674131781. NOTE: Also available as an e-book through Gelman library.

*Christian Joppke, Veil (Polity: 2009), ISBN 978-0745643526

* Jytte Klausen, The Cartoons that Shook the World (Yale University Press: 2009), ISBN 978-0300124729

* Leo Lucassen, The Immigrant Threat. The Integration of Old and New Immigrants in Western Europe since 1850 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005), ISBN 9780252072949

Blackboard

The other required readings are available as pdf files through the e-reserves on the Blackboard system – you can either read them on-line or print them out.

To access Blackboard, you must have a Colonial e-mail account and be registered for this course. To log in, go to and type in your NetID and email password. If you have problems or questions, try going to . Please try to access Blackboard as soon as possible, to make sure that you are in the system and that you understand its various features.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS

Seminar participation

As participation is crucial to the success of the seminar, you need to complete the assigned readings before class and come prepared to talk about them. To make sure that you’re keeping up with the reading, each week you will send me three “intriguing issues” that you found in the readings – three things that struck you, surprised you, shocked you, puzzled you, etc. Each one should be a couple of sentences. I expect to receive them by 9 a.m. on the day of class, so that I have time to read them and incorporate your “intriguing issues” into our discussion. You have two “amnesty” weeks in which you don’t need to send in the questions.

Your participation grade will consist of attendance (see below), your 11 intriguing issues, plus the quantity and quality of your oral participation in the seminar.

Writing assignments

There will be three writing assignments based on the class readings. For each assignment, I will give you a question that will require you to think critically about some issues raised in the weekly readings. Your essays should be between 10-12 pages, or around 2800-3000 words.

You will submit your papers through SafeAssign on Blackboard as well as a hard copy. More details on the assignments will be forthcoming.

GRADING

Participation 25%

Assignment #1 25%

Assignment #2 25%

Assignment #3 25%

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

I personally support the GW Code of Academic Integrity. It states: “Academic dishonesty is defined as cheating of any kind, including misrepresenting one's own work, taking credit for the work of others without crediting them and without appropriate authorization, and the fabrication of information.” For the remainder of the code, see:

Plagiarism is a serious offense that will be dealt with accordingly. We will discuss the problem of plagiarism before the first writing assignment. If you are uncertain about what plagiarism is, you can consult the follow websites for discussions about what counts as plagiarism:

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SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS)

Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability should contact the Disability Support Services office at 202-994-8250 in the Marvin Center, Suite 242, to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information please refer to:

Please speak with me in the first week of class to discuss what kinds of accommodations can be made for you.

OTHER CLASS POLICIES

University Policy on Religious Holidays:

Students should notify faculty during the first week of the semester of their intention to be absent from class on their day(s) of religious observance.

Absences from class:

Everyone gets one “no-questions-asked” absence from class. Otherwise, you will need to justify any further absences with sufficient documentation. Unexcused absences will count against your participation grade.

CLASS SCHEDULE AND READINGS

September 1: Introduction

Historical foundations of European identities

September 8: How did national identities form in Western Europe?

Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany, introduction and chapters 1-6 (137 pages).

September 15: The impact of historic conflicts over religious and ethnic differences

Leo Lucassen, The Immigrant Threat. The Integration of Old and New Immigrants in Western Europe since 1850, pp. 1-109.

* Thomas Rochon, “The Organization of Dutch Society,” READ pp. 25-48 ONLY.

September 22: Anti-Semitism

* Durkheim, “Anti-Semitism and Social Crisis,” (1899), 2 pages.

* Richard L. Rubenstein and John K. Roth, “The Irony of Emancipation: France and the Dreyfus Affair,” pp. 77-96.

* Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, “Introduction: Reconceiving Central Aspects of the Holocaust,” pp. 3-24.

* William I. Brustein, “Introduction: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust,” pp. 1-48 in Brustein, Roots of Hate (Cambridge: CUP, 2003).

September 29: Colonialism and De-Colonization

* Charles Hirschman, “The Origins and Demise of the Concept of Race,” Population and Development Review, 30, 3 (Sep., 2004): 385-415.

* Modern History Sourcebook: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man's Burden,” (1899).

* Alice Conklin, “Colonialism and Human Rights: A Contradiction in Terms? The Case of France and West Africa, 1895-1914,” American Historical Review 103, 2 (April 1998): 419-42.

* Michael Mann, “’Torchbearers upon the Path to Progress’: Britain’s Ideology of a ‘Moral and Material Progress’ in India,” pp. 1-26 in Colonialism as Civilizing Mission, eds. Harald Fischer-Tiné and Michael Mann (London: Wimbledon Publishing 2004).

* Johann Hari, “The Two Churchills,” New York Times August 12, 2010.



* Todd Shepard, “Algeria,” Dissent (Winter 2009): pp. 48-52.

