The Politics of Mobility, Displacement and Asylum
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course belongs to the general area of political anthropology and the related sub-discipline of the anthropology of migration (human mobility, forced displacement, humanitarianism, globalization etc) as well as to studies on citizenship and political inclusion. In the first part, it presents an introduction to global mobility, global migration flows, displacement and asylum, taking into account their quantitative, legal and sociological dimensions and, specifically, it will deal with (global) South-North and South-South mobility and displacement. In the second part, from an anthropological and ethnographic perspective, in-depth case studies around these themes are presented, shedding light on social worlds, experiences, tensions and transformations related to migration. The third part (9 credits only) is a seminar-style section focused on developing a political anthropology of citizenship, asylum, political inclusion, nationalism, belonging, community-making: it presents and discusses classical texts as well as new research revolving around these topics.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Through a combination of frontal lectures, individual/group presentations, in-class discussions, at the end of the course students should be able to:
1. Critically debate key questions on human mobility, global migration flows, asylum and displacement in their quantitative as well as qualitative dimensions.
2. Analyze detailed case-studies, with context-specific and ethnographically informed examples.
3. Understand the mutual definition of migrants, refugees and citizens; of the political exclusion and inclusion; of statelessness, citizenship, and national belonging.
Ability to apply Knowledge and Understanding
1. Assess the policy, political and ethical implications of migration dynamics and public discourses built around them.
2. Go beyond generic and stereotyped representations of migration, belonging and citizenship, by differentiating typologies, categories and dimensions of migratory dynamics
3. Go beyond the ethnocentric vision of globalization and migratory dynamics.
Through a combination of frontal lectures, individual/group presentations, in-class discussions, at the end of the course students should be able to:
1. Critically debate key questions on human mobility, global migration flows, asylum and displacement in their quantitative as well as qualitative dimensions.
2. Analyze detailed case-studies, with context-specific and ethnographically informed examples.
3. Understand the mutual definition of migrants, refugees and citizens; of the political exclusion and inclusion; of statelessness, citizenship, and national belonging.
Ability to apply Knowledge and Understanding
1. Assess the policy, political and ethical implications of migration dynamics and public discourses built around them.
2. Go beyond generic and stereotyped representations of migration, belonging and citizenship, by differentiating typologies, categories and dimensions of migratory dynamics
3. Go beyond the ethnocentric vision of globalization and migratory dynamics.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
The course consists of Part 1 and Part 2 (six credits) supplemented by Part 3 (9-credits course only).
For PPPA students: 6 credit is the norm, the 9 credits option available only as "Free credits" the exception.
For Philosophical Sciences, Erasmus or other MA courses: both options, 6 or 9 credits, are available if allowed by your study plan.
The course presents a reflection on the contemporary tensions between globalization, human mobility, nation-states, and the creation of borders, considered at the heart of the current production of political identities and forms of citizenship. Its basic aims are to give a solid introduction to the global processes of human mobility, displacement and asylum and to offer, in part 2, a thorough analysis of specific case-studies from the perspective of political anthropology and ethnographic field-research.
Part 1. An introduction to the main elements and debates related to contemporary global migration dynamics:
South-North migration; categories, theories, policies, global dynamics; refugees and asylum; forced and irregularized migration.
Part 2. Understanding irregular migration and containment policies, from Africa to Europe:
through a series of case studies, this part will analyze the forms and motivations of irregular migration from Africa to Europe in an anthropological and historical perspective. In the background, this section addresses the dynamics related to forced displacement, refugees, and irregular migrants on the borders of Europe, analyzing the forms of containment and governance of forced displacement, with particular attention to cases of protracted crisis and the transformation of the regimes of mobility over time, between asylum and irregular mobility.
Part 3 (9 credits only). A Political theory of Migration, Asylum, Refugees and Citizenship:
This seminar-style section will offer a thorough analysis of the book "The figure of the migrant" by Thomas Nail. Rather than viewing migration as the exception to the rule of political fixity and citizenship, the book reinterprets the history of political power from the perspective of the movement that defines the migrant in the first place. Applying "kinopolitics" to several major historical conditions (territorial, political, juridical, and economic) and figures of migration (the nomad, the barbarian, the vagabond, and the proletariat), the book provides a political theory of the migrant and seeks to understand the material, social, and historical conditions under which something like the migrant has come to exist for us today. In this way, it is not only a theory of the migrant but also a theory of the social motions by which migration takes place.
Classroom lectures will involve reading, writing, discussion, presentations.
For PPPA students: 6 credit is the norm, the 9 credits option available only as "Free credits" the exception.
