Description
This course aims to develop students’ critical engagement with the ways in which gender and generation both influence, and are influenced by, experiences of forced migration across a range of geographical contexts. The module will include topics from the following: feminist and gendered approaches to the study of forced migration; gendered causes and experiences of forced migration; safety and danger in refugee camps; children and forced migration; men, masculinities and forced migration; the role of ‘the personal’ and ‘the political’ in refugee status determination; gendered representations of asylum-seekers and refugees; gender, trafficking and border control; and gender and durable solutions. The policy implications of gendered analyses of forced migration will be highlighted throughout.
The course aims:
- To develop students’ understanding of the historical development of feminist and gendered critiques of and contributions to Refugee and Forced Migration Studies as a field of academic study and practice, especially since the 1970s
- To understand the heterogeneity of lived experiences of displacement, including in contexts of individual, family- based and mass displacement; in the global South and global North; and in spaces including refugee camps and urban contexts.
- To understand the gendered implications of different ways of representing and responding to forced migration
- To evaluate the advantages and limitations of feminist and gendered ‘lenses’ in academia, policy and practice, including vis-à-vis developing a “special” or “particular” focus on women, children, and LGBTI persons.
- To engage critically with key debates regarding the gendered underpinning and implications of concepts such as protection, vulnerability, risk, agency, structure, consent
- To engage critically with stakeholders’ stated aims of promoting social change, female empowerment, gender equality etc.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.