Topics vary by semester
Professor(s)
Notes
The course examines the contemporary human geography, history, and politics of the Middle East with regard to patterns of human settlement, migration, refugees and forced displacement. The course covers the region of the Middle East with a broad understanding: from Lebanon to Iraq, from Syria to Egypt and Sudan, from the Arabic Peninsula to Palestine and Turkey.
In the course, we will explore mobility in the Middle East. We will understand how mobility shapes the patterns of human settlement – from the cosmopolitan but segregated cities of the Gulf countries to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan -- across a region characterized by demographic growth, economic and social stagnation, important inequalities within each country and differences in development from one country to another, and political turmoil.
Against the backdrop of contemporary history (20th century until today), we will analyze the relationship between State building and displacement. We will also focus on some of the main conflicts that have propelled millions of people from the Middle East on the roads of exile. The course invites students to understand some of the most tragic humanitarian crises of our time, with a special focus on Palestine and Syria. Involuntary displacement provoked by environmental change will be addressed too.
In doing so, the course provides an introduction to various concepts and theory pertaining:
· human geography, e.g. cities, urbanization, cosmopolitism; demographic transition; borders and borderlands, etc.
· migration studies
· transnational studies
· conflict studies
· political economy
· International relations
· Forced migration and refugee studies e.g. the legal frameworks within which migrations and forced migrations operate (national regulations on migrations; the 1951 Convention of Geneva on Refugees and the legal framework of asylum seekers and refugees) and the international / national architecture of protection.
Learning Outcomes
- Familiarize themselves with major aspects of the human geography of the Middle East: population and patterns of settlement, borders, transnational spaces, networks, circulations.
- Understand the social, economic and political transformations of the region in relation to economic transformation and insertion into globalization.
- Explore the political economy and the spaces of labor migration in the region.
- Have a command of the history and geography of forced displacement and refugees in the Middle East.
- Understand the main conflicts or other types of crises leading to dispossession and/or to forced or involuntary displacement in this region.
- Engage with notions that are grounded both in specific academic disciplinary fields (human geography, political economy, international relations, history, anthropology) and in more interdisciplinary fields of studies: urban studies, migration studies, forced displacement and refugee studies.
- Engage with different types of sources: academic literature as well as the ‘grey literature’ produced by international organizations and NGOs, and other open sources (including the press).
Syllabus
Schedule
| Day | Start Time | End Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | 09:00 | 11:55 | C-103 |