--GC Wk2 Watch Video: Extranjeras (Foreign Women [in Spain]) (74 min.)

VIDEO EXPLORATIONS . . .

Real People . . . Real Places . . .

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES:

• • • • This week we're off to Spain, and Portugal.  In Spain we visit with Anna and Kamila Polonia, and other "Extranjeras"--"Foreign Women"--immigrants to Spain. Immigration remains one of the major issues in most of the European countries, as it is in the U.S.A. and elsewhere around the world.
      • Immigration and asylum seeking became a dominating political issue in Europe around 2015, and that heated concern continues in many places through to present day. Immigration problems remain one of the major issues globally, especially those related to illegal/undocumented and war-conflict immigrants. Similar concerns remain contentious in the U.S.A. In the last few years immigration issues have paid a major role in toppling several governments.
      • Whether you are party to them or not, debates and diatribes over emigration and immigration have changed the political landscapes that many of us—maybe even most of us—were born into.
      • The free movement of people in the European Union (EU) is one of four basic rights guaranteed by the EU charter. “There were over 37.7 million foreigners in EU and EFTA [European Free Trade Association] countries in 2015—8% of the total population. More than 45% of these foreigners were from an EU or EFTA state” (“Which European countries attract the most immigrants?” Links to an external site. swissinfo.ch, 5 December 2017).
      • Both the disciplined debates and vitriolic protests over emigration and immigration will likely continue in the foreseeable future.
      • Note that the video Extranjeras [Foreign Women] was released in 2005, before "Europe's migrant crisis" escalated. Use that as a "baseline" for discussing changes in immigration in Spain (and elsewhere, if appropriate).

TASKS:

• • • • Watch the film and focus on one of the major virtually global concerns, by having a look at real people in real places, viz. Spain. Try to understand some of the human dimensions of modern-day emigration and immigration.
      • The Video presents a fascinating exploration into the lives of women who immigrated to Spain. While watching, Note that the video Extranjeras [Foreign Women] was released in 2005, before "Europe's migrant crisis" escalated. Use that as a "baseline" for discussing changes in immigration in Spain (and elsewhere, if appropriate).

Discover . . .

• • • • What are emigrants and immigrants like? What do they do? What kind of lives do they live? What makes them laugh? Cry? Angry? Sad? Worried? And what do neighbors and governments do about them?
      • Learn about the least known and most typical aspects of other cultures through the experience of various immigrant women living in Madrid. We see these women's everyday existence--their family environments, how they live and what they work at. We are given the chance to know what happens to their dreams, and where their affections lie. We also discover the new places they have created in order to meet and exchange."
      • Worldwide questions of emigration and immigration are among key interests for governments and individuals. Opposition to particular immigrant groups, and immigration in general, has become a major issue in both local and world politics today, perhaps second only to the climate change crisis, and "globalization," as a driver of both informed and uninformed discourse, and cognizant and unapprised government policy and debate. And the on-going war in the Ukraine has severely amplified the problem.
      • Write down questions you have as they come up (that is take "fieldnotes" and do "freelisting").
        • Information on Freelisting
          
          

CRITERIA:

• • • Grading Note: You will receive points for submitting a question for the exam later in Week 5 within the Submit Midterm Exam Question Discussion.
      • The Midterm Exam Question Pool will contain at least one question on this video.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• • • A Note on Videos and Visual Anthropology
    • Videos for the Semester
    • Additional on-line information: course viewing guide