Europe, Migration, Refugees

About

This seminar aims to provide students with a critical analytical toolbox to understand migration, asylum, and border regimes in Europe. We will develop an understanding of the movement of migrants and refugees to Europe, their struggles for equality and rights, initiatives in solidarity with refugees and migrants, as well as state and supranational responses. For that, the seminar is organized around three interconnected themes. The first aims at assessing the historical and legal bases of asylum, including the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. We will also examine how refugees are conceptualized in regional human rights frameworks. The second part investigates border violence and pushbacks at Europe’s external borders, and their contestations through legal interventions and counterforensic investigations. The third part considers the realities of migrant workers in Europe, histories of collective struggle of people on the move and those in solidarity with them, and everyday practices of survival and solidarity as sites of political engagement.

The course integrates theoretical perspectives with empirical case studies, audiovisual materials, field visits to relevant sites and organizations in Berlin, fostering a reflective and interdisciplinary approach to the theme of migration and forced displacement to Europe. Throughout our seminar, active engagement, critical thinking, and robust discussions are encouraged.

Course leader

Dr. Nerges Azizi

Target group

This course is designed for all students having a personal, professional or political personal interest in a deeper and thus more differentiated understanding of transnational migration.

Fee info