Immigration, Boundaries, and Borders
Contributor: Jorge Zeballos
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The purpose of Immigration: Boundaries, and Borders Module is to:
- Understand the history of immigration policy in the United States and its effect on structural relationships
- Develop a critical lens to see how power and economics shape policy and law
- Recognize that policy and law are historically cumulative and determine dominant norms or culture
Context/Target Audience: The focus of this module is to promote learning and dialogue about current immigration policies and practices shaped by U.S. history. Participants will explore the moral and economic implications of immigration practices that inform identity and perpetuate structural inequities. Reflective exercises, film, art and images facilitate engagement at multiple levels. This learning module is for community members, non-profit organizations, social activists, or anyone interested in critical thinking related to building a fair, equitable and vital contemporary society. **The core research and lesson was contributed by Jorge Zeballos.
Section 1: Sameness and Difference
By bringing attention to breath and the body in space, these exercises allow participants to observe that an individual’s outward identity may be imposed upon by cultural assumptions and structural racism.
Section 2: Deconstructing Film: Borders of Identity
Using examples from the film Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity, participants reflect on what determines the constructs of dominant culture and how the pressure to assimilate affects everyone.
Section 3: Immigration Timeline: How Policy and Law Affect Human Rights
Policy and social paradigms often play a “chicken and egg” scenario, where public opinion may precede law or follow it.
Section 4: Analyzing Images: Icons of Resistance
Art often reflects the unspoken. In the United States, there is a disconnect between how we are taught to conceive of justice and freedom and how those ideas play out in government policy and personal rights.
Section 5: Wisdom Story: The Culture of Truth
Humans ebb from one place and flow into others. It is through communal understanding and love that we are able to support one another in our search for “home”.
Section 6: Action Steps and Resources
Here World Trust has gathered resources to support social justice networks in taking action.
