The presentation begins with two quiz questions

Summary

The presentation begins with two quiz questions concerning Alicia Schmidt’s claims regarding Freud’s concept of melancholy and how this concept can be applied in the analysis of Mexican Immigrants. The question also mentions the need to explain the concept using specific examples from the chapter covering Alicia Schmidt’s work. The second quiz question requires an explanation of Laura Deeb’s main argument as pertaining to feminist organizing and religion.

The second slide discusses migrant melancholia, and begins by providing a definition of who according to Sigmund Freud, could be considered a melancholic person. Freud, describes a melancholic person, as an individual who refuses to acknowledge loss, hence is unable to overcome their psychic burden of loss. The slide proceeds to highlight how Alicia Schmidt links border crossing by immigrants to melancholia; as the immigrants invest desires to return with political significance. Schmidt posits that to immigrants belonging would simply mean being a part of the American dream, in terms of citizenship, as well as being able to express their cultural identity freely. According to the presentation, what the “law” means to migrants is captured on pages 578 and 579. Slide 3 contains a picture depicting migrant slaves engaged as cheap labor in the textile industry, and a migrant running from the law. According to the pages, migrants seem to regard attaining citizenship as the most important step to belonging, although they seem to be of the opinion that the law deliberately stands in their way in the quest for citizenship.

Slide 4 introduces the term orientalism, defining it as a term that is used to describe the prejudicial and imperialistic notions of the East commonly painted by the West in the 19^th and 18^th Centuries. The ideology exceptionalizes Western religions and cultures, while depictin.............