This course offers a critical introduction to postindustrial cities in the Great Lakes region, which we colloquially call the Rust Belt, through the optics of immigration. By reading a range of anthropological, historical, and urban studies texts about cities from Detroit to Kenosha to Toronto, we will trace the socio-economic and political shifts these places have gone through since the 1960s. The course will also pay close attention to mid-size manufacturing cities of the past that are now emerging as “immigrant/refugee-friendly” or “sanctuary” cities.

What does it mean for a city like Buffalo in Upstate New York to resettle more refugees than traditional immigrant gateway cities like New York? How are Burmese and Bhutanese refugees, the new members of Asian America faring in long-neglected postindustrial cities they now call home? And in the current Islamophobic climate, what does it mean for a city like Hamtramck, Michigan to be dubbed the “first Muslim majority city in the United States”? We will explore these questions through concepts like organized abandonment, predatory inclusion, austerity urbanism, nativism, and so on to examine how immigrants navigate, contest, and inherit the Rust Belt’s uneven development, structural violence, and systemic racism.

Course Requirements:

In addition to weekly in-class participation, students are required to do a mid-term, a final research paper, and a series of reading responses throughout the semester.

Intended Audience:

Undergraduate students interested in gaining a critical understanding of the Rust Belt.