Reflections

I'm not going to lie, I came into this class thinking that I had a solid, foundational understanding of the concepts of race, labor, and migration, and the close relationships between them. However, this knowledge was rudimentary at best, with very little scholarly work behind it. I came into this class wanting to learn about these concepts within an academic structure, and I have not been disappointed. While this is kind of knowledge (experiential, listening to oral histories of my peers/family/friends/etc) carries just as much weight as scholarly, peer-reviewed work, it was great to have historical background reading to help place my "anecdotal" knowledge within a historical milieu. The writings by Hortense Spillers and Mae Ngai, as well as the reprints of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Angelo Hearden's works really resonated with me and I enjoyed them very much. I really appreciate my expanded knowledge of these concepts and their historical contexts as conveyed through both the primary and secondary readings for this class. In addition, the balance of and emphasis on both academic articles and fictional work helped make this class more enriching for me. This class has been a great confirmation of how little I knew (and how much I have yet to learn), which is the best kind of learning experience one can have.