Throughlines: Migration Narratives Past and Present

As of May 2022, 100 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide, a figure that continues to grow. In this course, we will focus on migration and the image of the refugee in the context of the many massive displacements of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through study of news media, podcasts, film, novels, short stories, theory, and primary documents, we will explore how the modern refugee emerged, how statelessness is employed rhetorically in both literature and law, and how displacement is negotiated through art.

Though this existential homelessness has been wielded as a creative force, it is also a moral issue, one that Edward Said describes as “strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience.” With this in mind, students will also volunteer with local organizations that work with migrant populations. Students will go beyond the classroom to apply a critical framework to the narratives they encounter within these institutional settings. Throughout the semester we will examine how narratives of migration operate, with attention to gender, queerness, race, religion, ethnicity, and political affiliation.