Displacement and Migration

Catalog description

Why do we live in a world where so many people must flee their homes to survive? This course focuses on the rise in forced migration in response to violence, persecution, war, natural disasters, poverty, and environmental degradation from the late twentieth century onward. In the news media, the story of "the global refugee crisis" tends to be told through images of unprecedented disaster and spectacular havoc. To historicize displacement, students will consider the legacies that have led to violence and conflict, giving special consideration to European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. They will further learn about the impact of World War II, the Holocaust, and the Cold War on the emergence of the modern human rights architecture and on legal definitions that remain relevant to this day. To investigate this wide-ranging global topic, this course brings together frameworks and contributions from the social sciences and the humanities, inviting students to study the histories, experiences, and voices of those living in a world that moves. Students will engage with artistic representations of displacement through literature and film, in dialogue with migrant testimonies, archival material, international agreements, legal documents, and statistical data. This course adopts a comparative approach, inviting students to consider regimes of (im)mobility from a number of global contexts. Finally, to connect the international content of this course to the local environment, the class will also consider how forcible migration has reshaped communities in Pennsylvania. Given the large scope of the course topic, students can expect some variance in course content as reflective of faculty expertise and interest. Course activities might include interactions with guest speakers, representatives from organizations, interviews with various stakeholders, field trips, creative work, and participation in a public showcase. Students are encouraged to contact the listed instructor for more detailed information.