In this course we will explore the recent history of displacement and human rights; this includes the origins of laws that still govern the lives of refugees and asylum seekers. While migration has been a constant in history, we will center our inquiries on more recent events, beginning in the 1930s and up to the present day. We will pay close attention to several conflicts that led not only to global displacements, but that also raised important questions about human rights. These conflicts include, but are not limited to: the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. While most of our more contemporary sources will involve migration to the United States from Latin America, we will also address the present flow of people across visible and invisible borders in other parts of the world. We will work our way through complex arguments about extremely contentious and timely topics and make use of primary sources and secondary literature, fiction, memoirs, film and other media. The last section of the class will center on different research and writing methods.
Course Attributes: BU BA; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; AS WI I; FA HUM; AR HUM; AS SC; EN H