Event Date:
Thursday, October 15, 2015 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Event Location:
- Lane Room
- Ellison Hall 3824
Professor Narayani Lasala-Blanco will lead a discussion entitled "The Immigration Debate: The Origins of Group Stereotypes and the Electoral Discourse on Immigration in American Politics" Click here for links to the reading by Aristide Zolberg.
Debates about immigration policies in the United States have been present during electoral campaigns since the 1700s. Zolberg argues that the sustained presence of these debates in political campaigns is related to a unique feature of the American polity: while in the majority of nation-states people came with the territory, in the United States its population is “designed” through immigration policies. The cyclical rise of arrivals perceived as significantly different from the established population, has led to “immigration crisis.” Political entrepreneurs have used these cyclical patterns to generate fears about the out group. The discussion will examine the origins and common features of present and past electoral discourse about immigration, as well as the conditions that have influenced immigrant group stereotypes.
October 7, 2015 - 11:41am