Last modified: 11 Dec 2024 14:46
People are on the move. There are around 281 million international migrants in the world. That’s 1 in 30 people globally who are living outside the country of their birth, three times as many now than the best estimates from 1970. Migration and mobilities, internationally, as well as within countries and regions, shapes our societies. The course explores how these processes play a role in societal issues from the local to global, as well as how society responds to crisis.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
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| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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People are on the move. There are around 281 million international migrants in the world (World Migration Report 2022). That’s 1 in 30 people globally who are living outside the country of their birth, three times as many now than the best estimates from 1970. Migration and mobilities internationally, as well as people moving within countries and regions, shape our societies.
This course explores migration and mobilities scholarship, across scales, from the embodied experiences of migrants to the global patterns and trends. The course will also encourage students to discuss how migration and mobility are practiced and represented in everyday life to understand the ways in which 'modern society is a society on the move' (Urry and Lash, 1994).
The course is structured around five themes: Migration and mobilities - shaping geographies, Migration – governance and the border, Commodification of migration and the ideal migrant, Migrant lives and Desperate journeys in turbulent times. These themes (detailed below) look to position migration and mobility of people on the move into a forward-looking perspective. The course considers how migration and mobilities play a role in societal issues across the globe, as well as how society responds to crisis.
(1) Migration and mobilities - shaping geographies
This theme will discuss the role of migration and mobilities in population / societal change – with a focus on migration as a process for rural, urban and environmental transformations.
(2) Migration – Governance and the border
This will look to consider how migration is key to territorialisation and bordering of the nation state, including understanding legal, policy and political mobilizations of migration narratives. Students will utilise secondary data to develop a better understand social attitudes to migration across different context.
(3) The Commodification of migration and the ideal migrant
This theme discusses International Student migration, European labour migration to the UK (including the end of the free movement post-Brexit), as well as global examples of economic migration including south to south migration and development. Students will build understanding of the dominant systems of economic migrations as a mechanism for distributing human capital; these are framed around ideas of the ‘ideal migrant’.
(4) Migrant Lives
This will look to draw upon scholarly developments from social and cultural literatures to discuss the experiences of migrants and migrations which are embodied, and indeed gendered. This theme aims to bring power and identity to the fore. How do everyday experiences of migration and mobility shape the geographies of migrant lives. The theme draws upon a range of examples that challenge the notion of an ideal migrant including forced migrations and experiences of return.
(5) Desperate journeys in turbulent times
The final theme considers migrations and immobility in response to different global events/crisis. Students will explore contemporary crisis (financial, political, environmental, humanitarian) through the lens of migration and explore the inequities and insecurities related to these. This theme brings into question the role migration will place in the future global crisis. Can we address crisis, if we don’t consider how these are impacted by/ impact population change and movement across scales?
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
2-hour written exam From a choice of questions, choose two to answer. An opportunity for students to view their marked exam scripts with examiners' comments / annotations will be made available. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse how migration and the migrant is constructed as a geopolitical and or societal proble |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Explain and synthesise geographical theories on migration and mobility |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Discuss migration as a process for societal transformations (e.g demographic, economic, political, socio-environmental change) across a range of scales |
| Factual | Understand | Understand patterns and trends relevant to internal and international migration, across different geographical context |
| Procedural | Create | Advance reasoned, factually supported and critically aware arguments, both orally and in writing |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Examine critically and interpret different types of primary and secondary material, with creative reference to theoretical frameworks and wider contexts |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
2,000-word essay |
Word Count | 2000 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Formative | Weighting | ||
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Oral feedback provided in class |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | ||
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Explain and synthesise geographical theories on migration and mobility |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | Discuss migration as a process for societal transformations (e.g demographic, economic, political, socio-environmental change) across a range of scales |
| Procedural | Create | Advance reasoned, factually supported and critically aware arguments, both orally and in writing |
| Factual | Understand | Understand patterns and trends relevant to internal and international migration, across different geographical context |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Examine critically and interpret different types of primary and secondary material, with creative reference to theoretical frameworks and wider contexts |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse how migration and the migrant is constructed as a geopolitical and or societal proble |
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