Content

This course focuses on anthropological research, concepts and case-studies dealing with the complexities of the phenomena of culture-formation, mobility and migration within a context which is generally identified as globalization. Students gain a broad as well as in-depth understanding of the interplay between processes of culture-formation related to complex forms of migration and mobility.

The guiding questions of this course are (a) How is culture constituted through processes of migration, circulation and mobility?; and (b) How are migration and mobility signified and imagined and construed through the lens of (changing) cultural ideologies and practices?

The key theoretical concepts dealt with in the course are, among others, super-diversity, transnationality, multi-sitedness, complex migration trajectories, the multiplication of borders, transnational popular culture/heritage, diaspora, regimes of diversity and mobility, autochthony and indigeneity .

The disciplinary range of the course occasionally exceeds Anthropology and ventures into Cultural Studies, Urban Studies, Social and Cultural Geography, and Sociolinguistics. The geographical focus is eminently global with a slight bias towards Europe and Africa.

Course material

Used course material includes:
- articles
- slides
- multimedia

Course material, including ‘basic texts’, slides and bibliographic references of sources mentioned during the lectures, is announced and/or made available through Toledo. Toledo is being used for this learning activity.

Format: more information

Learning activities include:

1. Reading assignments (before each session). Students are expected to have read carefully the assigned texts (called ‘basic texts’) before the weekly lecture and draft a so-called ‘discussion note’: a short reflective statement about 10 of the ‘basic texts’ for each of the 5 thematic sections.

2. Weekly lectures consist of in-depth, interactive analysis and elaboration of each of the ‘basic texts’. These sessions are prepared by a designated group of students, and enriched by short clips and other material introduced by the instructor. The designated group of students are expected to participate actively.