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Displacement and Migration in the Middle East

Module description

Displacement is a well-established phenomenon in conflict-affected populations. Due to the fear of violence or even the threat of death, people decide to leave their homes and communities voluntarily and involuntarily and seek safe places inside or outside their country. The module aims at providing you with an understanding of how the phenomenon of migration and displacement has indelibly marked states and societies of the Middle East throughout the last 150 years and remains even today a significant element of contemporary life in the region. The module aims to engage with a range of theoretical debates, issues and concepts surrounding migration; provide the historical background and context for the waves of current displacements and dispossessions, and to examine contemporary communities who have faced internal and external displacement with dispossession. Course readings are interdisciplinary and include works from history, sociology, political science, economy, anthropology and human rights advocacy sub-disciplines. No specific pre-requisite skills are required to take this module. This module is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways and therefore benefits their overall academic curricula.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to equip you with the conceptual and theoretical tools necessary for understanding the increasing of displacement in the ME. It will familiarise you with the latest research on displacement and encourage you to develop a critical perspective in analysing existing research. You will be exposed to a variety of methodological approaches and challenges in research on Migration and displacement. Among the topics covered are the issue of displacement, confinement, exclusion, labour migration, national and transnational citizenship from the forced migration of Armenians to Palestinian dispossession, reaching the present days characterised by statelessness, sectarian politics and human trafficking from Iraqi refugees to the incumbent Syrian diaspora. The course examines migration and refugee issues with a special emphasis on questions related to identity, representation, citizenship, culture, gender, politics and human rights, while focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, the course aims at locating the topic in a global perspective, now that refugees and forced displacement are becoming the defining feature of the 21st century, with over 70 million people displaced in the world.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Understand the key theoretical debates, concepts and issues surrounding the phenomenon of migration and displacement.
• 2. Demonstrate that a displacement framework can provide considerable insight into crucial aspects and dimensions of the wars.
• 3. Understand the forces that have been at the origin of migration, displacement, exclusion and Diasporas in the MENA region in the last 150 years.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Critically apply concepts learnt in a global perspective and develop critical arguments.
• 5. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing research.
• 6. Use and analyse cross-disciplinary data relevant to specific issues.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Display an ability to conduct critical analyses and evaluation of different topics.
• 8. Work independently and with peers to achieve goals.
• 9. Enhance presentation skills.

Syllabus plan

While the precise programme may vary, it is expected that the module will include lectures on the following themes:
• Dispossession and Social Cohesion in the Ottoman Period: Distinct Cultures and Separate Communities
• Dismemberment of the Empire and the dispossession and involuntary migration of Muslim communities
• The departure of Christians Protected minorities
• The Palestinians: Eviction, exodus and temporality
• The Kurds Dispossession, recognition and abandonment
• Labor migration in the Arab world
• Migration Diasporas and the Arab Spring
• Iraq’s Exiles: No durable solutions
• Syria, refugees and narratives of migration crises

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)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Readings:
• McMeekin, S. (2015) the Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution and the Making of the Modern Middle East. (chapter 1) London: Penguin Press.
• Chatty, D. (2010) Dispossession and Displacement in the Modern Middle East, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (chapter 2)
Suggested readings:
• Bakkour, Samer. The End of Middle East Peace Process: the Failure of US Diplomacy (Routledge: New York, London, 2022)
• Bakkour Samer.(2022), Daraa and the Altered Trajectory of the Syrian Crisis, Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, p. 225-242, https://doi.org/10.1080/25765949.2022.2099025
• Barakat, Nora Elizabeth, an Empty Land? Nomads and Property Administration in Hamidian Syria, Dissertation 2015.
• Berkey, K. and G. Gavrilis (2016) ‘the Ottoman Millet System: Non-territorial Autonomy and its Contemporary Legacy’. In Ethno politics, 15 (1): 24-42
• Bryant, R. (ed.) Post-Ottoman Coexistence: Sharing Space in the Shadow of Conflict. Space and Place Series. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016).
• Chatty, D (2013) ’ Refugees, Exiles, and other Forced Migrants in the Late Ottoman Empire’. In Refugee Survey Quarterly. Vol 32 (2):35-52.
• Kasaba, R. A Moveable Empire: Ottoman Nomads, Migrants, and Refugees (Seattle, WA, 2009)
• Kasaba, R. Nomads and Tribes in the Ottoman Empire in Chirstine Woodhead, the Ottoman World, (Abingdon, Routledge, 2012).
• Kedourie, E. (1983) ‘Minorities and majorities in the Middle East’, Archives Européenes de Sociologie 25(2): 276-282.
• McCarthy, J. Death and Exile: the Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1992, Princeton: Darwin Press, 1995).
• Quataert, D. (2000) the Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
• Koksal, Yonca (2006) Coercion and mediation: Centralization and sedentarization of tribes in the Ottoman empire, Middle Eastern Studies 42(3): 469-491

Key words search

Migration, Displacement, Refugees, Sanction, Siege, Dispossession, Enforced and Strategic Displacement, Sectarianization