Undergraduate Course: Migration, Diaspora, Exile: The Politics of Representation (ELCC08009)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the issues surrounding the cultural representation of migrants, exiles, and diasporic communities. Adopting a comparative, cross-cultural approach and a historical perspective, students will explore the images of migrants and migration in linguistic and visual representations, how stereotypical representations can be affirmed or challenged, and the ways in which migrants take control of their self-representation. All texts will be in English or in English translation.
If the quota for this course is full and you will need to follow up with your own secretary as well as the course secretary to see if and when space is available. The course does not keep a waitlist. If you have not received an offer of a place by Friday of Week 1, you should assume that you will not be able to take the course. |
| Course description |
Students will explore the representation and self-representation of migrants and migration in a variety of media. They will gain knowledge and skills enabling them to understand these representations, putting them into cultural and historical perspective.
Engaging with current theory about migration, diaspora and identities, students will explore the representation of exile and the migrant experience in a variety of media including film, literature and documentary sources. In doing so, they will practise reading and interpreting texts/films through theory and will explore comparative perspectives on the course themes.
The course will be taught jointly by colleagues from DELC and Celtic and Scottish Studies. Students will work together in groups to prepare material for presentation, as well as researching an individual essay project.
Please note the quota for this course will be raised to 45 once places have been allocated to Year 2 DELC students.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 46 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Group Presentation and reflective work (online video submission) 50%
Coursework essay (1800 words) 50% |
| Feedback |
Students will be given verbal and written feedback on their presentations, and will discuss their essay plan with the course tutors. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Construct clear and coherent arguments about representations of migration and exile
- Assess the usefulness of theoretical approaches to understanding the course themes, and critique approaches that they disagree with clearly and in an appropriate style
- Analyse texts, films and other forms of representation using the theoretical models discussed in class
- Present in oral and written form the results of research undertaken individually and as part of a small group, respond judiciously to such research undertaken by others, and critically evaluate the importance of such material for an understanding of the chief themes of the course
- Work effectively as part of a group, managing group interactions and division of tasks in pursuit of a common aim.
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Reading List
Essential
Hannah Arendt, We the Refugees (Pouvoirs, 01 January 2013, Vol.144(1), pp.5-16)
Hamid Naficy, An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Film (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001)
Donna R. Gabaccia, Italy's Many Diasporas (London: Routledge, 2000).
Na h-Eilthirich: Alba Nuaidh ('The Emigrants: Nova Scotia), Gaelic documentary with English sub-titles (BBC Scotland, 1999, 45 minutes)
Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief (1999, a novel, English)
Selected sound recordings, Tobar an Dualchais website, Gaelstream website, BBC Bliadhna nan Òran (Year of the Songs) website, all with transcriptions and accompanying English translations
Caterina Lombardi-Diop, Caterina Romeo, Postcolonial Italy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
Pattieu, Sylvain, 'The BUMIDOM in Paris and its suburbs: contradictions in a state migration policy, 1960s-1970s', African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 10 (2017), 12-24
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical reading; application of theory to text; testing theory against text.
Evaluating contrasting arguments.
Making connections between close reading and broader social context.
Understanding the history of representations of migrant, exile and disapora communities.
Autonomous project work; identifying problems, setting tasks; organising material.
Participating in group work; setting and organising joint tasks.
Clarity in oral and written presentation. |
| Special Arrangements |
The quota for this course will be raised to 40 once places have been allocated to Year 2 DELC students. |
| Keywords | Migration studies,film studies,literary studies,politics of migration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Federica Pedriali
Tel: (0131 6)50 3642
Email: F.Pedriali@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Gillian Paterson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3646
Email: Gillian.Paterson@ed.ac.uk |
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