B5022 - Migrations, Policies and Frontiers (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module, students acquire critical and in-depth knowledge of migration policies as well as of the transformations of the mechanisms and the spaces of migration confinement that took place in Europe and in the Mediterranean in the last three decades. Students also acquire full knowledge of migration theories, understand the relevance of a geographical approach to migration and learn how laws and borders enforce a differential access to mobility. Students fully understand the intertwining of asylum policies, visa policies and labour policies in controlling migration.

Course contents

The first part of the module will introduce the students to the legal and political obstacles that some people across the globe face if they want to move to another country or to seek asylum. During the first two weeks, the module will explore the entanglements of security and humanitarian approaches to migration with specific attention to labour and asylum in Europe.

Drawing on critical migration scholarship, the second part will discuss the current and past geographies of migration in Europe and in the Mediterranean region.

In the third and final part, it will illustrate how migrant’s presence and movements are contained by focusing on key political technologies of mobility governance: camps, routes, the urban space, makeshift camps and detention centers.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

Mandatory texts

Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2014). Confini e frontiere. La moltiplicazione del lavoro nel mondo globale . Il mulino.

Rigo, E. (2022). La straniera: migrazioni, asilo, sfruttamento in una prospettiva di genere. Milano: Carocci.

Bibliografia indicativa

Beneduce, R. (2020). Frantz Fanon, decolonizzare la follia. Scritti sulla psichiatria coloniale. Ombre corte.

Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2018). L’era delle migrazioni: popoli in movimento nel mondo contemporaneo. Odoya.

Ciabarri, L. (2020). L'imbroglio mediterraneo: le migrazioni via mare e le politiche della frontiera (Vol. 131). Raffaello Cortina.

Colucci, M. (2014) Storia dell'immigrazione straniera in Italia. Dal 1945 ai nostri giorni. Carocci.

Fanon, F. (2015). Pelle nera, maschere bianche. ETS.

Fassin, D. (2018). Ragione umanitaria. Una storia morale del presente.

Khosravi, S. (2019). Io sono confine. Milano: elèuthera.

Mellino, M. (2019) Governare la crisi dei rifugiati : sovranismo, neoliberalismo, razzismo e accoglienza in Europa. DeriveApprodi

Mezzadra, S. (2006). Diritto di fuga. Migrazioni, cittadinanza, globalizzazione. Nuova edizione ampliata. Ombre corte.

Pinelli, B. (2019). Migranti e rifugiate. Antropologia, genere e politica. Raffaello Cortina Editore srl.

Salvatici, S. (2015). Nel nome degli altri: storia dell'umanitarismo internazionale. Il mulino.

Sayad, A. (2002). La doppia assenza. Dalle illusioni dell’emigrato alle sofferenze dell’immigrato. Cortina

Non-attending students:

the two mandatory texts below, plus two books from the list above

Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2014). Confini e frontiere. La moltiplicazione del lavoro nel mondo globale . Il mulino.

Rigo, E. (2022). La straniera: migrazioni, asilo, sfruttamento in una prospettiva di genere. Milano: Carocci.

Teaching methods

The module will run over five weeks. The explanation of course contents will be mainly delivered through lectures. In addition to that, students will be asked to work in seminar groups (every other week), to discuss the reading material and the topics covered in the module.

Attending students are required to attend at least 75% of classes

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Assessment methods

Attending students:


Oral exam on the course content and the two texts included in the exam programme



Non-attending students:


Oral exam on the course content, the two texts on the exam syllabus + two chosen from the list of texts provided


Exam sessions scheduled (the exact dates will be indicated later)


-December


-January


-February


-May


-June


-September

Teaching tools

power points; maps; videos

Office hours

See the website of Martina Tazzioli