Theories and approaches to Migration and Global Development

Course goals

Upon completion of the course, students are able to…

1. Explain international migration patterns (why, where, who, what, how) and their relation to inclusive and sustainable development at different scale levels, by using fundamental concepts and theories;
2. Understand and discuss how migration flows are tightly interconnected with changing economic, social, political, spatial and cultural processes, and how knowledge about migration and development is socially and historically situated
3. Analyse, discuss and compare the implications of current migration flows for people and places involved by using different theoretical perspectives
4. Recognize and apply different perspectives and arguments by debating about migration and development
5. Critically evaluate and compare the value of different theoretical perspectives by writing a comprehensive literature review

In this course we pay attention to self-regulated learning, study skills and professional development by practicing with English as the language of instruction.
 

Content

Why do people migrate and what does migration mean for different places and societies? More particularly, what does migration – and related mobilities such as tourism, displacement and student mobility – mean for inclusive and sustainable development at different scales? These key questions have bothered geographers and urban planners for a long time.

In this course, we look at these questions from different theoretical perspectives. Thereby we learn to recognize that the answers to such questions – and even the questions themselves - are inherently place-specific, political and very different depending on your perspective. We learn how thinking about migration in relation to development has evolved from the early positivist and neoclassical approaches all the way to the current decolonial and postmodern approaches, and how this has also influenced migration policies and practices at different scales.

In this course students delve into the main theories, concepts, thinkers and debates around migration and the relation between migration and global development, from an interdisciplinary perspective with human geography as a basis. We deal with diverse aspects of migration, such as labour markets and economies, governance and politics, social networks, globalization and transnationalism, and migrant incorporation. This course provides a global perspective, and uses cases from different worldwide migration flows to illustrate the debates.

In this course, students learn to apply and critically discuss these different approaches by writing a literature review on a particular sub-topic and set of concepts. This will prepare them for the rest of the track.  Students also practice their debating skills while debating on key current migration topics.

Contribution of course to specific learning trajectories

Learning trajectory on writing & argumentation
Learning trajectory on concepts