SOC2085 : Refugees and Displacement: Borders, Camps, and Asylum
- Offered for Year: 2019/20
- Module Leader(s): Dr Silvia Pasquetti
- Owning School: Geography, Politics & Sociology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
Aims
Population displacement is an increasingly salient feature of contemporary societies. This module is a social science exploration of how forced displacement is produced, regulated, and experienced. It focuses on displacement to interrogate issues of citizenship, belonging, and exclusion. It deals with the interaction between the policing of physical borders and the production of societal boundaries and inequalities. The first half of the lecture series focuses on refugee camps and international humanitarianism in the Global South, especially in Africa and the Middle East. The second half of the lecture series focuses on transit migration and asylum seekers in Europe with particular attention to public and policy debates about asylum, security, welfare, and belonging.
The key aims of this module are:
To provide a conceptual and theoretical overview of sociological and anthropological debates about refugees and displacement.
To identify key connections between the formation and management of refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East and European public and policy debates about asylum seekers and refugees.
To explore how forced displacement affects human beings, social relationships, nation-states, and international relations.
Outline Of Syllabus
Refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, and aliens—these are all categories that are excluded from “the national order of things,†which is defined by citizenship, borders, and state sovereignty. In this module, we study sociological and anthropological approaches to international population movement, especially forced displacement. We focus on how displacement interacts with issues of citizenship, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We develop a transnational perspective on immobile refugees living in camps in Africa and the Middle East and mobile asylum seekers in Europe. We begin by discussing population displacement in historical and contemporary perspectives and by studying the salience of displacement for key societal issues such as belonging, access to resources, democracy, and human rights. Then, we focus on refugee camps and international humanitarianism in Africa and the Middle East, discussing works by social scientists such as Ilana Feldman, Lisa Malkki, Jennifer Hyndman, and Michel Agier. We then address the question of the policing of borders and the arrival of asylum seekers in Europe, paying attention to both the experiences of the asylum seekers and the public and policy debates within the receiving societies. We draw on Didier Fassin, Sandro Mezzadra, Nicholas De Genova and other social scientists to study the government of displaced people in Europe in all its tensions and contradictions.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 12 | 2:00 | 24:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 100:00 | 100:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 8 | 8:00 | 64:00 | 8 hours preparation for each seminar |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 8 | 1:00 | 8:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Assessment preparation/feedback sessions |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Film showing |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
The lectures will introduce students to key theoretical approaches, policy concerns, public debates, and empirical studies. These will be explored and discussed in more detail in the student-led seminars. Seminars are designed to provide students with structured tasks and readings. Students will be encouraged to discuss their analysis of key texts with their peers. In the assignment workshops students can explore the key features of the assessment requirements and raise questions and concerns as appropriate. The lecture/feedback session will enable students to get detailed feedback on assignments.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Exams
| Description | Length | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Examination | 90 | 2 | A | 50 | Seen Exam |
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 2 | M | 50 | 2,000 words |
Formative Assessments
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 2 | M | Essay Plan; optional |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The essay will enable students to explore in detail a topic of their choice, assembling and analysing information, organising material and putting forward a coherent and reasoned argument. The exam will allow students to develop a broader understanding of the module, develop their own revision strategies, and manage their time carefully in order to revise effectively. The exam tests students overall absorption of course material.
The first assignment (the essay) is preceded by formative assessment (an essay plan), which is optional for students.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- SOC2085's Timetable