Course description
What does it mean to lose your home? Who are refugees? Why are there so many forced migrants in our world? How are they displaced? Where do they travel, and why? This course inquires into the nature, causes, and consequences of contemporary refugee waves in our globalized world. Students survey regional dynamics in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We examine the particularities of refugees (compared to other migrants) and the changing nature of forced migration since the second world war. Students explore historical precedents to contemporary waves, learn about different host society approaches to asylum, compare government and criminal mechanisms of forced migration, and examine the reasons refugees are the object of increasing suspicion and hostility around the world. Particular attention is paid to the recent European Union crisis, the role of refugee camps in the twenty-first century, and alternative strategies for global asylum management by bridge and destination countries. For complete and current details about this Harvard Extension course, see the description in the DCE Course Search.
