Final Project step by step
MAKING “SENSES” OF MIGRATION
PICK A TOPIC ON (IM)MIGRATION THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO RESEARCH ON and think of a RESEARCH QUESTION (what discipline do you think you are going to use for your overall project?)
Visual Section
Find an image that in your mind depicts or engages with your chosen topic of (im)migration. Think of some of the issues we have been discussing in class (assimilation, language differences, political representation, immigrant foodways, identity and ethnicity).
- You will do this assignment with your final project in mind.
- You will bring the image to class and upload it on EC Learn. You have to cite where you took the image from or declare if it is a picture that you took or own.
- You will present it.
You will need to caption the image by writing a 500-word explanation of the image. Write down the historical context, what it represents and what it illustrates as a representation of a migration story (or as part of a process).
For this visual assignment you need to have 1 secondary source (meaning 1 academic article) where you got info from and cite it. Finally, you will explain why you pick this specific image and add three hashtags. You have 3 minutes. Everything needs to be uploaded on EC Learn..
Hearing and Touch Section
Just as you did for the Visual section of the project you will bring to class a sound recording as well as a tangible artifact of representation of your topic.
- This time too you will write 500 words explaining and contextualizing the topic in light of the objects you present on. Add three hashtags. You need another secondary source, and you need to cite it.
"I am doing research on a Chinese lady, Grace Zia Chu, who migrated to the United States in 1920s first, to study at Wellesley College, and later in the 1940s with her husband. She became a cook in the US and wrote several cookbooks to present Chinese culinary traditions and culture in the US. She is a symbol of adaptation, but also of political and social resistance.
If I were to do my Hearing and Touch section of the project, I would bring a recording of her voice from the 1970s and a signed copy of her first cookbook that I own. I would write about the historical background of Chinese migration in the midst of Chinese political turmoil and the consequences and agency of migrants in the world."
These would be my three hashtags: #chinesefoodways #ethnicidentity #migrantagency
Expo on senses adding Smell and Taste (in lieu of final exam)
During our final exam time (May 7th from 2:45 to 4:45), we will have a sort of potluck and public event (if allowed).
It will be the EXPO of all our “Making ‘senses’ of migration” projects. The last portion of your grade will require you to bring all the “senses” together; bring all the objects you have collected for your topic and add the last two required for the EXPO, which are “Smell and Taste.”
You will bring a dish/ingredient related to your research that you will share/or have the class-audience at least smell, if food sharing is not possible.
Imagine a potluck, but as a sensorial experience capable of explaining the research.
Each student will install his/her own rendition of their final project in the room – Visual, Hearing, Touch, Smell and Taste and three hashtags.
Final Paper and Presentation
The final paper will be a 5 to 7-page paper on the topic you have already done your sensorial research on (which you have decided by Feb. 29th). You will have to decide and explain what approach your research followed (sociological, historical, ethnographic, political, multidisciplinary).
- Brazilian migration to Boston and the development of group identity
- Implication of federal policies on the migration of minors in the US – The case of Texas
- The ethnicization of urban neighborhoods (Boston’s Chinatown yesterday and today)
- Migrants' cultures and hybridization of second generations (Colombian in Eats Boston)
Your final project will have to rely on at least 3 academic sources (books or journal articles) and other supporting data depending on your approach (census data, demographics and statistics, oral interviews, etc.).
The paper with the entire research is due before the Expo (paper due on May 2nd - Expo on May 7th).
Writing style: 12 font Times New Roman Double Spaced
Citation style: Chicago
Everyone is presenting on their final project (in class or virtually).
The paper with the entire research is due before the Expo
Writing style: 12 font Times New Roman Double Spaced
Citation style: Chicago
Everyone is presenting on their final project (in class or virtually).