Course Info: IA-0282
| Course | IA-0282 Dynamics of Displacement |
| Long Title | Dynamics of Displacement: the quest for asylum |
| Term | 2016S |
| Note(s) |
Textbook information |
| Meeting Info | Franklin Patterson Hall 108 on M from 2:30-5:20 |
| Faculty | Jill Lewis |
| Capacity | 22 |
| Available | 13 |
| Waitlist | 0 |
| Distribution(s) | |
| Cumulative Skill(s) | Writing and Research Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives |
| Additional Info | In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading, writing, and research. |
| Description | Since 2015 there has been an unprecedented movement of people migrating from wars and poverty into Europe. This course explored contexts of migration and realities encountered in the search for asylum. We looked at readings from Refugee Studies, personal narratives, novels and films, media reporting of current unfolding of the refugee crisis, to fertilize imaginative and empathetic grasp of the conditions of disenfranchisement, marginalization and survival that people navigate when compelled to leave home. Examining the arc of social realities impacting people from parts of Africa and the Middle East, we explored complexities of their departure, displacement, challenges and the many uncertainties experienced in striving to reach a safer re-anchoring in unfamiliar places and foreign cultures. We explored dreams, illusions and realities encountered in the unexpected juxtapositions of different worlds and the highly charged attitudes and conditions of reception in European contexts. We skyped with author of the new book ‘City of Thorns’ about lives in the Dadaab refugee camp, and with an Iraqi refugee about his 18 years of limbo before gaining new status in the UK. Texts included work by Khalid Kosec, Fatou Diome, Johnny Steinberg, John Berger, Ben Rawlence, Gulwali Passarlay, Benjamin Zephaniah, Philippe Legrain, and the films: The Good Lie, Beasts of no Nation, Kids in camps, In this World, Les Arrivants, Samba, Welcome, Leave to Remain. Students wrote responses to films and completed a final critical / creative project drawing on texts and discussions. |