Women,Gender,Sexuality Studies 293S - S-Immigration & Settler Colnsm

Recently, we have seen an upsurge in attention to, and activism around, immigration in and to the United States. At pro-immigration rallies, rhetoric of "We are all immigrants" are paired with singing "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land." But are we all immigrants? And whose land is this actually? This course will pair a feminist study of immigration with theories of settler-colonialism; that is, the study of North America as Indigenous land settled by (predominantly European) colonizers. Questions asked in the course include: How are feminists engaging with questions of immigration and dispossession? What are different theories of colonialism? When are immigrant and Native movements in conflict, and when do they work together? We will read scholarly texts, news sources, and social movement literature. With growing and ongoing struggles around both immigration and Native justice, we will also study contemporary activism, especially in the Pioneer Valley.