You should respond to each question separately. Your answers should address the prompt with a thoughtful and developed argument that is supported by specific quotes/examples from class readings and/or theories/ideas/topics discussed in class. Your response to each question should be 1-2 pages (double-spaced, 12 Times New Roman, 1-inch margins).  

Your work should strike a nice balance between being both comprehensive and in-depth. Pay close attention to the questions, especially concerning what you should answer (i.e., required to answer) and what you merely could consider (i.e., strongly recommended for a good response) when constructing your answer. Also keep in mind the page limitations, which encourage you to get straight to your argument.

1) American Dream   

Recent popular and political discourses debate whether the American Dream is “dead” or is a reality only for some groups. However, Lawrence Samuel writes in The American Dream: A Cultural History, that the most significant thing about the American Dream is that it isn’t real; instead sometimes the idea of something (true or not) can be more much more powerful than the actual thing itself.

You are asked to think about how and in what ways the American Dream is a powerful ideology that shapes the immigrant experience. Using the various definitions (hint: consider more than one!) of the American Dream and notions of freedoms that we came across in our readings and class discussion, you should answer the following question: How does the American Dream both empower and disempower immigrants trying to attain it? For example, you could consider to what extent the idea of the American Dream is used to influence American society as a motivator for immigrants, as a cause for immigration (in the form of neoliberal policies), or creating/limiting possibilities for the expression of identity. In your response, be sure to draw on class discussion and sources (specific references, i.e. quotes with page numbers, are not required since this is an exam, but you should reference specific examples).

 2) Race

Using examples from the texts and in-class discussion, answer: What is “race”, how was the concept of race developed over the history of American immigration, and how has “race” persisted and been reproduced in the US over time? In your answer you should consider the relationship between “race,” class, and assimilation. You could also consider the difference between race and ethnicity as well as the roles of everyday racism (such as experiences of discrimination), structural/institutional racism (like citizenship or housing policies), or so-called “anti-racism” (like color blind ideologies or multiculturalism).  In your response, be sure to draw on class discussion and sources (specific references, .ie. quotes with page numbers, are not required since this is an exam, but you should have specific examples).