October 6: The Great Migrations

Lucassen, The Immigrant Threat, pp. 113-213.

Randall Hansen, “Migration to Europe since 1945: Its History and Lessons.” Political Quarterly 2003, pp. 25-38.

FIRST PAPER DUE TUESDAY OCTOBER 12.

Immigration and Integration: Politics and Policies

October 13: Immigration, asylum, and citizenship policy

* Christian Joppke, “Why Liberal States Accept Unwanted Immigration,” Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jan., 1998), pp. 266-293.

* Jeff Crisp, “Refugees and the Global Politics of Asylum,” The Political Quarterly (August 2003): 75-87.

* Randall Hansen and Desmond King, “Illiberalism and the New Politics of Asylum: Liberalism’s Dark Side.” The Political Quarterly (October 2000): 396-403.

* Marc Howard, “Comparative citizenship; An Agenda for Cross-National Research,” Perspectives on Politics, Sept 2006: 443-54.

* Stanford Encyclopedia entry on liberalism.

Please skim this and focus in particular on section four.

October 20: Models of integration policy

* Will Kymlicka, “The Forms of Liberal Multiculturalism” pp. 61-86 in Kymlicka, Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the new International Politics of Diversity (Oxford 2007).

* Susan Muller Okin, “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?” pp. 9-24 in Okin, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

* Aristide Zolberg, “Why Islam is Like Spanish: Cultural Incorporation in Europe and the United States,” Politics & Society (March 1999): 5-38.

* Jeremy Jennings, “Citizenship, Republicanism and Multiculturalism in Contemporary France.”

* Christian Joppke, “Transformation of Immigrant Integration in Western Europe: Civic Integration and Antidiscrimination Policies in the Netherlands, France, and Germany,” World Politics 59, 2 (January 2007): 243-73.

* Elaine Sciolino “Britain Grapples with Role for Islamic Justice,” New York Times November 19, 2008: A1.

October 27: Immigrants and the Welfare state

* Gary Freeman, “Migration and the Political Economy of the Welfare State,” Annals AAPPSS 485 (May 1986): pp. 51-63.

* Mark Kleinman, “The Economic Impact of Labour Migration,” The Political Quarterly (August 2003): 59-74.

* Carl-Ulrik Schierup, Peo Hansen, and Stephen Castles, “Britain’s ‘Neo-American’ Trajectory.” Pp. 111-36 in Migration, Citizenship and the European Welfare State (NY: Oxford UP, 2006).

* George Menz, “’Useful Gastarbeiter, burdensome asylum seekers, and the second wave of welfare retrenchment: Exploring the nexus between migration and the welfare state.” Pp. 393-418 in Craig A. Parsons and Timothy M. Smeeding, eds., Immigration and the Transformation of Europe (Cambridge UP 2006).

* Fadela Amara, “From Neighborhood to Ghetto,” (2006).

November 3: Racism, Right-Wing Parties, and the Policy Response

* Meindert Fennema, “Populist Parties of the Right,” (2005).

* Michele Lamont, “Immigration and the Salience of Racial Boundaries among French Workers,” 2002.

* Erik Bleich, “Antiracism without Races: Politics and Policy in a ‘Color-Blind’ State,” French Politics, Culture & Society 18, 3, Fall 2000: 48-74.

* Paul Statham, “Understanding Anti-Asylum Rhetoric: Restrictive Politics or Racist Publics?” The Political Quarterly (August 2003): 163-77.

* Folder of articles about Geert Wilders in the Netherlands:

SECOND PAPER DUE TUESDAY NOVEMBER 9.

Islam in Western Europe: Conflicts and Debates

November 10: Security, Terrorism and the Rise of Islamophobia

* Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations.”

*Justin Vaisse, “Eurabian Follies.”

* Erik Bleich, “State Responses to ‘Muslim’ Violence: A Comparison of Six West European Countries,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2009), 361-79.

* European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, “Muslims in the European

Union: Discrimination and Islamophobia,” (2006). This is a huge report, read only pp. 60-6, and look through country examples of Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, UK.

* Matti Bunzl, “Between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” 2005.

* Kenan Malik, “Islamophobia Myth.” Prospect. January 20, 2005.

November 17: Sexual Politics and the Headscarf Debates

Christian Joppke, Veil (2009).

* Folder of articles about headscarf/burqa/niqab bans

November 24: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY; NO CLASS.

December 1: The Demise of the Dutch Model of Accommodation?

Ian Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam (2006).

TUESDAY December 7: Freedom of speech and the Danish Cartoon Controversy

Note: this class will be held on the official make-up day in a location TBA.

Klausen, The Cartoons the Shook the World (2009).

* Hitchens, Christopher. The Case for Mocking Religion. Slate, Feb 4, 2006.

* Patricia Cohen, “Yale Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book,” New York Times, August 12, 2009

LAST PAPER DUE: DATE TBA.

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