Migration and Forced Displacement

Catalog description

This is an undergraduate level lecture course on migration and forced displacement. The course covers some seminal work, but mostly cutting edge research on the political, social and economics aspects of the “movement of people” across borders. The course is split into three main sections: The first section covers migration and displacement from the perspective of (potential) migrants. Here we ask questions such as: Why do people migrate, and why does the reason matter? Who migrates? How do migrants choose a destination? What’s the effect of migration on migrants’ wellbeing? The second section covers migration and displacement from the perspective of sending countries. Here we ask what are the social, political and economic effects of migration on sending communities, and families “left behind”? The third section examines migration from the perspective of destination (host) countries. Here we will analyze potential pull factors (including asylum and refugee policies), introduce theories of integration and assimilation, and more broadly, explore the determinants of public opinion with respect to migrants and refugees. We will also explore natives’ behavior toward migrants (including hate crime and hate speech), and the extent to which voting in host countries is sensitive to ‘migrant exposure.’ While a political economy approach anchors the course theoretically, we will also touch upon (some) human rights aspects of displacement, including the relationship between migration and conflict. Students will be exposed to a wide range of literature focused on both developed and developing countries.