Migration and its consequences are one of the most important topics in the current political debate. Contemporary migration can only be properly understood from a historical perspective.
European migration history clearly differs from that of the US and other parts of the world. However, many theories on migration and ethnicity have been developed in an American context. In this course we will direct our attention towards theories that can explain migration history and its consequences in a European context. In earlier decades migration was mostly explained from an economic perspective. Recently more attention has been paid to individual and family choices, agency, and networks. It has also been acknowledged that migration and integration are strongly gendered phenomena. The course will include a discussion of these more recent theoretical views. In this introductory course we will focus on the history of European migration. We begin with migration in the Early Modern Period and continue our study to the present day. Students will study the causes and consequences of migration. The course not only deals with migration itself, but also with the integration of immigrants in the host societies. Furthermore, it also considers the effects of migration on the sending societies.
Timetable
Semester I and II, see timetables.
Method of Instruction
Literature Seminar; attendance is compulsory ( see the rules and regulations of the Department of History, art. 2).
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the most recent literature on migration and its consequences. Students will learn to analyse and discuss the relevance of recent publications.
Required reading
Patrick Manning, Migration in world history (New York Routledge 2005)
Richard D. Alba and Victor Nee, Remaking the American mainstream: assimilation and contemporary migration (Cambridge Mass, Harvard University Press 2003)
Leo Lucassen, The immigrant threat: the integration of old and new migrants in western Europe since 1850 (Urbana, University of Illinois Press 2005)
Isabel Hoving, Hester Dibbits and Marlou Schrover, Veranderingen van het alledaagse: 1950-2000 (Den Haag, SDU 2005) or Donna Gabaccia, We are what we eat. Ethnic food and the making of the Americans (Cambridge Mass 1998)
Examination
Written exam with closed questions.
Information
With tutor: l.a.c.j.lucassen@let.leidenuniv.nl.
Overview
The course consists of weekly two-hour sessions. For each session, one or two students are expected to prepare a presentation. The idea is that these presentations function as a starting point for our discussion.
Remarks
See the full “Migration and Cities in a changing World’ Master’s programme.