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Refugees

b+w photo of 20th century European refugees

Refugees and migration

This is an important, indeed and urgent, topical issue – but it is also a longstanding feature of societies that has been handled in many different ways over time and in different locations. While we will identify an historical literature that students can turn to, we also believe it is important for students to think about what History might bring to the table in a discussion with those working from other disciplinary backgrounds such as anthropology, law, political science etc.

4 seminars for PGR/PGT – Monday lunchtimes – Term 1, 2015-16

Week 2: 1.00-2.00 Ruben Andersson, LSE/Stockholm, Anthropology

Andersson, Ruben (2014) Hunter and prey: patrolling clandestine migration in the Euro-African borderlands. Anthropological Quarterly, 87 (1). pp. 118-149. ISSN 0003-5491

Further Reading

R. Andersson, Illegality Inc (University of California Press, 2014)

On embidiment: see Sarah Willen (2007) 'Towards a critical phenomenology of 'Illegality' International Migration 45 (2): 8-38.

In discussion the case of Australia was raised - on which see Catherine Dauvergne, Making Peiole Illegal: What globalization means for migration and law (CUP, 2008).

Week 4: 1.00-2.00 David Hitchcock, University of Kent

Foucault's Discipline and Punish: (Introduction, pp. 16-30, and the conclusion)

David Feldman, 'Settlement and the Law in the Seventeenth Century' in Steven King and Anne Winter, (eds.), Migration, Settlement, and belonging in Europe, 1500-1930s: Comparative Perspectives (New York, 2013). And ‘Afterword.’

Week 7: 1.00-2.00

Diletta Lauro, University of Oxford, Queen Elizabeth House

1) Joseph Carens' (1987) 'Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders' The Review of Politics,49(2): 251-273 and 2) David Miller's (2007) book chapter 'Immigration and Territorial Rights' in National Responsibility and Global Justice.
2) Two optional readings more specific to the definition of who is a refugee: Andrew E. Shacknove (1985) 'Who is a Refugee' Ethics 95 (1985): 274-284 and J. Hathaway's (1997) 'Is Refugee Status really Elitist? An Answer to the Ethical Challenge'' In Europe and Refugees: A Challenge? (L'Europe et les réfugiés: un défi?), edited by J. Carlier and D. Vanheule, 79-88.

Week 9: 12.15-1.45 Discussion on the contribution of History to the understanding of refugees and migration.

For the discussion for 9th week I am hoping that we can work collectively to identify a range of materials about migration and refugees – such as songs, cartoons, photos, etc, material objects, migratory buildings (from detention centres to travellers inns) etc., - with material coming from across a wide historical and geographical sweep.

Other relevant works include:

Julia Clancy-Smith, Mediterraneans: North Africa and Europe in the Age of Migration c. 1800-1900 (2011)

M. Isabella and K Zanou eds., Mediterranean Diasporas: Politics and Ideas in the Long 19th C (2015)

On song culture, see https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/historical-topics/songs-of-immigration-and-migration/

H. Anderson, Farewell to Judges & Juries: The Broadside Ballad & Convict Transportation to Australia, 1788-1868 (Victoria, 2000)

See also the song Erin's lovely home, about Irish Migration.

Or

http://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/songs-of-irish-emigration-and-exile-that-will-stir-your-heart-videos-224283171-237792711.html

Or http://therefugeeartproject.com/home/gallery/

http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/themes/Emigration

http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/themes/Immigrants%20-%20Great%20Britain

http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/themes/Migration

Also:

Lau – “Ghosts” (Lyrics by Kris Drever: http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Lau:Ghosts )
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19kZHTL3NF4 (Tramps and Hawkers in Kennedy ed., p.789 – and you might need the words)

And in no particular order:

Woody Guthrie 'I ain't got no home'

and his Plane wreck at Los Gatos (Deportees)

'A Lanthorn for Landlords' {http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20064/transcription}: Pepys Ballads 1.146-147

'Mountains of Morne'

David McAlmont and Michael Nyman - The Glare - a whole album where McAlmont has reconceived a set of Nyman instrumentals as an on-topic set of songs

Alasdair Roberts and Robin Robertson - Hirta Songs - a record about the clearances, esp. of St Kilda

Randy Newman - 'Sail Away', 'Sigmund Freud's Impression of Albert Einstein in America'

Anna McGarrigle - 'Jacques and Giles'

Scott Walker - 'Two Ragged Soldiers'


See also older ballads like:
An Invitation to North America (18th C broadside)
The Leaving of Liverpool (prob late 19th C Gold rush migration song)
Ten Thousand Miles Away (penal colony song)

For more on Irish emigration see here

For Armenian emigration see here

If you find material I can act as a pool for it and can link clips etc up to this page