BASS Politics and Sociology / Course details

Lectures 

Week Lecture Title

1. Introduction: The global movement of people, a historic overview and key concepts

2. Theoretical approaches to migration

3. Migration and mobilities: types of migration including climate migration

4. Migration, border controls and their impact

5. Gender perspectives

6. Migration, race and racism

7. Responding to migration and diversity: Assimilation, inclusion, culture and cohesion

8. Transnationalism, age and migration: Connecting and sustaining ties across borders

9. Migration in a Global world: Policy and practice with guest speaker

10. Course overview, evaluation and revision session

.

This course aims to equip students with an understanding of the key concepts in global migration including the causes and consequences of migration, national and international responses to migration and the diversity of migrant flows within a global context. Students will critically evaluate the theoretical perspectives that inform the sociology of migration alongside the inter-disciplinary aspects of research and scholarship in the area of Migration Studies. Students will understand and learn the theory behind migration, how and why migration has changed and gain knowledge around the motivations which prompt migration. Structurally, the governance of migration will be explored alongside the consequences and experiences of policy, such as new and dangerous migrant routes, the feminisation of migration, current crises, racism and transnational ties.

At the end of the course students should be able to:

· To be able to understand and apply key concepts and theoretical arguments relating to the causes, consequences and impact of global migration.

· Be able to critically evaluate theoretical perspectives and provide evidence to support how we think about global migration, and how people engage with new or changing, environmentally induced migration and attached pressures.

· To be able to summarise, synthesise and evaluate information from a range of sources including academic and grey literature for assessment, debate and group work.

· Reflect on how these issues affect the world you live in, locally, nationally and globally.

· Acquire and demonstrate transferable skills through group work, and debates.

In addition to the above objectives, students will develop and utilise skills in presentation of ideas (in both verbal and written work) and in the use of a wide range of information resources.

Two hour lecture plus one hour workshop per week.

· One compulsory non-assessed essay plan and annotated bibliography 

· One assessed essay worth 50% of the total mark

· One two-hour unseen examination to be taken at the end of the course worth 50% of the total mark

All sociology courses include both formative feedback – which lets you know how you’re getting on and what you could do to improve – and summative feedback – which gives you a mark for your assessed work

Some required readings may be made available electronically via the course website. All other readings should be available from the University Main Library. Most reading is specific to particular topics as described in the reading list below. The following more general textbooks are helpful and recommended:

De Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2022). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. Bloomsbury Publishing. (6th edition).

Brettell, C. B., & Hollifield, J. F (2023) Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines. Routledge: Oxon. (4th edition).

Key Journals

Journal articles are important for this course because they are often more up to date than books and they are more accessible. The key journals where you will find relevant articles include:

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Ethnic and Racial Studies

Cultural Geographies

International Migration Review

International Migration

Websites

Migration trends are often supported with data and statistics that can inform local, global and national migration patterns. Recommended websites include:

· The Migration Observatory, https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/ · IOM UN Migration https://www.iom.int/

· Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Migration within the UK https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/migrationwithintheuk

· Census report

2015/15 timetable

Friday 14:00 - 17:00