Migration, Borders, Belonging: Approaches and Representations
Module code: ML3041
This module explores the experience of migration, one of the most pressing issues in today’s global agenda and a key feature of contemporary identities across the world. Through the study of selected texts and media reflecting on the issue of migration from a global perspective, we are going to look at questions of national identity, definitions of borders, the experience of migration, concept of difference, diversity, race, ethnicity and belonging. We are also going to look at resilience, faith in the future and in human nature.
We are going to focus on films, documentaries and other media that deal with the experience of children in Mexico City in the 1940s and of people living on the Mexico-US border, of African migrants and of those crossing the English Channel and the Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe. The module is assessed via a presentation and a coursework essay.
Topics covered
- Los olvidados (The Forgotten), Luis Buñuel, 1950
- Lone Star, John Sayles, 1996
- Welcome, Philippe Lioret, 2009
- Atlantics, Mati Diop, 2019
- Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, 2016
- Io Capitano (Me Captain), Matteo Garrone, 2023