MA Humanitarianism and Conflict Response / Course details

Year of entry: 2025

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Course unit details:
Conceptualising the Camp

Course unit fact file
Unit code	HCRI62312
Credit rating	15
Unit level	FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s)	Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit?	Yes

Overview

What is a camp? How is it defined by different actors? Why is the word so common in humanitarian crises and yet, can mean a multitude of different things for those who reside in one? This module takes a long-term historical approach to the idea of the camp, real or imagined, in humanitarian and conflict settings. Students are provided with the theoretical and conceptual tools for analysing the types of camps which have existed past and present and the purpose they serve. Further, the course interrogates the “root causes” of camps, whether war and conflict, genocide, natural hazards or government imposed detention, we ask how they are maintained and justified and continue to be an integral part of humanitarian response. Students will critically analyse primary and secondary sources ranging from examining the colonial concentration camps, to the holocaust through to western detention centres in the present day.

Aims

To interrogate the different definitions and understandings of the Camp in humanitarian settings
To consider the types of humanitarian crises which result in the formation of camps
To critically assess the purpose of camps for different actors and the roles played by these actors in maintaining or dismantling them.
Develop critical research and analysis skills related to the use of primary and secondary sources and demonstrated through two pieces of assessment

Teaching and learning methods

The lectures will be split into three themes, following a chronological pattern: Concentration camps, Refugee and IDP camps and finally detention centre camps.

Knowledge and understanding

To learn the theories and concepts related to how camps are defined
To develop a critical understanding of the actors involved in the creation and maintenance of camps and the purposes they serve
To develop a good understanding of the types of humanitarian crises or conflict which result in the creation of a camp, past and present
To understand the historical lineage of the camp and its colonial underpinnings
To use this knowledge to make an assessment on the future of the camp in humanitarian and conflict settings.

Intellectual skills

Critically interrogate the literature and primary sources on camps in humanitarian and conflict settings, past and present
Understand the scholarship on the theories of camp creation and interrogate the differences between the scholarship from the Global North versus the Global South.
Develop an ability to use primary sources as started at Level 1, to use personal accounts and sources as a means for developing academic arguments.

Practical skills

Understand the many facets of a camp in different circumstances and use this understanding for appropriate humanitarian interventions in future crises.
Be able to translate historical facets of the camp to present day humanitarian iterations of the camp.
Develop a historical screencast podcast to inform others of the ways in which camps were conceptualised in the past
Write a critical essay demonstrating research skills on this topic

Transferable skills and personal qualities

Develop an audio / visual screencast mini-documentary to communicate academic knowledge to a wider audience.
Become specialists in refugee / IDP camps and detention centres for future careers.
Bring the human element to a solid, physical structure.

Employability skills

Other: Information Retrieval Research design Presentation Teamwork Time Management Improving own Learning

Assessment methods

Method	Weight
Other	30%
Written assignment (inc essay)	70%

Tutorial preparation & participation

Formative

Knowledge translation project –

screencast documentary

Summative

30%

Essay