Unit MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS
- Course
- International relations
- Study-unit Code
- A003329
- Curriculum
- Migration, globalisation and world governance
- Teacher
- Claudia Bernardi
- Teachers
-
- Claudia Bernardi
- Hours
- 36 ore - Claudia Bernardi
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2023
- Offered
- 2023/24
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- SPS/05
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- English
- Contents
- This course surveys the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of migration with a focus to the historical and contemporary processes of migrations in the America in the late 20th and beginning of the 21st century.
- Reference texts
- • Castles S. and M.J.Miller, The Age of Migration, The Guilford Press, New York, 1993 [selected chapters].
• Ngai M., Impossible Subjects. Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2004 [selected chapters].
• Fink L., Workers across the Americas. The transnational turn in Labor History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011 [selected chapters].
Selected readings will be provided by the instructor. - Educational objectives
- • Enable students to develop a working knowledge of the key social, political, and economic transformations linked to the process of migrations occurred in the Americas, in particular during the late 20th and beginning of 21st century.
• Acquire fundamental knowledge of the main methodological approaches and theories of migration.
• Develop students’ critical thinking skills through evaluating historians’ arguments, through connecting analytic frameworks and concepts with scholarly studies of historical processes.
• Improve written and oral expressive skills by presenting, discussing, and (substantial) writing. - Prerequisites
- A good knowledge of contemporary history and of the English language is required.
- Teaching methods
- Class will meet twice a week for six weeks (36 hours course).
Lectures will be given with the support of slides and power point presentations to facilitate the first approach to issues and historiographical knots. The course favours a multi-disciplinary method, and therefore the class will use a different array of materials that are relevant as much as readings, including films, photographs, pictures, documentaries, and primary sources.
During lectures, students should feel free, in fact are encouraged, to raise hands and ask questions. Students are also expected to come prepared for discussion with questions, comments, and critiques to foster class debates and collective understanding. Detailed and continuous guidance will be given during the whole course so to help students in navigating primary and secondary sources, in preparing oral presentation, and in discussing potential statements for short papers. - Other information
- Students are invited to read all material assigned, to take notes of lectures and discussions held in class. Written exam and papers should be clear in terms of spelling and syntax.
Please do not hesitate to get in contact with the instructor if you have any questions about any of the assignments and/or requirements for the class. - Learning verification modality
- The final grade will be calculated as follows:
• Attendance and participation (25%): the students will have to attend every lesson and are allowed to a maximum of 4 absences. Class discussions are the driving force behind this course as learning is a collective process that is enriched with everyone’s contribution. Students are warmly invited to discuss the topics raised in class, asking questions and commenting during the lesson.
• In-class presentation (25%): the students will choose one option among the eight proposed and prepare a 10-minute oral presentation to the class. The oral presentation is not a mere summary, but it is required to critically analyze the texts and present them clearly. The presentations will take place from 2 to 24 May.
• Short essay (25%): the students will prepare a short scientific article of 800/1000 words on the texts they have studied for the in-class presentation. The article is not a summary of the essays assigned, but a critical work in which doubts are raised, a historiographical problem is analyzed, further research hypotheses are proposed, also making use of additional sources. The article must be clear in terms of spelling and syntax. The short essay will be delivered via email to the teacher by 1 June 2023 (essays will not be accepted after this date).
• Final test (25%): the final test consists of three multiple choice questions and four open-ended questions and verifies the learning of the main historical processes studied during the lessons and through the study of the mandatory texts. The written exam must be clear in terms of spelling and syntax.
Students are invited to read all material assigned, to take notes of lectures and discussions held in class. Written exam and papers should be clear in terms of spelling and syntax.
Please do not hesitate to get in contact with the instructor if you have any questions about any of the assignments and/or requirements for the class. - Extended program
- This course surveys the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of migration with a focus to the historical and contemporary processes of migrations in the America in the late 20th and beginning of the 21st century. Lectures will analyse the historiographical and political debate about transnational migration, communities of departure and arrival, labor mobility and guest worker programs, border cities’ development, binational economies and border industrialization, forms of transnational political organization.
In-class presentations will shed light on specific historical and contemporary process of migration in the Americas. Special emphasize will be placed on the most recent historiographical stances, providing insights into the transnational and global history approach to the study of the Americas in relation to migration.
Attendance is mandatory and students are allowed up to four absences.
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment, please get in contact with the instructor. Before getting in contact with the instructor, please read the syllabus carefully.