240525 SE Challenges and blindspots of Transnational Migration Paradigm after 25 years (P4) (2019S)

This course aims to assess the cahllanges and the limitations of the transnational migration paradigm in the current historical conjuncture. For more than 20 years ago, in its initial formulation, transnational paradigm for the study of migration, challanged 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, multiscalar 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, the location of migration industries and the agencies of migration management in this process: and the challenges transnational migration poses to religious and political formations, citizenship schemes, agencies of development, urban politics as well as border regimes. There is a particular emphasis on the migration industries, agencies and actors involved in the management and governance of migrants and refugees and their mobilities. It will also address the differential ordering of migrants, refugees, displaced people, forced migrants, and undocumented in scholarship and policies. The course will also explore the methodological questions transnational migration research facilitated to address, such as multiscalar and relational comparative research.

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 active class participation

Learning Outcomes: 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