Migration, Identity, & Belonging (PSY4379.01)

Özge Savaş

How are refugees, asylum-seekers, and immigrants different? What are the reasons people migrate? What creates the conditions for illegality? Why are people being deported? What does integration mean and who is integrated? In this course, we will follow a migrant-centered approach in investigating macro (e.g., institutional), meso (e.g., intergroup), and micro-level (e.g., individual) influences on migration, displacement, and belonging. We are going to explore the scientific, conceptual, and policy-oriented foundations of a migrant-centered study of immigration in the United States and the Globe. This course (1) bridges scholarship in psychology with contemporary immigration debates, (2) encourages students to think about the relationship between immigration policy and psychological research on race, ethnicity, and identity, (3) helps students engage in interdisciplinary and critical thinking in issues related to immigration. The course is in a seminar format. Small group discussions, close-readings, and group activities serve as the dominant forms of interaction in the class. In order to familiarize you with key questions, theoretical debates, and issues within the field, our readings will range across a body of interdisciplinary and critical scholarship, and will include elements from digital media and pop culture.


Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop media literacy about issues related to race, ethnicity, gender, migration and electoral politics, and be able to evaluate news on the media.
2. Compare and contrast different theories and frameworks about multiculturalism and critique each as they related to people’s everyday lives.
3. Explain and exemplify the relationship between history of immigration in the U.S., immigration policy and demographic flows, and attitudes towards immigrants.
4. Identify and debunk the myths and stereotypes about different immigrant groups and racial/ethnic minorities.
5. Apply psychosocial and sociocultural theories and frameworks to discussing solutions about displacement, human rights violations, and protracted intergroup conflict.
6. Develop skills for intergroup dialogue.


Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites: Interest in migration studies.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
W 10:00AM - 11:50AM & W 2:10PM - 4:00PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 16
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years

Categories: All courses , Fully In-Person , Peace Studies , Psychology
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