Migration

Catalog description

There are more migrants worldwide today than Brazil has inhabitants. China, India, and the Philippines are sending most migrants; the most important host areas are Europe and the United States; and expats make up more than 60% of the total population in Qatar and the UAE. How has migration been represented in and shaped by literature and art? This course reviews exemplary texts, striking images, and important films. It focuses on the United States from around 1880 to World War II and on Europe in the second half of the twentieth century, then opens up toward students' examination of cultural work by and about contemporary migrants from around the world. Readings include autobiography, reportage, documentary photography and film as well as fiction and creative visual work. Among the topics for discussion are metaphors and theories of migration (from uprooting and bird-of-passage to expatriate and melting-pot); labor arrangements; scenes of departure, voyage, and arrival; vibrant migrant communities and migrant alienation and pain; negotiation between places of origin and of arrival.