Harvest of Empire Talk

UNC Charlotte's Office of International Programs is sponsoring a documentary series on immigration from Latin America, using Harvest of Empire to generate discussion. Different parts of it will be shown each week. On Monday I will be leading the segment on Cuba.

I've been watching the video and really like it because it fits so well with both my Latino immigration class and my U.S.-Latin American relations class. I always try to help students understand the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and people's decision to migrate. They bound together very tightly. In the case of Cuba, you need to start with U.S. policy in the 19th century, otherwise you cannot understand the causal mechanisms at work.

The documentary is graphic and sometimes depressing, as it needs to be. I hope a lot of students attend at least one of the segments.