POL 3220 Migration, Globalization and Social Change Spanish Language, Liberal Arts & Environmental Sciences Program Spring 2018 Winter Semester - San Jose

This class studies the different type of migrants during Globalization, the construction of migrants as others, the management of their image by media, the different forms in which migrants interact with the local culture (its dynamics and results), and elements pertaining human rights and citizenship in the cases of immigrants.

The class starts with a general introduction to the subjects of otherness and exclusion, and the way in which not being like 'the majority' in/of Society - or what it expects its members to be- creates a dynamic of exclusion. We will look briefly at the ways this has been demonstrated in other moments and places in history. The analyses of otherness and exclusion will be oriented in this direction.

The class will continue to study on attitudes of xenophobia towards migrants, mainly towards Nicaraguan inhabitants in Costa Rica; and a political, social and economic analysis of the situation of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica and how it differs with other migrants in Costa Rica. The class will close with an attempt to compare the studied situation with the case of migrants in the United States.