Dr Isabel Shutes OLD 2.58 and Prof Emma Platt OLD 2.25

Lectures will be given by Dr Isabel Shutes and Professor Lucinda Platt, both active researchers in migration studies. Classes will also be taken by either Dr Shutes or Prof Platt.

This course is available on the BSc in Social Policy, BSc in Social Policy and Economics, BSc in Social Policy and Sociology and BSc in Social Policy with Government. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This interdisciplinary course addresses contemporary global migration issues in migration, with reference to both developing and developed country contexts. It analyses international migration patterns and forms of migration, analysing how migrants and migration are constructed in relation to citizenship, social and public policy, and in research, as well as how these understandings are gendered. It addresses stratification and inequalities within migrants according in terms of access to citizenship and forms of welfare. It considers the relationship between migration and social policy and the implications of migration for social and public policies.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the MT.

Each week, all students are expected to read one key text (or sometimes two short texts) in preparation for the class and to participate actively in discussions. This will be complemented by class activities picking up on other issues covered in the lecture and class questions.

A longer list of complementary readings (and other materials, including podcasts, lectures, reports, maps and interactive materials) that students are encouraged to engage with will also be supplied. They will also be expected to use these in the formative and summative essays .

A Moodle discussion forum specifically for the undergraduate students on the course, will be used to share thoughts and relevant material.

Undergraduate students will be invited to participate in the exhibition that is part of the course for the MSc version of the course. For undergraduate students this will be optional rather than voluntary. 

A screening of a film/documentary will take place during the course and will be open to both undergraduates and masters students taking the course.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT.

A 1,500 word essay addressing one of the class questions will provide the opportunity for practice in and feedback on essay writing in the topic area. This will be due by end of week 8.

Indicative essential readings 

Goldin, I., Cameron, G.  & Balarajan, M. (2012) Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future, Princeton University Press. CHAPTER 1

Shachar, A. (2009) The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. INTRODUCTION.

Favell A., Feldblum, M. and Smith, M. (2007) "The human face of global mobility: a research agenda", Society, 44: 15-25..

Long, K. (2013) "When Refugees stopped being Migrants: Movement, Labour and Humanitarian Protection", Migration Studies, 1: 1, 4-26.

Donato, K. et al. (2006) "A Glass Half Full? Gender in Migration Studies", International Migration Review, 40: 1, 3-26.

Lee, J. et al. (2014) "The International Migration Review at 50: Reflecting on Half a Century of International Migration Research and Looking Ahead", International Migration Review, 48: Anniversary Issue, S3–S36.

Cerrutti, M. and Parrado, E. (2015) “Intraregional Migration in South America: Trends and a Research Agenda”, Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 399-421.

Luthra, R., Platt, L. and Salamońska, J. (2016) "Types of Migration: the Motivations, Composition, and Early Integration Patterns of ‘New Migrants’ in Europe", International Migration Review, published online Sept 2016.

Guveli, A., Ganzeboom, H., Baykara-Krumme, H., Platt, L. Eroǧlu, Spierings, N. Bayrakdar, S. Nauck, B. and Sozeri, E.K. (2016) "2000 Families: identifying the research potential of an origins-of-migration study", Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40: 14.

Dahinden (2016) "A plea for the ‘de-migranticization' of research on migration and integration", Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39:13, 2207-2225.

Shutes, I. and Walker, S. (2017) "Gender and Free Movement: EU Migrant Women's Access to Residence and Social Rights in the UK", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published online June 2017.

Czaika, M. and De Haas, H. (2013) "The effectiveness of migration policies", Population and Development Review, 39: 3, 487-508.

The reading list includes required and supplementary readings demonstrate current debates and approaches. Readings will be complemented by podcasts, videos and interactive materials relating to the readings. A film showing will also provide an early point of reference and discussion. 

Essay (30%, 1000 words) in the MT.
Essay (70%, 2000 words) in the LT.

The course is assessed by two summative assignments (100% summative coursework).

Assignment 1 (30% of the final mark)

The first assignment comprises a 1,000 word (maximum) critical engagement with one of the essential texts set within the first five weeks of the course. This will require summarising the key arguments, highlighting potential limits and criticisms of the arguments (drawing on other material and lectures from the course) and concluding on its contribution to migration studies.

The first assignment is due by the end of the term in which the course is taught

Assignment 2 (70% of the final mark)

The second assignment is a written essay (up to 2,000 words) that should address one question from a set provided.

The second assignment is due at the beginning of the term following the term in which the course is taught.

Both assignments should be submitted via Moodle.