For Philosophical Sciences, Erasmus or other MA courses: both options, 6 or 9 credits, are available if allowed by your study plan.
The course presents a reflection on the contemporary tensions between globalization, human mobility, nation-states, and the creation of borders, considered at the heart of the current production of political identities and forms of citizenship. Its basic aims are to give a solid introduction to the global processes of human mobility, displacement and asylum and to offer, in part 2, a thorough analysis of specific case-studies from the perspective of political anthropology and ethnographic field-research.
Part 1. An introduction to the main elements and debates related to contemporary global migration dynamics:
South-North migration; categories, theories, policies, global dynamics; refugees and asylum; forced and irregularized migration.
Part 2. Understanding irregular migration and containment policies, from Africa to Europe:
through a series of case studies, this part will analyze the forms and motivations of irregular migration from Africa to Europe in an anthropological and historical perspective. In the background, this section addresses the dynamics related to forced displacement, refugees, and irregular migrants on the borders of Europe, analyzing the forms of containment and governance of forced displacement, with particular attention to cases of protracted crisis and the transformation of the regimes of mobility over time, between asylum and irregular mobility.
Part 3 (9 credits only). A Political theory of Migration, Asylum, Refugees and Citizenship:
This seminar-style section will offer a thorough analysis of the book "The figure of the migrant" by Thomas Nail. Rather than viewing migration as the exception to the rule of political fixity and citizenship, the book reinterprets the history of political power from the perspective of the movement that defines the migrant in the first place. Applying "kinopolitics" to several major historical conditions (territorial, political, juridical, and economic) and figures of migration (the nomad, the barbarian, the vagabond, and the proletariat), the book provides a political theory of the migrant and seeks to understand the material, social, and historical conditions under which something like the migrant has come to exist for us today. In this way, it is not only a theory of the migrant but also a theory of the social motions by which migration takes place.
Classroom lectures will involve reading, writing, discussion, presentations.
Prerequisites for admission
No prior knowledge required
Teaching methods
Combination of frontal lectures, individual/group presentations, in-class discussions.
Teaching Resources
Part 1: Global migration dynamics
Hein de Haas, Stephen Castles, Mark J. Miller,
The Age of Migration : International Population Movements in the Modern World, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2019, - ONLY Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 15)
Anna Triandafyllidou, Routledge handbook of immigration and refugee studies, Second Edition, 2023 - ONLY Chapters 34, 35, 36
(both books are available, also in electronic format, at university's library)
Part 2:
5 out of 8 articles of the Volume 18, Issue 1 (2024) of the Journal of Eastern African Studies titled "Fragments of solidarity : the social worlds of African migrants moving northwards" https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjea20/18/1
Part 3:
Thomas Nail, The Figure of the Migrant, Stanford University Press, 2015.
Alternatively, students can prepare the syllabus for Part 3 of one of the last years of the course "The politcos of mobility...." or "Human development and mobility in a changing world" (since academic year 2022-23)
(Most of the texts will be made available to students during class).
Hein de Haas, Stephen Castles, Mark J. Miller,
The Age of Migration : International Population Movements in the Modern World, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2019, - ONLY Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 15)
Anna Triandafyllidou, Routledge handbook of immigration and refugee studies, Second Edition, 2023 - ONLY Chapters 34, 35, 36
(both books are available, also in electronic format, at university's library)
Part 2:
5 out of 8 articles of the Volume 18, Issue 1 (2024) of the Journal of Eastern African Studies titled "Fragments of solidarity : the social worlds of African migrants moving northwards" https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjea20/18/1
Part 3:
Thomas Nail, The Figure of the Migrant, Stanford University Press, 2015.
Alternatively, students can prepare the syllabus for Part 3 of one of the last years of the course "The politcos of mobility...." or "Human development and mobility in a changing world" (since academic year 2022-23)
(Most of the texts will be made available to students during class).
Assessment methods and Criteria
Oral exam assessing students' knowledge of the key topics of the course, theoretical frameworks and methodologies.
Modules or teaching units
Parte A e B
M-DEA/01 - DEMOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Ciabarri Luca
Parte C
M-DEA/01 - DEMOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Ciabarri Luca
Professor(s)
Reception:
Office hours: online (via Teams or Skype)or in presence meeting: FRIDAY, h. 09,30-12,30; for online meetings students are invited to send a Teams message to the teacher from 9,30 to 11,00; the teacher will answer indicating the time of the call
ATTENTION: on 13/6 office hours will not take place due to institutional obligations - In presence meeting: via Festa del Perdono 7 - cortile della Ghiacciaia, 1st Floor