Current Debates in Migration and Ethnic Studies

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Jean-Michel Lafleur

Substitute(s)

Cristina-Daniela Vintila

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is designed to familiarize students with recent social and political debates in migration and ethnic studies. This year, the course will be dedicated to a very salient topic in European politics: immigrants' access to social protection. The course will cover a broad range of social protection policies including pensions, unemployment benefits, healthcare, family benefits, minimum income, etc.; and will discuss the conditions of access of immigrants to formal and informal welfare, as well as the politics around immigrant welfare. The course will focus mainly on Europe and the Americas from a comparative perspective. Students attending this course will engage in theoretical and practical discussions regarding the link between immigration and welfare, with particular emphasis on topics such as:

• socio-economic hardship, social risks and the social protection needs of immigrant communities;
• migrants' formal access to state-based social protection policies and programmes;
• inequalities in immigrants' practical access to social security systems;
• the exportability of home country's entitlements to social protection across borders;
• EU social security coordination and intra-EU migration;
• social security agreements with third country;
• immigrant families and informal cross-border social protection strategies in times of crisis;
• diaspora policies and home countries' engagement for the social protection of citizens abroad.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

This course is designed to help students acquire the following skills:

• Read and discuss scientific literature in political science, sociology and law;
• Understand the normative and empirical implications regarding the link between international migration and social security systems;
• Develop and articulate a critical discourse on this topic;
• Conduct a literature review that puts in dialogue different scientific perspectives on the same research topic;
• Academic writing;
• Oral communication skills;
• Working independently or as part of a team.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

The course is taught in English. The minimum requirement is a good passive knowledge of the language.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course combines lectures in class in which the active participation of students is required with activities done at home (preparatory readings and a final essay). It is essential that students attend the lectures and complete all preparatory readings on a timely basis.
Before every lecture, students are expected to:

• Read the academic publications posted on MyULg under "Support de cours";
• Write short reports regarding the mandatory readings for each lecture and submit the reports to the coordinators before the class.

• participate actively in lectures throughout the semester;
• submit and present a final essay.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

It is required that students actively participate in the lectures. Depending on the availability of external speakers, some lectures may be given via video-conference.

Recommended or required readings

Assessment methods and criteria

The evaluation is based on two elements:
[U]1) Preparatory readings, short reports and active participation in class (8 points, worth 40% of the final grade)[/U]
Students are expected to read the mandatory academic publications listed in the course calendar and use them in order to actively participate in class discussions. For each lecture, students will receive two mandatory readings and for each one of them, they are expected to write a short report of maximum 250 words outlining the key points of those publications. The reports should be sent by email to the course coordinators before each class. Failure to submit the reports or late submissions will be reflected in students' grades.
[U]2) Final essay and oral presentation (12 points, worth 60% of the final grade)[/U]
At the end of the semester, students are expected to deliver an essay of maximum 4,000 words (excluding frontpage, references, footnotes, bibliography, annex...) on a topic related to immigration and social protection. The essays will comprise adequate conceptual and theoretical discussions based on the literature review on this topic. The essays can also include an original input of the student in the form of empirical material collected by him/her and/or an original analysis of existing material (newspaper articles, social security agreements, etc.).
The essays should be submitted via email to the coordinators of the course by 26/04/2018, at 4pm. Students are also expected to present their essays at the end of the course. Further details regarding the essays and the final presentations will be provided during the first lecture. 
 
Second session (Resitting the exam) (20 points, worth 100% of the final grade): In the second session, students are expected to submit a 6,000 words essay on a topic related to immigration and social protection. The guidelines are the same as in the first session except that there will be no oral defence. The deadline for this paper submission will be set after the first exam session.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

The course starts on 08/02/2018. There is no preparatory reading before the first class. If the number of students registered for this class is too limited, the lectures could be replaced by a series of face-to-face meetings with the lecturers. If you have any issues with a specific deadline or requirement for this course, please inform the coordinators of this course as soon as possible before the requirement is due.
Keeping yourself informed: Given that this course is concerned with contemporary developments in migration and ethnic studies, it is highly recommended that students follow news coverage on this topic. Students will find links to useful internet sites on MyULg and they are encouraged to use social media (Facebook, Twitter) in order to keep up to date with recent developments and exchange ideas about this course.

Contacts

Course coordinators:
Dr Jean-Michel Lafleur (JM.Lafleur@ulg.ac.be)
Dr Daniela Vintila (Daniela.Vintila@ulg.ac.be)
 
Office hours: by appointment only (via e-mail)