Descriptif

" …all sorts of strange people were around, people who looked more at home than she was, even the homeless ones who spoke no English, were more at home maybe because they were younger, and when she went out it seemed to her that she too had migrated, that everyone migrates, even if we stay in the same houses our whole lives, because we can't help it. We are all migrants through time." (Exit West, Mohsin Hamid).

Migration and Identity

Discussing the representation of migrants in economic theory

If you are interested in migration, Sri Lanka, women migrant workers, the complex relationship between identity and migration, then this is the course for you.

Aims and objectives:

Understanding, empathising and questioning migration and identity.

We will compare representations of migrants in economic theory and contrast it with narratives in literature and cinema.

We will use the specific example of Sri Lankan migrant women workers as a case study.

We will draw up a list of your interests and inquiries on this subject and focus our discussions on them. In doing so, we will work on English comprehension, analysis and expression (written and spoken).

You will choose a group project, which will be developed and produced by the end of the course. The project will address a topic of your choice and will be produced as a short story, short film, play, case study report, photo essay, etc.

Methodology:

Our theoretical framework will draw on Amartya Sen’s work (the Capability Approach, the Theory of Justice). Our literary comparisons will draw on novels (The Boat People, Exit West, etc.). We will watch films (Machan, The Namesake, etc.)

Using these sources, we will discuss various topics, producing written and oral comments and analyses, which you will use for your final project.

Evaluations :

There will be a contrôle classant at the end of P3.

Your group project will be graded and peer-evaluated. In addition, your active participation during class will be taken into account.