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'Undesirables': Migration Mobility and Empire

Module description

This module foregrounds the racialised figure of the ‘undesirable’ migrant as a means of rethinking colonial and postcolonial history. We examine the making of the modern world as inextricably linked to the history of migration and Empire, taking our cue from A. Sivanandan’s aphorism about postcolonial migration: ‘we are here because you were there’. The module is thereby concerned with histories of migration and mobility within the British Empire and in the aftermath of political decolonisation. Exploring the intersections of race, gender, caste, class in shaping Asian and African migration in particular, we cover themes such as diaspora, public health, sexuality, borders, and citizenship, and draw on environmental and labour histories. The module also explores the role of the state in delineating ‘undesirable’ migrants and controlling mobility through seemingly innocuous passport and visa regimes.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will equip you to:

1. Develop a nuanced understanding of the links between migration, mobility and the making of the modern world
2. Trace the historical, colonial processes that are manifest in contemporary discussions of ‘border control’ and the securitisation of migration.
3. Critically examine objects such as passports and visas, taken for granted as part of the bureaucracy of everyday mobility.
4. Undertake research using a variety of primary sources such as migrant memoirs, oral histories, poetry, paraphernalia and legislation.
5. Gain awareness of the interdisciplinary scholarship on Empire, migration, and mobility

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Demonstrate a good conceptual and methodological knowledge of colonial and postcolonial migration
• 2. Summarise and evaluate the different historiographical approaches to the study of migration and mobility in the context of Britain and the settler colonies
• 3. Critically evaluate and work with a range of primary and secondary sources pertaining to migration, mobility and Empire

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Analyse the key developments in a defined historical subject.
• 5. Demonstrate an ability to understand and deploy complex historical terminology correctly
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to handle different approaches to history in a contested area of historical study

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Select, organise and analyse material for written work and oral presentations of different prescribed lengths and formats.
• 8. Present complex information orally.
• 9. Present an argument in a written form in a clear and organised manner, with appropriate use of correct English
• 10. Through essay development process, demonstrate ability to reflect critically on your own work, to respond constructively to feedback, and to implement suggestions and improve work on this basis

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Diaspora, Migration, and Identity
• Race, Sexuality and Public Health: Policing Migrant Bodies
• Passport Privileges: Race, Caste, Class and Mobility
• Migration and the Settler Colonial State
• ‘Undesirables’: Miscegenation and Migrant Anxieties
• Windrush and Beyond: Understanding Postwar Migration
• Oceanic Histories of Migration: The ‘Black Atlantic’ and the Indian Ocean
• Decolonisation and Displacement: Refugees, Migrants, Citizens
• Memory, Migritude, Indenture

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 3,000-word  written assignment, as in the original assessment, but replaces participation in the group presentation with an individual presentation equivalent to an individual’s contribution, to be recorded and submitted with all supporting materials as for the original assessment; failing this, students should submit a written script that could be delivered in such a presentation (750 words) along with all supporting materials as for the original assessment.

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

• Sunil S. Amrith, Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
• Sunil S Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013
• Tony Ballantyne and Antoinette Burton, eds., Moving Subjects: Gender, Mobility, and Intimacy in an Age of Global Empire. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009
• Gaiutra Bahadur, Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013
• Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992
• Kennetta Hammond Perry, London is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship, and the Politics ofRace, New York: Oxford University Press, 2016
• Marjory Harper and Stephen Constantine, Migration and Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
• Shailja Patel, Migritude, New York: Kaya Press, 2010
• Evan Smith and Marinella Marmo. ‘Uncovering the ‘Virginity Testing’ controversy in the national archives: The intersectionality of discrimination in British immigration history.’ Gender & History 23, no. 1 (2011): 147-165
• Radhika Viyas Mongia. ‘Race, nationality, mobility: A history of the passport.’ Public Culture, 11, no. 3 (1999): 527-555

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages

Key words search

Migration, Race, Empire, Mobility, Identity, Gender, Colonialism, Postcolonialism