78774 - Sociology of Migrations (LM)

Learning outcomes

The student acquires a general introduction to the study of contemporary international migrations. It will focus on the main issues in the sociology of migration, ad on the most important interpretative models of the migratory processes. Students will be introduced not only to the classical sociological conceptualizations derived from economics and demography, but also to the most recent theoretical and explanatory patterns.

Course contents

ASIAN IM/MOBILITIES

Im/mobilities, Migration and Society in Asia


We will analyze mobility, immobility, and migration as they relate to Asian countries, with the main focus on East and Southeast Asia.
We will delve into racializing ideologies, emphasizing how they are systematically entangled with the politics of language and translation.
We will discuss how mobilities and migrations affect different social classes differently, with different modes of im/mobility available to the capital-rich, workers, the highly skilled, and students.
The course will highlight how im/mobility and migration are in dynamic tension with socio-cultural changes. This is evident in some crucial trends such as:
√ commercial surrogacy and the ways in which bodies, caste, class and racializing politics are represented;
√ birth tourism and reproduction-driven mobility as ways of escaping the limits imposed by citizenship;
√ the growing entanglement of care and control in Asian mobilities, as manifested in the use of social robotics to address widespread sentiments about the arrival of foreigners on national territory;
√ the hightened surveillance of marriage and sex migration as sources of public anxiety, perceived as they are as inseparable from sexual morality, national identity, and border security;
√ the new, powerful capacity for extra-territorial governance in Asia, achieved mainly through the use of social media - with WeChat in China and WhatsApp in India being used as prominent political tools for citizen and diasporic control.

The course will also offer an introduction to visual sociology as a tool to enable students to develop sociological interpretations of the images and videos proposed by the instructor.


Guest lecturers will be invited.


Link for further information: https://unibo.academia.edu/antonellaceccagno 

 

Readings/Bibliography

There are no textbooks assigned for this course. Readings are book chapters and (e-)journal articles. These can be accessed directly with username and password from Virtuale https://virtuale.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=37363.

Teaching methods

Lectures, student presentations, group discussions, documentaries and films.
Students are expected to prepare assigned readings in advance. Participation is expected and will be rewarded.

 

Assessment methods

Students attending class are expected to:

1. Make presentations to the class and stimulate class discussion on one or more papers included in the reading list and other papers agreed upon with the instructor;

2. Complete each week's readings in advance of class. Attendance, participation, and level of engagement with the readings are critical to the quality of the experience and student success in the course. Student initiative in articulating themes, connecting different texts and visual materials, proposing video clips or other visual products related to the course theme will be positively evaluated.

3. Write a final essay on one of the topics discussed in class, as agreed upon with the instructor. A topic not included in the reading list - and the relevant bibliography - can be agreed with the instructor.

Length of final essay: 2500-3000 words, including references, for students earning 9 credits; 2000-2500 words, including references, for students earning 6 credits.

Grading Criteria

1. Active participation in class discussions 25%.

2. Individual or group presentations 25%.

3. Final paper 50%.

To pass the course, you must pass ALL exams.

To have the final grade registered, students should register on the official exam dates in the Almaesami website (https://almaesami.unibo.it/almaesami/welcome.htm).

More about the FINAL ESSAY

Make sure that you send the essay as a .doc/.docx, NOT as a .pdf document.

References may only include articles, books, and documentaries discussed in the essay. References should be listed in the text, e.g. (Ceccagno 2022), not in the footnotes.

A signed statement of independence should be included at the end of the essay.

Essays that do not meet these criteria will be returned and must be resubmitted.

Final essays should be submitted for grading at least 15 days prior to the official exam date(s). An essay is considered submitted when the student receives the instructor's email confirming receipt.

Non-attending students: please contact the instructor in advance.

Students who do not attend class will take an oral exam based on the course readings and videos. Questions will be designed to test the student's ability to think critically about the issues presented and to construct an argument using appropriate language.

Teaching tools

In-person and online lectures. Guest lecturers may be invited. An extensive bibliography will also be made available for those who wish to study the subject in depth. The readings will be supplemented by films and videos.

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Ceccagno