In this course we examine transnational migration and its effects on communities in the United States and Latin America. We will focus on transnational communities that span the United States and the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. I have selected three books. The Transnational Villagers is a theoretically rigorous monograph written by sociologist Peggy Levitt about transnational politics, culture, and family in the Dominican Republic and Boston. Enrique’s Journey, written by Los Angeles Times journalist Sonia Nazario, explores the hardship of transnational love by telling the story of a child in Honduras trying to reunite with his immigrant mother in the United States. Translation Nation, by Hector Tobar, another Los Angeles Times journalist, examines how immigrants are creating a new America.
We will use Whittier and Los Angeles as settings for studying urban spatial and social organization and for examining the ways these forms of organization reflect and express both their broader context and the politics of “planning.” We shall pay special attention to housing (design, policy, gentrification, and homelessness and its services); to transportation in relation to housing; and to the design and uses of “public space.” We will attempt to locate our understanding of the local expressions of these issues within broader processes of “global” organization and change.