Global Migration: Refugees, Economic Migrants, and Borders
3.0
creditsAverage Course Rating
This course introduces students to the different forms, catalysts, and consequences of global migration. Even as the plight of migrants and refugees has elicited the sympathy of millions worldwide, the majority of them still encounter closed borders and draconian immigration regimes on the fringes of more “desirable” destinations in Europe, Australia, and the United States, and many others remain in limbo in their countries of origin or in transit states. Are these border restrictions new? Or are they consistent with states’ long-standing ways of regulating who is and is not worthy of being admitted through their borders? Throughout the course, we will trace the divergent factors that prompt refugees and economic migrants to migrate, juxtaposing these with the responses of states, international treaties, and humanitarian organizations to their movement and arrival in host countries. Using a variety of written and verbal assignments, we will question the fundamental categories of migration: What is an economic migrant? What is a refugee? How are they different or similar? Whose interests do such categories serve, and how have they been used justify governmental practices of inclusion and exclusion over time?
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