Course Syllabus

Winter 2023
CHSTU 405 Advanced Chicano Studies in Social Science
SOC 401 Special Topics in Sociology

Course Title: "Latinx Bodies, Migration, Technology and Power"

Professor:       Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky, Associate Professor (info about meLinks to an external site.)
                          in American Ethnic Studies & Adjunct Associate Professor in Dept of Sociology
Meetings:       TuTh  3:30-5:20pm in Denny 256
Email:              cpt4@uw.edu
Off Hours:      Wednesday, 2-3pm and by individual appointment                                      

Syllabus

Description:  This seminar is a sociological examination of the Latinx body as a central location from which to examine the relationship across labor, technology and migration. How are Latinx bodies used AND how do Latinxs use their own bodies in the development of labor, technology and migration? The concepts of digitizing migrant identities and surveillance capitalism will serve as the context for talking about technology, surveillance, labor, race, resistance and self-expression. Some of the topics we’ll explore are: changing technology in workplaces, immigration courts, border and security practices, identity documents, humanitarian technology, and social media, just to name a few. 

A basic familiarity with discourses in race, ethnicity, and gender as well as studies in labor, inequality and globalization is helpful, though not required. You should be prepared to read supplementary material that will support your grasp of the material. Course readings are interdisciplinary from Latinx studies, sociology, anthropology, ethnic and critical race studies, history and socio-legal studies.

This is a seminar, which is an advanced upper-division course. Students should be prepared to participate and facilitate discussion working with your peers and me in every meeting; complete readings and assess them analytically in writing and during class discussions; and conduct independent research for a final research project.