Making Sense of Cultural Migration

Assignment Parameters:
Must be at least 8-10 typed, double spaced pages in length.
Use APA format to cite articles you discuss in this paper.
Interview someone you know (a co-worker, friend, family member) who has migrated from a cultural “home” to a different country (a new “home” or “host” or “diasporic site”). This interview should be about 45-60 minutes long and will be used for our “Making Sense of Cultural Migration” Paper.
Follow the steps and parameters below:
Identifying a Potential Interviewee:
Select an individual you know (a co-worker, friend, family member) who has migrated from a cultural “home” to a different country (a new “home” or “host” or “diasporic site”).
Ask if you could interview them in person, by phone, or Skype (depending on their location and schedule) for 45-60 minutes.
Inform this individual that this interview is informal and merely for a class assignment (you can share the information about the class if needed).
Conducting the Interview:
Bring/use a notebook to record the interviewees’ answers. I recommend not videotaping or audio recording the interview so as to honor the interviewees’ right to privacy and confidentiality.
You do not need to share the “name of your interviewee” if that individual remains to be anonymous – ask the interviewee about this (and have them choose their own pseudonym or ‘fictitious name’).
Pose the following questions to the interviewee:
What is the interviewee’s cultural background?
Where is she/he/they from? Which country and or culture? Ask for specifics.
When did she/he/they migrate? From where to where?
What were the reasons for the migration or move?
What larger factors were at play in her/his/their migration?
How did she/he/they feel about migrating?
What did she/he/they expect in the new site of settlement (“host”)?
What were her/his/their fears and or concerns if any?
How was the experience of migrating? How does the interviewee describe such a migration?
How did this migration impact her/his/their cultural identity and how she/he/they saw “home” and where she/he/they feel she/he/they belong(s)?
What kind of migrant was the interviewee?
What was the social, political, historical, and economic context in which she/he/they migrated to another country? How did the context shape her/his/their experience?
Did the interviewee migrate to other countries?
How was the interviewee treated in her/his/their “host” country? Was the interviewee accepted by members of the host culture? By their own cultural counterparts at home and or in the host culture?
Take notes to the questions above and use these for the analysis for the sections below:
This assignment includes the following sections (in this specific order):
THROUGHOUT YOUR PAPER, REFER TO AND DISCUSS COURSE CONCEPTS AND READINGS FOR SUPPORT [Use Sorrells’ textbook Chapter 6, Siu (PDF) Article; Chow (PDF) Article! See the references down below and in the Module #6 Area.]
A) Description of Your Interviewee: Describe your interviewee and her/his/their cultural background. Provide specifics about the person (if the interviewee prefers anonymity, create a fictitious name). Present your reasons for selecting this individual for this assignment. Also, describe how you know this interviewee and where the interview took place. (1 page)
B) The Interviewee’s Migration Story/Narrative: Describe the overall story of your interviewee’s migration experience. What did you find out? What was the nature of that migration experience? What surprised you about this narrative? What key insights about global migration arose during the interview? (2-3 pages)
C) Identifying the Interviewee’s Type of Global Migration: Explain the type of global migration that your interviewee experienced and what kind of “migrant” she/he/they is/are: voluntary, involuntary, sojourner, immigrant, refugee, guest worker, transmigrant, postcolonial migrant, internally displaced persons, contract workers, high- and low-skilled laborers). Use the following questions to guide you:
Why do think that is the case?
What key features or factors about your interviewee’s migration experience led to your identification of the type of global migration and the type of migrant she/he/they is/are.
D) Applying Theories of Global Migration To The Interviewee’s Migration Experience: Apply the most insightful theories — micro, meso, or macro – of global migration from Sorrells’ textbook Chapter 6, pp. 133-139 — that best explain your interviewee’s migration experience. Use the following questions to guide you:
Which theory (or theories) best explain your interviewee’s migration experience? How so? Explain. Why those theories?
What is not explained about the interviewee’s migration experience by those theories?
Which theories are the most useful to explain or account for the complexities of global migration overall? Present your case.
E) Concluding Thoughts: Share the most important insights that you have gained from this interview for this assignment and the material from this Module/Unit #6 on Roots/Routes and Global Migration. To what extent did you change or rethink any previous framings that you had about migration or immigration? What should we keep in mind in this world about global migration moving forward?
APA Reference Citations for the Reading In This Module:
Chow, Y. F. (2011). Moving, sensing intersectionality: A case study of Miss China Europe. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 36(2), 411-436.
Siu, L. C. (2005). Queen of the Chinese colony: Gender, nation, and belonging in diaspora. Anthropological Quarterly, 78(3), 511-542.
My Criteria: Below is a list of what I am looking for in this assignment:
*Description: Elaborate, particularized description of your interviewee’s migration narrative and insights.
*Analysis: Thorough and thought-provoking analysis of your interviewee’s migration narrative/story and all of the sections for the assignment (A-E). Deep analysis should a) incorporate and discuss course concepts/readings/exercises in relation to the notions of global migration, culture, identity, belonging and b) continually answer the How (i.e., How concepts are related to one another?) and Why(i.e., What are the reasons for this ____?) in this assignment.
*Going Beyond The Surface: Moving beyond just cutting and pasting concepts onto your encounter tothoroughly examining the assumptions behind concepts/statements (exploring the hidden, deeper, and complex issues). Create unique arguments (ones not merely offered in class or the readings) that display how you have independently re-thought this material.
.*Writing Excellence: Shows mastery of writing competence in terms of grammar, spelling, and sentence construction as well as writing organization.

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