290407 SE Migration and Population Dynamics in the Context of Global Change and Development II (2025W)

The nexus between environmental and climate change, migration, and displacement constitutes a field of intense and controversial debate, not only within the scientific community but also in political arenas and the broader public sphere. Within this discourse, the figure of the “environmental refugee” has emerged as a powerful symbol of impending catastrophe. As Rajendra Pachauri, former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has observed, such refugees represent “the human face of climate change.” Embodied in individual and collective trajectories, “environmental refugees” make the consequences of environmental and climate change socially visible beyond abstract indicators and projections.
Building on Course I, which addressed conceptual frameworks and empirical manifestations of mobilities in the context of environmental and climate change, Course II moves beyond immediate empirical phenomena to engage with broader analytical dimensions. Particular emphasis will be placed on:
a) the discursive and cultural representation of climate mobilities,
b) the policy frameworks and governance structures that seek to regulate them, and
c) cross-cutting issues and state-of-the-art debates in the field.
The seminar thereby seeks to enable participants to apprehend the relationship between environment and migration not only as an empirical phenomenon, but also as a discursive, political, and normative construct.