Time Schedule:
Kathie Friedman
SIS 490
Seattle Campus
Content varies from quarter to quarter.
Class description
Global Diasporas This course examines the concept, process, and lived practice of diaspora in comparative global perspective. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we focus on the experiences and relationships of people who migrate across international boundaries and maintain connections with each other and/or their ancestral homelands over long periods of time and large-scale geographical distances. In the first part of the course we survey the growing theoretical literature on diasporas, and its relation to the literature on transnational migration and transnational communities. We also compare and contrast historical with more contemporary diasporas. In the second part, we turn to selected cases and examples, and consider the ramifications of contemporary transnational movements for notions of diasporic identities and citizenship. The third part of the course considers the implications of diaspora for economic development and political movements. We conclude with an assessment of the utility of the concept of diaspora as an analytical tool for understanding the relations between transnationalism and group affiliations in today’s world system.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Seminar
Recommended preparation
Previous coursework in immigration or refugee studies
Class assignments and grading
Co-facilitating discussions of required readings; major research paper
