SOCI 380 - People on the Move: The Case of People from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq coming to Greece in 2015-16

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course focuses on the social and political meaning of forced migration in the 21st century with particular attention to people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq who fled their countries in 2015-2016 with hopes of finding safe haven in Europe. We look at the proximate facts that caused people to gather their belongings and abandon their homes, the levels and types of precarity they experienced on their journey, the challenges they faced in Greece, and the Greek response to their presence. My experience in Greece in 2015 and 2016 as well as much of the writing and scholarship about this most recent chapter of forced migration inspire the seminar.

This case study is animated by larger questions about how this example of forced migration is similar to and different from past forced migrations. What does forced migration mean in a global society? How do people empower themselves and find a sense of identity in these situations of “bare life”? What does it mean to be a citizen? Are national borders obsolete? What structural changes need to take place so that people are secure in their homelands? Diane Harriford.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS