INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

This course will provide students with a critical grounding in the core issues of international migration, with particular reference to the Mediterranean region. It will introduce key concepts, theories and approaches in the interdisciplinary field of migration studies and it will provide an overview of the history of mobility in the Mediterranean from both European and Middle Eastern/North African perspectives. The course will focus on key topics to enable students to acquire the knowledge and tools necessary to pursue further research and to actively participate in contemporary debates on migration in the Mediterranean region. These topics include multi-level migration governance, the European ‘refugee crisis’ of the last decade, the impact of international migration upon labour markets and economic development, the relationship between gender and migration, and the specific urban dimensions of migration. The course will be structured around lectures, films and group activities and discussions.

By the end of the course, students will have acquired a solid understanding of:
- key theories and approaches in migration studies;
- the history of international migration in the Mediterranean region.

In addition, students will be able to:
- understand key themes and debates in migration studies and how these relate to the Mediterranean area;
- understand the complexities of specific case studies on migration in the Mediterranean area;
- apply their knowledge to propose suitable topics for research in the field of migration studies;
- critically intervene in current debates on migration and how these relate to the Mediterranean.

Criteria for admission are the same as those for the study programme of "Trans-Mediterranean Studies: Migration, Cooperation and Development". A good knowledge of English is essential.

The first part of the course will introduce key concepts, theories and debates in research on international migration, including differences and similarities between ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced’ migration. It will present an overview of the history of human mobility in the Mediterranean region and will discuss the national contexts of Italy and Morocco to provide a trans-Mediterranean perspective on contemporary migration.

The second part of the course will examine in depth key themes in migration studies and how these relate to the Mediterranean region:
(1) different levels of migration governance;
(2) the European migration/refugee ‘crisis’;
(3) gender perspectives on international migration;
(4) the relationship between migration and cities.

Key texts (a more detailed bibliography will be provided by the teacher during the course)

Abrego, L. J., & Lakhani, S. M. (2015). Incomplete Inclusion: Legal Violence and Immigrants in Liminal Legal Statuses. Law & Policy, 37(4), 265–293.
Achilli, L. (2018) The “Good” Smuggler: The Ethics and Morals of Human Smuggling among Syrians. ANNALS, AAPSS, 676, March 2018, 77-96
Agamben, G. (1995). We Refugees. Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, 49(2), 114–119.
Arci Porco Rosso (2021) From Sea to prison / Dal mare al carcere
Arendt, H. (1943). We Refugees. The Menorah Journal, 31(1), 69–77.
Balibar, É., Samaddar, R., & Mezzadra, S. (Eds.). (2011). The Borders of Justice. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Borelli, C. (2024). Meeting the Smugglers. Decolonising the mind, questioning the border. Allegra Lab
Borelli, C., Poy A. and Rué A. (2023). Governing Asylum without “Being There”: Ghost Bureaucracy, Out- sourcing, and the Unreachability of the State. The Colonial Legacies in Asylum and Welfare in Europe, special issue of Social Sciences edited by Olga Jubany and Lucy Mayblin, vol. 12: 169
Borrelli, L. M. and Andreatta, S. (2019) Governing migration through paperworks. Journal of legal Anthropology Volume 3, Issue 2, Winter 2019: 1–9
Castles, S., de Haas, H. and Miller, M. (2014) The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World [5th Edition]. Palgrave Macmillan (introduction)
Chimni, B.S. (2009) “The Birth of a Discipline: from Refugee to Forced Migration Studies”. Journal of Refugee Studies 22(1): 11-29.
Crawley, H. & Skleparis, D. (2018) “Refugees, migrants, neither, both: categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe s migration crisis”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44(1), pp. 48-64.
De Genova, N., Mezzadra, S. and Pickles, J. (eds) (2014) New Keywords: Migration and Borders. Cultural Studies 29:1, 55-87
De Haas H. (2007) ‘Morocco’s Migration Experience: A Transnational Experience.’ International Migration 45(4): 39-70.
Garelli, G. et al. (2017) Shifting Bordering and Rescue Practices in the Central Mediterranean Sea, October 2013– October 2015. Antipode Vol. 00 No. 0, pp 1–9
Glick Schiller, N. and Çağlar, A. (2009). “Towards a Comparative Theory of Locality in Migration Studies: Migrant Incorporation and City Scale.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35 (2), pp. 177-202.
Fassin, D. (2013). The Precarious Truth of Asylum. Public Culture, 25(1), 39–63.
Khosravi, S. (2020) Io sono confine. Eleuthera
King R. (2000). ‘Southern Europe in the Changing Global Map of Migration’ in King R., Lazaridis G. and Tsardanidis C (eds) Eldorado or Fortress? Migration in Southern Europe, pp. 1 -26. Basingstoke: MacMillan.
Natter, K. (2018) ‘Rethinking immigration policy theory beyond “Western liberal democracies”.’ Comparative Migration Studies 6(4), pp. 1-24.
Pezzani, L. (2021). Mapping the Sea: Thalassopolitics and Disobedient Spatial Practices. In K. Peters, J. Anderson, & P. Steinberg (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space. Routledge.
Rigo, E. (2019). “Re-gendering the Border: Chronicles of Women’s Resistance and Unexpected Alliances from the Mediterranean Border.” ACME 18 (1), pp. 173-186.
Samaddar, R. (2018). The Postcolonial Age of Migration. Routledge (intro)
Schinkel, W. (2018) ‘Against «immigrant integration»: for an end to neocolonial knowledge production.’ Comparative Migration Studies, 6(31), pp. 1-17.
Stierl, M. (2018) Migrant Resistance in Contemporary Europe. Routledge (chap. 1)

Students will be assessed on classroom participation and a final exam ((presentation of a written paper and subsequent oral presentation)). The details and weighting of each assessment will be specified in the course.

Regarding the grading scale, scores will be assigned according to the following schema:
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of: Sufficient knowledge and applied
comprehension of the program;
B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of: Fair knowledge and applied
comprehension of the program;
C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of: Good or excellent knowledge and
applied comprehension of the program;
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of
the program.

written and oral

The course is structured as in-person seminar lessons in which the students and the professor comment together on the week's readings. The teaching approach aims to encourage students' active participation through discussions on the topics introduced by the professor.

English