Global History of Refugees (252-0-20)

Instructors

Lauren Stokes
847/467-3086
Harris Hall - Room 235

Meeting Info

University Hall 101: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

The twentieth century has been called "the century of the refugee," but with over 120 million people forcibly displaced from their homes in 2026, the 21st century arguably shares this dubious distinction. Given the continuous increase of mass displacement, ethnic cleansing, and statelessness, we need to move past experiencing each new episode as a sudden, singular and unprecedented "crisis" to understand the enduring patterns that continue to produce refugees all over the world every day, every week and every year.

In this course, students will learn about the events that have produced mass human displacement since the late nineteenth century and explore the way that "the refugee" has consequently been defined in international law, humanitarian action and the public imaginary.

We will discuss how both state and non-state actors have weighed the values of providing refuge to displaced people, and will learn how different intellectual and cultural traditions have made the case for granting refuge. We will also examine how refugees themselves have generated their own politics to challenge their categorization and marginalization.

Learning Objectives

Historical Foundation • Students will be able to identify and explain key concepts in the international refugee regime across the 19th and 20th centuries • Students will recognize the historical context that led to the creation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1967 Protocol, and the subsequent elaboration of international refugee law • Students will recognize the historical context of regional instruments: the Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969) and the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (1984), and the historical reasons that some states have opted out of the international regime • Students will be able to conduct primary source research on historical news sources and construct arguments using primary sources • Students will recognize that the way societies have responded to forced migration and understood the figure of the "refugee" has changed dramatically over time • Students will be able to place contemporary debates about asylum, forced migration, statelessness, and refugee resettlement in historical context Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity • Students will learn about how forced displacement arises from complex histories of colonialism and empire, nation-building and borders, and statelessness • Students will read scholarship about forced migration and societal responses to forced migration in multiple regions of the world beyond North America, including Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific • Students will understand how other structural inequalities have shaped the experience of the forcibly displaced, especially those inequalities related to ageism, ableism, classism, racism, and sexism

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): Global
History Minor Concentration(s): Law and Crime

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Registration is restricted to History Majors and Minors only until the end of pre-registration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone who has taken the prerequisites (if any)

Associated Classes

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-325: Thurs 2:00PM - 2:50PM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Thurs 3:00PM - 3:50PM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Thurs 4:00PM - 4:50PM