SPA 212 Migration Waves Research Project

We started by looking at traces of other cultures around us and discussed reasons for migration. Now we are going to look at migration waves that have in some way affected places around the Spanish-speaking world. As we do this, you will choose one migration wave to research more deeply as the unit project.

Content

You choose a migration wave to study that involves a Spanish-speaking area (i.e., people migrate into or out of a Spanish-speaking place.) You will read about some examples in upcoming weeks. Some other possibilities include:

These are just some ideas. As long as your migration includes a Spanish-speaking area/group, you’re fine. If you’re unsure, email me with your idea.

In Semana 12, you will find instructions for telling me which migration wave you have chosen.

Once you choose the migration wave to study, you should focus on answering the following questions:

  1. Who migrated? From where to where?
  2. When did this occur?
  3. What are 1-2 factors* that pushed the migration wave from the origin country?
  4. What are 1-2 factors* that pulled the migration wave into the destination area?
  5. What are 1-2 impacts* that the immigrant population has had on the destination? These can be cultural, political, social, environmental, etc. Below are some guiding questions to help you research – you should not try to answer all of these:
    What cultural traces can be seen, or what did the immigrant group(s) bring to the destination? (Some examples are food, dance, festivals, holidays, language.)
    How did the native population respond to the immigrant group(s)?
    Did the migration result in new or changed social services in the destination area?

*Choose 1-2 of the greatest push and pull factors and impacts instead of trying to cover a long list.

Format

You will write a 2-3 page paper, in Spanish, providing the information you learned about the migration wave. Your paper must:

What!? A research paper!

Ok, so if this was your reaction, please take a deep breath! This is not a long paper. If you find some information for each of the questions above, you will easily hit the length expectation. What you will need to focus on, though, is getting some detailed information to include that is particular to the group you choose. You don’t want the paper to be so general that I could change the name of the migrant group and it still fit. You need to include examples from the migrant group and/or destination so that it tells us about that particular migration wave.

Submission

The paper is due on Monday, November 22 (and accepted through Monday, November 29.) You will submit the final paper under Assignments in Sakai.

Works cited

I would expect you to use at least 3 sources for this project. Your sources can be in any language.

Citations should be in MLA format. The Durham Tech library has a Citation Help page (URL: https://www.durhamtech.edu/library/citation-help) where you can find a guide to using MLA. I want you to use MLA format, but I am not extremely picky. If you miss a comma or don’t have the source listed exactly correctly, it’s ok. I do want to see an effort being made to follow the guidelines though.

Academic Honesty notice

The information you present needs to be written in your own words. Any quote you choose to use from research sources need to be quoted properly. My suggestion is to read the source and take notes; then when you’re ready to write, close or look away from the source while you write. This will help keep you from copying the sentences.

Also, do not use an online translator for any part of this work. You can use an online dictionary, www.wordreference.com, but you should not be typing phrases into a translator. If you are feeling the need to translate, you may be trying to write a sentence you’re not ready for (or one that doesn’t translate very directly into English well). Try to reword your sentence in a more direct or simpler way.

Any evidence of plagiarism or online translator use will result in an Academic Honesty violation notice. If you have any questions about what’s acceptable or not, please ask before completing the assignment.

Grading

The paper will be graded using the following rubric. I strongly recommend you read the rubric before writing so you know how the grade is being evaluated.