Migration & Global Development: Key themes

Course goals

This is a compulsory course for the track.'Migratie en mondiale ontwikkeling' students who follow this track get priority.
In case of oversubscription, the other students will be admitted by drawing of lots.

Please note: the information in the course manual is binding.
 

• Critically engage with thematic debates related to migration and global development from a socio-spatial and trans-local perspective, with an emphasis on the significance of intersecting places, spaces, scales and networks;  
• Link concrete migration-development processes to other socio-spatial dynamics, trans-local contexts, governance structures and theoretical insights;  
• Analyse, discuss and compare causes and implications of current migration and development issues across the world;
• Develop a coherent, realistic and original research proposal which includes clear and relevant research questions, a theoretical framework identifying a knowledge gap in the relevant thematic debates, and a plan to collect data.

Content

In this course, students will focus on selected themes connected to migration and global development. Migrants are increasingly seen as active players in development processes by transferring economic, social and cultural capital between places of origin, transit, and destination across the world. But who are these migrants? What type of development do they take part in? Where does/can/should development take place? Why? And how? These are complex questions that occupy many migration and development studies researchers, NGOs and policymakers. The linkages and intersections between different forms of migration and mobilities (also including those who stay) and development are context-specific, multi-scalar and rapidly evolving.

We begin with an overview lecture that recapitulates the main concepts in the field of migration and global development covered in the Theories course and a lecture focusing on key migration and global development debates. This is followed by a week-by-week examination of three intersecting migration themes that are shaped by and shape contemporary geographies of development. These are (i) labour mobilities, (ii) displacement and local emplacement, and (iii) transnational mobilities, remittances, and diasporic connections. The course provides global thematic coverage and offers perspectives and case studies from across the world to illustrate in-class discussions.

Students will explore different themes in November and December. This will be done through a combination of in-class work, self-study and additional educational material (literature, policy briefs, podcasts and media resources). Students then select one topic to work on for their group research proposal at the end of November. They will develop a group research proposal under one of the three themes (or more as related flows) to address a chosen knowledge gap. During the course, students will further develop their analytical, communication and argumentation skills through group work (an in-class presentation and research proposal) and an individual assessment (exam).


This course is part of the learning trajectory  

• methods and techniques learning trajectory
• writing and argumentation learning trajectory