【IAS】Distinguished Guest Lecture, “International Migration to the United States in the New Millennium: Policy Making, Reform, and Impacts” was successfully held
【高研院】特邀嘉賓講座：「新千年中的美國移民： 決策、改革和影響」成功舉行
高研院特邀嘉賓講座「新千年中的美國移民： 決策、改革和影響」，於12月11日在大學展館演講廳成功舉辦，本次講座邀請到美國洛杉磯加州大學（UCLA）社會學和亞美研究學終身講座教授、王文祥伉儷美中關係與傳媒基金講座教授，UCLA亞太中心主任，美國藝術與科學院、美國國家科學院院士以及高研院學術委員會成員——周敏教授擔任主講人，並由澳門大學人文社科高等研究院院長，法學院講座教授——於興中教授擔任主持。
本次講座中，周敏教授首先概述了美國移民法律和規則的長期變化，以及移民政策制定背後的動機和影響。其中包括《排華法案》的通過，以及1924年《國家起源法》對不同國家採取移民配額限制，導致移民數量大幅下降。而1965 年《哈特-凱勒法》則廢除 1924 年建立的國民出身配額制度，確立了當代美國移民法的基本結構。
周教授總結，美國是一個移民國家，而其移民政策的變化又對社會人口結構和移民融合產生深遠影響。各地移民努力融入美國主流社會，但卻遭遇文化、種族等結構性障礙。如今，美國的移民政策制定已經種族化，並影響了美國社會的同化和造成了結構性不平等。
本次講座吸引了吸引逾100名來自校內外不同領域和專業的老師和同學參與，並就美國社會結構性不平等的問題展開了熱烈討論。
IAS Distinguished Guest Lecture, “International Migration to the United States in the New Millennium: Policy Making, Reform, and Impacts” was successfully held on 11 December 2023 at the Auditorium, UM Gallery. The lecture featured Professor Min Zhou, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies, Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in US-China Relations and Communications and Director of the Asia Pacific Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a member of IAS Academic Committee, as the keynote speaker. Professor Xingzhong Yu, Director of the IAS and Chair Professor of the Department of Global Legal Studies of the Faculty of Law assumed the role of moderator.
An outline of the long-term changes to U.S. immigration laws and regulations, along with the motivations behind and effects of immigration policy-making, was given by Professor Zhou. This included the 1924 National Origins Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act, which limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the states through the National Origins Quota System and significantly reduced immigration. The National Origins Quota System, which was put in place in 1924, was eliminated by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which also established the foundation for current U.S. immigration law.
Professor Zhou concluded that immigrants make up the majority of the United States, and changes in immigration laws have had a significant effect on both the demographic structure of the country and the integration of immigrants into American society. Immigrants have made an effort to blend in with American society, but they encountered structural barriers including ethnic and cultural distinctions. Racialized immigration policymaking has affected assimilation, shaped American society’s structural disparities, and become a major source of contention today.
The lecture attracted over 100 participants, including teachers and students from various fields and disciplines both from within and outside the university, who actively engaged in a lively discussion on the issue of structural inequalities in American society.
