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Migration, Literature and Culture

Module description

Migration, Literature and Culture seeks to investigate how the movement of people across borders has been tackled in modern and contemporary literatures and cultures from around the world. The module will allow you to understand the role of colonialism, decolonization, conflict and globalization in the formation of migration policies, national borders and identities, and in causing different forms of dislocation. You will engage with a range of theoretical, literary and cultural texts dealing with these themes, with a particular focus on migration in global South regions, such as the Middle East, East Africa and Southeast Asia. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module you will read and engage with theoretical, literary and cultural texts concerned with the lived experiences of exiles, immigrants, refugees, migrant workers, diasporas, and other mobile subjects and communities in different parts of the world, particularly in global South contexts where histories of imperialism and colonialism, the dominance of global capitalism, and other political, economic and social divisions have generated increasing conflict and inequality and given rise to larger numbers of migrants and refugees in recent decades. You will be expected to develop your knowledge of these realities and to situate weekly readings within particular historical and political contexts. You will also be expected to critically compare texts and migration regimes and experiences in different contexts, and to consider the role which literature and film, with their specific thematic and formal features, can play in relation to realities of migration and displacement.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate understanding of the historical, political and economic circumstances shaping migration in different contexts
• 2. Demonstrate appreciation of the role of literary and cultural texts in responding to different realities of migration
• 3. Establish connections and identify distinctions between migration literatures and cultures from different contexts

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Analyse literary and cultural works by situating them in their respective contexts of writing and production and by investigating the significance of their thematic and formal features
• 5. Demonstrate understanding of theoretical ideas and use them to develop and deepen understanding and analysis of literary and cultural texts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate communications skills by participating in seminar discussions and being part of small study groups
• 7. Demonstrate ability to articulate critical and coherent ideas by writing an essay with a structured critical argument
• 8. Demonstrate ability to connect the module content and readings with broader contemporary realities of migration in the UK (or elsewhere) by conducting a project and writing a blog piece reflecting on process and findings

Syllabus plan

• The module will be structured thematically and geographically; it will be divided into blocks – including space and place, identities and subjectivities, and laws and structures – with each week focusing on contemporary literary and/or cultural works from a specific geographical context
• Weekly readings will include theoretical texts on exile, migration, diaspora, borders, citizenship and mobilities amongst others, starting with the classic mid- and late-20^th century work of Hannah Arendt, Theodor Adorno and Edward Said, and moving on to more recent scholarship on border regimes, transnational labor and global migration, including post- and de-colonial approaches
• Theoretical weekly readings will be combined with contemporary literary and cultural texts (mostly fiction and film) that tackle wide-ranging issues in relation to migration, such as race, labor, and climate change, amongst others, with particular attention paid to migration in the global South, including South-South migration (e.g. internal and irregular migration in Malaysia; racism and migrant domestic work in Lebanon; Eritrean displacement)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Please note that the below is an indicative list and that the list for the current year will be available on ELE. Additional sources will be made available to students via the ELE site.

Basic reading:

Tash Aw. We, the Survivors (2019)

Rawi Hage. Cockroach (2008)

Haji Jaber. Black Foam (2018)

Nadine Labaki. Capernaum (2018)

Ben Sharrock. Limbo (2020)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Peter Adey, et al. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Mobilities (2014)

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Patricia Daley (eds.) Routledge Handbook of South-South Relations (2019)

Lucy Mayblin and Joe Turner. Migration Studies and Colonialism (2020)

Edward Said. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays (2000)

Harsha Walia. Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (2021)

Key words search

Migration, literature, film, borders, policy, post-colonial writing, world literature, globalization, displacement, diaspora, refugees, migrant labour, global South, Middle East, East Africa, Southeast Asia