2008
Maria Cristina Garcia
Professor
Department of History
The service-learning course “Immigration” (HIST 485) introduces undergraduate
students to the history of immigration to the United States since 1965; the immigration
and refugee policies that have facilitated the entry of various groups; contemporary
debates about immigration control; the transnational ties of immigrants to their
homelands; guest workers programs; and the special needs of today’s immigrant
populations.
An essential component of the course is the service project where students can
work with a variety of local agencies and organizations that address the needs
of the immigrant and refugee populations of Tompkins County. The course was first
offered in the fall of 2007. The Kaplan Family Fellowship will help further develop
the course. In the fall of 2008, for example, interested students will have the
opportunity to participate in a new oral history project that documents the experiences
of first generation immigrants in the local area. Students will also take part
in at least one field trip: to the Batavia Detention Facility outside of Buffalo,
New York, and to the Immigration Court in Batavia. The fellowship will be used
to purchase films, books, recording and transcribing equipment, and video recording
equipment.
Maria Cristina Garcia earned her BA in American Studies from Georgetown University
and her MA and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She taught at Texas
A&M for nine years before joining the faculty of the History department at
Cornell University in 1999. Garcia teaches courses on 20th century US history,
immigration history, Latino Studies, and Cuban history. She is the author of Havana
USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida (1996) and Seeking Refuge:
Central American migration to Mexico, the United States, and Canada (2006), both
published by the University of California Press. She is also the author of several
articles and book chapters on immigration history, and serves on the editorial
board of several journals including the Journal of American History and Cuban
Studies/Estudios Cubanos.
