Crossing Borders: Migration, Displacement and Im/mobility

Introducing the Anthropology of Migration. Crossing Borders covers the core theories and key case studies students will need to make sense of the complex terrain of contemporary migration, both voluntary and forced. Beginning with a focus on international migration to wealthy nation states in the Global South, we ask: *Why do people migrate? *Why do they go where they do? *What are their experiences of resettlement, work and community in their new host nations? *How do migrant communities form distinctive ideas of (non-)belonging as a result of their migration experiences? *How do host nations react to flows of legal and informal migrants in terms of policy and in terms of ideologically driven responses? *How do host nation policies and social ideologies, especially around race, shape processes of migrant and refugee identity formation? *What relationships do contemporary international migrants maintain with their homelands? In the second half of the course we will gradually move our focus to countries in the Global South. Here we take a special interest in feminised labour migration for factory and domestic work in Asia and the Middle East. In this context, we enquire: *What experiences of marginalisation and exploitation do female labour migrants experience in host nations and cities? *How do they negotiate and resist harsh labour regimes and gendered and racist stereotyping? *What kinds of long-distance family relationships come into existence as a result of the migration of these women? *How do 'cash, communications and care' circulate in transnational families? *What effects might the economic and social remittances sent by labour migrants back to home communities have? In terms of teaching approach, the course emphasis will be on understanding and mastering the language and theoretical tools used in the anthropology of migration, and the practical and critical application of key course concepts to real life migration experiences. We will use an innovative team-based learning approach in which students help each other workshop the weekly readings and carry out critical and interpretive activities in class based on empirical case studies of (forced) migration and im/mobilities.