Universität Wien

240516 SE Transnational Migration: Challenges & Blind Spots (P4) (2015W)

Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory!

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 19.10. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
  • Tuesday 27.10. 11:30 - 14:45 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Tuesday 03.11. 11:30 - 14:45 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Tuesday 10.11. 11:30 - 14:45 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Tuesday 17.11. 11:30 - 14:45 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 30.11. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Tuesday 01.12. 11:30 - 14:45 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 14.12. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 11.01. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 18.01. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 25.01. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Description and Aims: This course aims to assess the usefulness, limitations, and challenges of the transnational migration paradigm in the current historical conjuncture. For 20 years ago, in its initial formulation, transnational paradigm for the study of migration, challenged the researchers in multiple disciplines to rethink their approaches to immigration, ethnicity, nationalism, gender, class and status, racialization, religion, globalization, and family studies. Since that time there has been a rapid growth of multi-disciplinary scholarship what has sometimes been called 'transnational studies' and various agencies including the World Bank and several non-governmental organizations all around the globe began to celebrate transnational migrants as heroes of development. The aim of this course is to reflect on the relationship between the transnational migration paradigm and fundamental structural and cultural changes that are reconfiguring the conditions of migration, including its directionalities, actors, systems of governance, social movements, and academic frameworks of study. The course will focus on the different kinds of institutions involved in this process and their change in time; concentrate on the key concepts of transnational migration perspectives, like ethnicity, community, locality, sovereignty, and multiple membership. One of the main objectives of this course is to analyse the interface between migrant formations and the state and the challenges transnational migration poses to religious and political formations, citizenship schemes, agencies of development, and to urban politics.

Assessment and permitted materials

Course requirements and grading: Each student will be assessed through a combination of seminar contribution, oral presentation, and written work (again this scheme depends on the number of students registered to this course).
Oral presentation (30%) Students are expected to introduce one of the seminars. The written introduction (max. 4 pages double space) is due two days before the class. This assignment should ideally include a succinct summary of the main thesis of the text as well as critical comments and questions about the readings.
Term paper (60%) Approximately 4000 words paper is due by the end of the term. Students can write their term paper on the seminar topic they introduced, but can also choose another one (after consultation with the lecturer).
Class participation (10%)
Max. absence: three sessions

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

At the end of the course, the students are expected to: Have an understanding of the emergence of transnational migration perspective and its varieties, as well as their different trajectories of development Have a critical understanding of the key concepts of transnational migration, namely of 'ethnicity', 'community', 'sovereignty', 'citizenship' and 'ethnic economy' Understand the importance of processes of capital restructuring and urban transformation in studying
transnational migration Have an understanding of the blind spots and limits of transnational migration perspectives

Examination topics

Structure: Seminars will begin with a short lecture by the instructor and will be followed by a presentation/introduction of that week’s topic, in which student(s) responsible for that week will present the readings structured by critical comments and questions (depending on the number of students registered to the course). This introduction will be followed by a discussion. For each session there will be two or three key (required) texts. Those preparing the introduction of the topic could also include the optional (suggested) readings into their presentation, in addition to the key texts. It is inevitable to prepare in advance for the seminars, as there is a strong emphasis on class participation

Reading list

Topic and literature for the first session. The topics and literature for the following sessions will be handed out in the first session and put on moodle. (*) optional (suggested) reading

1: Introduction and Migration Theories and the Rise of Transnational Migration Perspective (I)
Although migration studies has always been an interdisciplinary field, each discipline concentrated on migration from within a different conceptual framework and approached it on the basis of a different set of questions. Mapping this landscape is important to situate and understand the rise of transnational migration perspective, its central questions and the different trajectories this field followed in different disciplines.
1.1. Bertell, Caroline and James F. Hollifeld (2000) Migration Theory. Talking across Disciplines. In C. B. Bretell and J.F. Hollifeld eds. Migration Theory. Pp. 1-26. New York. Routledge.
1.2. Glick-Schiller, Nina et al (1994) Nations Unbound: Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments and Deterritorialized Nation-States . Chapter 1.
(*) Bretell, Caroline (2000) Theorizing Migration in Anthropology. The Social Construction of Networks, Identities, Communities, and Globalscapes. In C.B. Bretell and J. F. Hollifeld. Migration Theory. New York: Routledge, Pp.: 97-136.
(*) Hollifeld, James, F. (2000) The Politics of International Migration. How Can we "Bring the State Back In"? New York: Routledge. Pp.: 137-186
(*) Castles, S. M.J. Miller (1993) The Age of Migration., Pp.: 43-167.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:40