Eleanor Roosevelt College

Minor in International Migration Studies (IMS)

Offered by Eleanor Roosevelt College

This minor program is the first undergraduate instructional program with this focus to be offered at any university in the United States. The minor will give students an in-depth understanding of the causes, politics, and social consequences of international migration from a broad comparative perspective. This program of study helps to prepare students for a career in research and teaching, immigrant service-providing organizations, government agencies, or law to name a few. The unique research and writing opportunities offered by this minor also make it excellent preparation for graduate school.

The minor is interdisciplinary in content and method. It covers a wide range of topics, including the economic, cultural, demographic, and political impacts of immigration; laws and government policies for controlling immigration and refugee flows, and the outcomes of these laws and policies; ethnic, gender, citizenship, and transnational dimensions of immigration; the integration of immigrant and ethnic minorities; and immigrant history and literature. Students learn about other countries of immigration (especially in Western Europe and East Asia) in order to place the U.S. experience in comparative perspective.


REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR:

The Minor consists of seven courses (28 units). The requirements can be fulfilled by courses at the lower and upper division levels drawn from various departments or a combination of course work and either field research in immigrant communities or internships with local immigrant service organizations. All courses must be taken for letter grades.

(1) One lower-division course from the following list is required. These courses provide background for understanding immigration to the United States and an appreciation of the ethnic and cultural diversity that immigrants have created. Other courses with similar content may be considered, by petition, to satisfy this requirement.

  • Anthropology LD 23. Debating Multiculturalism: Race, Ethnicity, & Class in American Societies (4)
  • Ethnic Studies 1A. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Population Histories of the United States (4)
  • Ethnic Studies 1B. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Immigration & Assimilation in American Life (4)
  • History LD 7A. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (4)
  • History LD 7B. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (4)
  • History LD 7C. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (4)
  • Political Science 40. Introduction to Law and Society (4)

(2) One upper-division immigration course using a comparative, cross-national approach is required from the following list. These courses provide a broad perspective on the social, economic, and political aspects of immigration and expose students to the experiences of countries of immigration other than the United States.

  • Political Science 150A: The Politics of Immigration--The U.S. in Comparative Perspective (4)
  • Sociology B 125: Sociology of Immigration (4)

(3) Students complete the minor (20 more required units) by pursuing one of three separate tracks:

TRACK A: COURSE WORK

After completing (1) and (2) above, students can choose to take five additional courses from our list of approved courses, four of which must be upper division. These courses provide in-depth coverage of specialized topics in immigration studies.  Students in the coursework track may not take more than a total of four courses from any one department for this minor.

Study Abroad:

Because of the international nature of the minor, students will be allowed to complete up to three courses (12 units) of their minor requirements through study abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Mexico, countries where immigration studies programs are now well-established.

Students taking this minor are encouraged (not required) to attend the biweekly seminars hosted by the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, in which UCSD faculty, CCIS visiting research fellows, and non-local immigration experts present their most recent research. These seminars are held throughout the academic year in the conference room on the ground floor of the ERC Academic Administration Building; for directions, click here.

TRACK B: IDEPENDENT RESEARCH OR INTERNSHIP

Students choosing this track will receive intensive training through academic internships in a local immigrant/refugee service-providing organization or conduct independent research in the area.


(1) Independent Field Research
Students who choose this option are required to take one upper-division research methods course from the following:

ETHN 190. Studying Racial and Ethnic Communities
SOC 104. Field Research-Participant Observation
SOC 108A. Survey Research Design

Students will complete the remaining sixteen units of the research track for this minor through a combination of courses from the list under Track A and by completing one or two "199: Independent Studies" courses (four units each), in order to pursue a field research project with a faculty member. They will be required to conduct field research in a local immigrant community and write a substantial research paper based on this fieldwork.

(2) Internship
Students who choose this option are required to take one upper-division research methods course from the following:

ETHN 190. Studying Racial and Ethnic Communities
SOC 104. Field Research-Participant Observation
SOC 108A. Survey Research Design

Students will then do an internship in a nongovernmental organization or government agency that serves immigrants or refugees in the San Diego area. Internships for up to eight units will be arranged by the Academic Internship Program (AIP). The remaining units needed to complete the minor will consist of courses from the list under Track A.


 TRACK C: FIELD RESEARCHMinor in Migration Studies

Students choosing this track will receive intensive training in field research methods appropriate for studying international migration and then conduct field research in immigrant communities. All students interested in the field research track must apply separately to the Mexican Migration Field Research Program (MMFRP). See resources below for more information.

Field Research Methods, Practicum, and Data Analysis
Students who choose this option and have been accepted to MMFRP will take the following three-course sequence:

Sociology 122A. Field Research Methods for Migration Studies (Fall Quarter)
Sociology 122B. Field Research Practicum (Winter Quarter)
Sociology 122C. Data Analysis/Write-up (Spring Quarter)

These courses provide students with field research methods training and allow them to go to Mexico for three weeks to conduct research in a rural community that sends migrant workers to the United States. They will also analyze and write-up the data that is collected. Participants must be proficient in Spanish.