Module description
This course aims explores the interconnection between displacement and development by pushing the boundaries of the concept of displacement and by broadening it epistemologically, thematically, spatially, and temporally. It explores the histories, ecologies, and subjectivities of displacement from industrialization and the rise of nation states to the massive dislocations of the 20th century and the era of climate change as all connected to policies of development. Hence, it is a multidisciplinary course, covering literature from Anthropology, Sociology, History, Law, Political Science as well as Cultural Studies. This module is an opportunity to share perspectives on displacement as a phenomenon that, while ancient in form, is historically unprecedented in its current scale, violence, and longevity and as a phenomenon connected to development. We examine displacements linked with European colonial expansion, the slave trade, the creation of new ecological environments through the exchange of plants and microbes, introduction of new agricultural systems, and mass industrialization. We also study the construction of vast systems of barriers and surveillance to control the movement of undesirable persons along the seams of national, ethnic, sectarian, and class boundaries.
Assessment details
Participation and Engagement - 10%
Final Essay (3,000 words) - 90%
Teaching pattern
10 x 1 hour lectures
10 x 1 hour seminars