Europe, Migration, Refugees Freie Universität Berlin

Overview

Key Features

This Europe, Migration, Refugees course from Freie Universität Berlin aims to provide students with a critical analytical toolbox to understand migration, asylum, and border regimes in Europe. We will develop an understanding of the movement of migrants and refugees to Europe, their struggles for equality and rights, initiatives in solidarity with refugees and migrants, as well as state and supranational responses. For that, the seminar is organized around three interconnected themes. The first aims at assessing the historical and legal bases of asylum, including the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. We will also examine how refugees are conceptualized in regional human rights frameworks. The second part investigates border violence and pushbacks at Europe’s external borders, and their contestations through legal interventions and counterforensic investigations. The third part considers the realities of migrant workers in Europe, histories of collective struggle of people on the move and those in solidarity with them, and everyday practices of survival and solidarity as sites of political engagement.

The course integrates theoretical perspectives with empirical case studies, audiovisual materials, field visits to relevant sites and organizations in Berlin, fostering a reflective and interdisciplinary approach to the theme of migration and forced displacement to Europe. Throughout our seminar, active engagement, critical thinking, and robust discussions are encouraged

Housing

Wheelchair-accessible housing is available upon request. Please see our website for a full description of the furnished single-occupancy studio apartment and note that the registration deadline for this housing option is one month before the regular registration deadline.