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Instructors: Bruno Mesquita Soares de Araujo
Event type:
Follow-up seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
24-408.77
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
English
Min. | Max. participants:
10 | 22
Registration group: Spezielle Soziologien
Comments/contents:
The displacement process is not a new phenomenon; it has been part of the development of societies over time. At some point in human history, social groups settled and displacement denoted a sign of instability and fragmentation. With the emergence of Modern States, national boundaries legitimized the domination of humans through spaces. Later, concepts like culture and identity associated with this national status. In this sense, classical social theories, such as alienation (Marx), solidarity (Durkheim), and social action (Weber) became explanation models to justify the association (or dissociation) of people into national bonds.
Contemporarily, events following the decolonization process in the latter half of the twentieth century have increased the tensions between borders, as well as the reasons for displacement. Under these frontiers, wars, political and religious persecutions, labor market, gender orientation, and climate change have exceeded the categories normally used to describe displaced persons (e.g. refugees, migrants, stateless, etc.). Due to the legal aspects involved new categories are necessary to be developed in an attempt to address new kinds of displaced persons (e.g. queer and climate refugees) into international security law.
Such tensions and problems have also reflected in the ways that social scientists explain the adaptation process between displaced and host places (e.g. integration, acculturation, marginalization, etc.). From a modern and state-centric perspective, the feeling of belonging is connected with the place; and displaced persons are expected to return one day to their home. However, what are we supposed to do, if this return is not possible? In this sense, post-modern theories argue that place and home are things we can create where we are. At the same, a postcolonial perspective highlights that material or affective barriers still exist, and their removal is a paradigm that contemporary societies have to face in the next years.
Against this background, this seminar intends to analyze the question of displacement and displaced persons in relation with the place of destination and the people who live there, using modern, post-modern, and postcolonial theories, as well as the contributions of other fields of knowledge such as economy, politics, international relations, anthropology, psychology, etc. Another focus is given to the German integration process, as well as the relationships between displacement and social isolation (due to COVID-19). Students are expected to propose new arrangements in an increasingly polarized and global world. Bring your diasporic history and enjoy this seminar!
Learning objectives:
- To provide a conceptual and theoretical overview of sociological and anthropological debates about displacement and displaced persons
- To provide a sociological analysis of displacement and displaced persons while also drawing upon political, historical, geographical, and psychological accounts.
- To explore how displacement affects human beings, social relationships, mental health, nation-states, and international relations
- To identify key connections between modern, post-modern, and postcolonial perspectives as well as their failures to address displacement and the displaced persons
Didactic concept:
This seminar is divided into 1 presentation session + 6 content sessions distributed in May, June, and July. Students are expected to participate in online meetings, do summarizations of the texts, as well as give short presentations and write a final small paper.
Each online session has a period of approximately fifty minutes and they are reserved to respond all inquiries from students, as well as to exchange personal experiences through short presentations about different sides of displacement covered by this seminar, i.e. migration, resettlement/integration, and social isolation. The platform chosen for this seminar will be tested together with the students on 24 April. For those who cannot attend these sessions, presentations are charged in writing.
Concerning the summarizations, each day has 1-3 obligatory text(s) and 1 extra reading to be summarized both together in ca. 3-5 pages. 4-5 extra readings will be provided from different fields of science, e.g. international relations, political science, anthropology, etc. Finally, students that want to get the grades have to write a final essay with ca. 10 pages about a topic concerning the discussions in class. There will be provided PowerPoint explanations for each session, besides the literature.
Please, send to me an email, as soon as your registration in this seminar is confirmed on Stine. More details in the first online session.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
First Presentation Session (24/04)
First Content Session (08/05)
Second Content Session (29/05)
Third Content Session (12/06)
Fourth Content Session (19/06)
Fiftieth Content Session (03/07)
Sixtieth Content Session (10/07)
Literature:
Classical texts, theoretical and empirical articles, and documentaries. Find below the basic literature. Other will be provided on syllabus.
Barth, F. (1998). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. Waveland Press.
Behrman, S., & Kent, A. (Eds.). (2018). Climate refugees: beyond the legal impasse?. Routledge.
Fortier, A. M. (2002). Queer diaspora. Handbook of lesbian and gay studies, 183-197.
Jurisic, I. (2014). Feeling integrated, yet not accepted.
Hall, S., & King, A. (2005). Old and new identities. Beyond borders: In thinking critically about global issues, 167-173.
Mannur, A., & Braziel, E. (2003). Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Ray, S. (2015). Sociology of displacement: Policies and practice.
Sahoo, A. K., & Maharaj, B. (2006). Sociology of the Diaspora: A Reader.
Additional examination information:
Course work:
- Short presentations
- Class activities
- Summarizations
Exam:
- Final essay (min. 10 pages).
Deadline: 01/09/2020
Grades:
30% Activities in Class (Short Presentations)
30% Summarizations
40% Final essay
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