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Module details for 2022/23.

30 credits

FHEQ Level 7 (Masters)

Module Outline

The module introduces students to recent conceptual advances in understanding displacement, including the difference between displacement, a process, and forced migration, an outcome, before discussing the legal definitions of refugees in more established literature on ‘Refugeehood’, and some of the issues with it. The module will highlight the role of states, their collapse and transformation, and the associated wars and violence that have implications for displacement and the creation of refugees in different historical periods. Students will also learn about key issues such as the changing relationships between territory, place and the identities of displaced populations, and the politics of belonging. We will also look at coercive bordering industries in Europe, and how people on the move use smuggling networks to address the dangerous obstacles they create. The module concludes with a look at some of the moral debates around what is owed to refugees and displaced populations and by whom.

Session overview
1 Understanding displacement: conceptual issues
2 The Geneva Convention, its colonial origins, and other understandings of Refugees and Refuge.
3 Forced migration and refugees before the Geneva Convention (i.e. Trans-Atlantic Slavery; refugees and history; WWI).
4 The formation of new states, nationalisms, and the collapse of Empires and forced migration (e.g. Ottoman Empire, Partition of India).
5 Repatriation, home, and the politics of belonging.
6 Assessed Presentations
7 Territory, place, and the identity of displaced populations.
8 Coercive Borders, the bordering industry and smuggling.
9 Moral debates: what is owed to refugees and displaced populations and by whom?
10 Review week
11 One-to-one essay tutorials

Full Module Description

The module introduces students to recent conceptual advances in understanding displacement, including the difference between displacement, a process, and forced migration, an outcome, before discussing the legal definitions of refugees in more established literature on ‘Refugeehood’, and some of the issues with it. The module will highlight the role of states, their collapse and transformation, and the associated wars and violence that have implications for displacement and the creation of refugees in different historical periods. Students will also learn about key issues such as the changing relationships between territory, place and the identities of displaced populations, and the politics of belonging. We will also look at coercive bordering industries in Europe, and how people on the move use smuggling networks to address the dangerous obstacles they create. The module concludes with a look at some of the moral debates around what is owed to refugees and displaced populations and by whom.

Session overview
1 Understanding displacement: conceptual issues
2 The Geneva Convention, its colonial origins, and other understandings of Refugees and Refuge.
3 Forced migration and refugees before the Geneva Convention (i.e. Trans-Atlantic Slavery; refugees and history; WWI).
4 The formation of new states, nationalisms, and the collapse of Empires and forced migration (e.g. Ottoman Empire, Partition of India).
5 Repatriation, home, and the politics of belonging.
6 Assessed Presentations
7 Territory, place, and the identity of displaced populations.
8 Coercive Borders, the bordering industry and smuggling.
9 Moral debates: what is owed to refugees and displaced populations and by whom?
10 Review week
11 One-to-one essay tutorials

Module learning outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of conceptual issues in the study of displacement and forced migration.

Demonstrate an understanding of the roles of state formation / transformation, and associated violence, in the production of refugees in the contemporary era and periods of modern history.

Demonstrate an understanding of the role of different nationalisms in the production and reception of refugees and displaced populations, their implications for bordering, and how people on the move address these issues.

Demonstrate an awareness of the complex socio-political identities of refugees and displaced populations.

Demonstrate an understanding of ethical debates around duties and responsibilities towards refugees and displaced populations.

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Timing

Submission deadlines may vary for different types of assignment/groups of students.

Weighting

Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.

How to read the week pattern

The numbers indicate the weeks of the term and how many events take place each week.

Miss Megan Sweeney

Assess convenor
/profiles/403351

Dr Ali Ali

Assess convenor, Convenor
/profiles/520550