writing two essays

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Part 1 of the midterm exam consists of two short essays.

Choose two of the following four questions and write essays based on them. Each short essay should not be more than two/three pages (doubled-spaced). Each essay is worth 35 points (the entire exam is worth 100 points).

The due date is Wednesday, March 25 at 11:59pm. Please submit each of your essays by clicking on the “Submit Your Second Midterm Exam Part 1 Short Essay #1 and #2” links on the “Assignments” page.

1) Describe the differences and similarities between assimilation, ethnic pluralism, and transnationalism for immigrants. Which do you think is the best way for immigrants to adapt to the host society and why?

2) Do the benefits of migration outweigh the costs of migration for women? In other words, do women have more to gain or more to lose from migration (for instance, compared to men)? You can think about this issue in terms of the causes of migration, the relative difficulty/ease of migrating for women, the occupational and economic status of women migrants in the host society, or the impact of migration on women’s gender and social status within the family/household.

3) Discuss how either refugees or diasporic migrants are different from or similar to the “ordinary” labor/economic migrants that we have examined for most of the course so far (your essay should analyze either refugees or diasporas, but not both). How might refugees or diasporic migrants face transnationalism and identity issues or settlement/citizenship rights differently (or similarly) to economic immigrants? (you don’t have to cover all these issues—choose a couple of them to discuss)

4) Human Rights Watch, a global NGO (Non-Government Organization), has concluded that the human rights situation for immigrant workers in many countries is not very good. You have been asked to therefore write a brief report recommending ways in which immigrant rights can be better protected. What sorts of immigration and citizenship policies do you recommend that governments adopt to improve the human rights situation for immigrants? Should action be taken at the national or international level?