L&S Curricular Connections

In this course we will explore questions about migration and membership in the contemporary world by drawing on empirical and normative perspectives.

The first half of the course will focus on membership. How should we conceive of membership—as a formal legal status (e.g., citizenship status), entitlement to a set of rights, active participation in self-governance, an identity, or something else? What is the relationship between membership and class, race, and gender? What rights have historically been associated with citizenship status, and what rights have been extended to noncitizens living in a country?

The second half of the course will focus on migration. Why do people migrate across international borders? Should people be allowed to migrate across borders? States exert control over migration but what, if anything, justifies this control? What is the impact of migration on sending countries, receiving countries, and the migrants themselves? How do we understand the politics of immigration? What kinds of immigration policies should democracies pursue?