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Critically analyze and interpret the complexities of the phenomena of human mobility and migration in the context of globalization from an anthropological point of view
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Gain a broader understanding of the multiple economic, social, political, and cultural dimensions of migration and mobility
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Learn how to compare and contrast the experience of diverse immigrant and mobile groups and people through ethnographic case studies
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Gain an understanding of the concepts of mobility and immobility as they relate to sedentarism and movements of people across places and cultural formations
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Explore issues of mobility through the anthropological themes of migration, cultural re-formations, and transculturalism, urban transformations, and diasporas
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Mobility of people within and between states and continental boundaries has mostly been approached in terms of social disorder and of economic, political, urban, and cultural crisis in both the countries of origin and destination. For instance, the mass media and political leaders talk about the current “refugee and migration crisis” in Europe as an extraordinary event or a temporary state of emergency that needs to be resolved as soon as possible. Urgent political and economic measures and massive deployment of police and border controls accompany a mixture of social reactions and feelings ranging from solidarity and compassion to discrimination and dispossession against those who had to flee to save their lives or make a better living.
This “mobility phobia,” mainly associated with movements of people coming from the global south or from disrupted economies, and the massive policing of people’s freedom of movement is paradoxical given the intrinsic mobility and migration of humans through the ages through seasonal movements, nomadism, trade, travel, pilgrimage, migration, and refugeeism. Hence, mobile people are not only migrants or refugees but also the millions of people from all walks of life who practice mobility as a very significant dimension of their livelihood systems.
In this sense, the main goal of this course is to provide anthropological insights into mobility as an intrinsic aspect of the human condition. The course provides several theoretical perspectives within the anthropology of mobility and looks at anthropological research that explores human mobility not only as the result of desperate attempts to escape from war, poverty, and social instability but also as a result of a variety of other reasons (such as work, tourism, religion and trade) that underlie our social systems. Students will study a number of classical ethnographic cases of human mobility from Europe, Latin America, and Asia and will become familiar with the major theories related to human mobility, migration, and diaspora as well as contemporary studies on nomadism, pilgrimages, and tourism.
A special section of the course will be devoted to case studies of forced migration and human displacement within and outside Africa and to movements of people from Africa to Europe and from Europe to Africa. This section will look at the interplay between culture-formation, migration, and mobility in everyday life
This is an anthropology course, but it is also interdisciplinary. In addition to anthropological texts, readings are by political scientists, sociologists and historians. They will take us to the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Text requirements
Materials for this class are available in electronic format. Articles from academic journals are accessible through the UU electronic database on the UU library web page. Students are expected to retrieve these articles on their own, following the listings on the syllabus.
In addition, book chapters and other material will be available through Blackboard.
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