Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2016 - HIST 486 D100

Studies in History II (4)

Borders/Borderlands in N.A.

Class Number: 5857

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 11, 2016: Wed, 9:30 a.m.–1:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units including nine units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Special topics.

COURSE DETAILS:

Borders and Borderlands in North America

The crossing of national borders has become increasingly regulated in a post 9/11 world, even as goods of various kinds move across them with a facility that could not have been imagined in the past. With the boundaries that transect the continent of North America as our primary focus, we will consider the power of shared national borders to divide and to connect, to define and to exclude, at various stages in the history of Canada, the United States and northern Mexico. What does a focus on borders and borderlands history reveal that a singular focus on national history may obscure? How have the 49th parallel and the U.S.-Mexico border been imagined in popular culture and film, and how has this shaped what they signify and the ways each has been managed? How does the power of borders vary depending on where one is positioned in relation to them and what role does gender or class play in determining who may readily cross? And finally, how have recent border and borderlands histories complicated our understanding both of ways in which national borders function and key moments in Canadian, U.S. or Mexican history? Specific topics to be addressed include the racialization and medicalization of the Canada-U.S. and U.S.-Mexico borders; their environmental and economic impact; indigenous rights in relation to these borders; the Pacific as borderland; the impact of immigration law and policy and its enforcement over time; and efforts to avoid or subvert constraints that exclusion laws have imposed on movement across international borders at different moments in history.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

This is a history course designed to help students develop a critical understanding of both border and borderlands histories in North America and of comparative and transnational methodologies. This course will also provide students with an opportunity to hone their ability to critically evaluate historical evidence and scholarly arguments, and to develop scholarly arguments of their own.

Grading

  • Participation 20%
  • Presentation & Outline 20%
  • Readings Analyses 40%
  • Book Review Essay & Presentation 20%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Benjamin H. Johnson and Andrew R. Graybill, eds. Bridging National Borders in North America: Transnational and Comparative Histories (Duke University Press, 2010).  

Assigned articles and materials available through SFU Electronic Journals and Canvas.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS