Course number: L&S 88-6
Instructor: Carl Mason

Humans are a migratory species like no other. As hunter-gatherers, humans migrated from East Africa to every currently inhabited place on earth--except for a few pacific islands and that research station in Antarctica. During modern times humans continue to migrate in astounding numbers from poor countries to rich countries; from rural to urban areas; as refugees, tourists, students and workers both with and without the consent of receiving countries.

This course will cover the small but important part of the rich history human migration that deals with the development of population of the United States--focusing on the period after the Civil War. We will use the tools of DS8 to answer specific questions that relate to the themes of this course:  

  1. The role of technology as both cause and effect of migration to and within the US.
  2. The construction of race and ethnicity and its effect on the process of immigrant assimilation
  3. How demographers use data to understand peoples' lives in both the present and the past.