reflections

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was familiar with the topics or themes solely based off of the course title,race, labor and migration, but my knowledge of these topics were limited and based on one other college course, high school history classes, personal experiences or word of mouth. Ferguson and the many happenings it has sparked has contextualized the course material to a very (and an unfortunately) real degree, real in that the course material remains important, real in that it remains relevant.

This course has helped me understand that the construction of this country has been built on the migrant laborers, the colonized, the displaced—that this country's foundation is credited to the millions of people who continue to be racialized and therefore, marginalized. This is just one of the many "aha" moments that have clicked and that have clicked so easily at that—the course provided a comfortable, easy setting where discussion rendered an understanding of key concepts more accessible than a top-down, professor-to-student approach.

This course has also helped further my personal interest and future research on constructions of identity within this country, factored strongly by racial, labor, and/or migratory conditions. I've come to understand how these identities have been constructed and then ascribed to the marginalized by the white, capitalist institution, the oppressor. All in all, I leave with an immense gratitude. This course has made me grow as both a critical thinker and a privileged citizen, as the knowledge I've gained has helped me keep an open eye to the injustices of this county, past, current and continuing.