Professor Anand Yang introduces focus of study - narratives of Indian indentured labor 1st person narratives UW Jackson School

Prof. Gruesz argues that linear narrative does not capture the immigrant experience and that non-narrative methodology is better at capturing more fully this experience UW Jackson School

Prof. Gruesz highlights the work of Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera as an example of this type non-narrative description. UW Jackson School

Prof. Gruesz Non-prose modality is akin to visual art in capturing the essence of the migrant experience UW Jackson School

Profs Weise and Schneck "Being in Translation: Negotiating Migration" UW Jackson School

Messages between migrant works in South African mines to families back in Nyasaland/Malawi went through several stages of translation including language and written to oral UW Jackson School

Due to the fact that the mine operator was also the transmitter of messages between laborer and families, and had a vested interest in retaining existing workers as well as recruiting new ones there is question as to the acuaracy of the messages transmitted. UW Jackson School

Prof Schneck describes the "translation" of the experience of asylum seekers through immigration officers to a final decision and how that can change if "translated" further through legal representation. UW Jackson School

Prof. Weise argues that the migrants gains agency to translate their experience whereas the family members remaining lose agency. UW Jackson School

Can the semiotics as experienced by a migrant which are shaped by their lived experience ever be successfully mapped to someone else? The more the receiver's experience diverges the harder it is to map from one to the other. UW Jackson School

At what level does "narrative" function. At one extreme is factual data transfer - lists, datasets, etc - and the other is the transmission of emotion, and the modality used is determined by where on this continuum the transmitter the information transmission is occurring UW Jackson School

Debating how narrative is shaped by the branch of science - humanities vs social sciences. UW Jackson School

Translating "integration" Profs Ramirez & Rass UW Jackson School

"Integration" is a 2-way process Ethnoracial and nationalist self perception impede integration. UW Jackson School

30% of foreign born residents of the USA are without legal status. Those with a legal status receive little assistance to integrate. UW Jackson School

"Integration" as a counterpoint to "segregation" which a US context, while "assimilation" is code for "civilizing" as in dealing with Native Americans vs euro-centric US society. UW Jackson School

Prof Rass - "integration" as defined in Germany with requirements to learn German and internalize Germans laws and social norms. UW Jackson School

Prof. Rass' description of "integration" sounds closer to "assimilation" by having the migrant become German as oppsed to the 2-way interchange "integration" as experienced in the US. UW Jackson School

Those willing to assimilate by essentially renouncing their natal culture would be welcomed to German society, whereas those who did not, where viewed as temporary "guest" workers and were expected at some point to return to country of origin. UW Jackson School

"Assimilation" is a counterpoint to "multiculturalism" The German understanding of "integration" is shaped and by the interwar and Nazi period and keeps re-influencing by importation of the "American example" UW Jackson School