Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA3043: From "Home Lands" to "Host States": Migration, Displacement and Diaspora in the Middle East

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

Among the topics covered are the issue of displacement, confinement, exclusion, labour migration, national and transnational citizenship from the forced migration of Armenians to Palestinian dispossession, reaching the present days characterised by statelessness, sectarian politics and human trafficking from Iraqi refugees to the incumbent Syrian diaspora. The course examines migration and refugee issues with a special emphasis on questions related to identity, representation, citizenship, culture, gender, politics and human rights. Finally, while focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, the course aims at locating the topic in a global perspective, now that refugees and forced displacement are becoming the defining feature of the 21st century, with over 65 million people displaced in the world. The interdisciplinary nature of the module and the use of a variety of materials (books, journal articles, think tank publications, documentaries, interviews) aim to widen your understanding of the region and equip them with new tools of analysis, which can support you as academics and independent researchers.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Develop factual and theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of migration in the context of the MENA region
2. Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of the main forces that have been at the origin of migration, displacement, exclusion and diasporas of the MENA region in the last 150 years
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Employ and analyse cross-disciplinary sources and develop critical arguments.
4. Demonstrate how to link theory to practice and apply concepts learnt in a global perspective to develop critical arguments.
Personal and Key Skills5. Conduct critical and thorough analyses of the subject topics in written work and oral presentation
6. Demonstrate high degree of autonomy and effective collaboration when conducting research
7. Develop high quality of research, evaluation and synthesis from a wide range of sources