Module Content and Indicative Topics

Large-scale immigration and emigration flows have been and remain an enduring feature of our societies, yet in the last decade this phenomenon has arguably gained new political saliency and urgency. This module will introduce students to the topic of migration from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to foster their critical understanding of this issue. In the first half of the module, we will discuss migration from historical, sociological and philosophical perspectives in order to contextualize current debates. The second part will focus in more detail on the migration patterns of the last decade and will consider literary, documentary and artistic responses to the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe inrecent years.   

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class:

1) Understanding migration: definitions, approaches, and global contexts 

2) Understanding migration from long-term historical perspectives 

3) The shadow of Empire: Emigration and immigration in a post-colonial perspective 

4) The emergence of the 2015 “migration crisis” in Europe: The role of the media  

5) Discussing the ethics of migration: duties and rights 

6) Migration and the crisis of multiculturalism and rise of populism 

7) Literary responses to migration

8) Documenting Migration on Film

9) The London Migration Museum: Engaging with the collections

10) The Politics of Borders, Walls and Fortresses

Teaching Delivery

The course will consist of 10 weekly two-hour seminars, which will involve a variety of teaching and learning activities. Students will be asked to deliver one oral presentation (individually or in pairs of two, depending on the class size) on a given topic and will be provided with a question and reading material. All students will be expected to have read the material for each week in order to be able to contribute towards the group discussion.   

Learning Outcomes

This module is intended to provide students with a deep and thorough knowledge of the issue of migration and asks them to think through the philosophical, political and sociological questions it raises. Further, it provides students with interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the issue by discussing literary, visual and artistic responses to migration in the present day in Europe. The module will include a visit to the London Migration Museum and students will be asked to reflect on the visit in order to encourage engagement with the rich history of London’s migration movement. Overall, the module aims to equip students with a strong grounding in applying interdisciplinary perspectives on the field of migration studies, which they will be able to apply also to other area of study.   

- Students will enhance their skills in engaging with primary and secondary sources in order to enhance their understanding of migration. 

- Students will be able to comment critically on migration as historical and cultural phenomenon and locate it in historical, political, sociological and philosophical contexts. 

- Students will strengthen their interdisciplinary expertise by working with texts from different academic disciplines, such as cultural studies, history and political science.  

- Students will be able to apply the theoretical approaches discussed in this module and to relate them to wider debates and the concerns of their degree programme as a whole.  

Recommended Reading

In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts. These can be found in the UCL Library:

Subrata Ghatak, Anne Showstack Sassoon (eds.) Migration and Mobility: The European Context (New York: Palgrave, 2001)
	Haas, H.de, Castles, S. & Miller, M.J., 2020. The age of migration : international population movements in the modern world / Hein de Haas, Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller. Sixth.,
	Migration Studies Oxford University Press (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013)
	Klaus Bade, Migration in European History, Making of Europe (Malden, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003)
	Ursula Anne Margaret Kelly, Migration and Education in a Multicultural World: Culture, Loss, and Identity (New York; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
	Dan Stone, Refugees then and now: memory, history and politics in the long twentieth century: an introduction, Patterns of Prejudice, 52:2-3, 101-106 (2108)
	Gerard Delanty, et al., editors. Identity, Belonging and Migration. Liverpool University Press (2008).