Migrant and minority mobilization

Seminar paper

The movement of peoples across national boundaries, which became particularly visible in Western Europe since the 2015 “long summer of migration”, has encountered both the support and opposition of domestic actors. Moreover, in the last decade migrants and racialized subjects have mobilized to reclaim their right to settle, to receive a decent wage and to access citizenship rights. The goal of this seminar is to address migration as a contentious issue, focusing in particular on its significance for collective action. The course will provide students with the analytical tools necessary to understand the dynamics of migrant and minority mobilization, and the different forms of contentious politics they engaged upon. The course will explore undocumented migrants’ collective actions as acts of emancipation and will touch upon the political contention around migration. To offer an extensive overview on the effects on the everyday life of racialized subjects, the course will also explore the mobilization for citizenship rights of youth of migrant descent, which contested the national boundaries of citizenship regimes, as well as racial justice struggles at the local and global level. Furthermore, it will look at the literature on migrant support actors, such as anti-racist groups and refugee solidarity movements, exploring their moral and emotional dilemmas.