Summer 2026
(De)Constructing Migration: Belonging, Participation, and Boundaries
Dates: June 02, 2026 – July 24, 2026Day/Time: Tuesday; Thursday; Friday 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM EDT
Level: 400-Level
Certificate: Global Studies, Human Rights
Global Studies certificate requirement: Elective.
Human Rights certificate requirement: Human rights as a transnational or global practice or phenomenon.
Instructor: Cagla Ekin Güner, Central European University
This course examines migration not as a static or exceptional phenomenon, but as a dynamic, relational process that reshapes societies, identities, and political boundaries across contexts and scales. It invites students from different geographical and intellectual backgrounds to critically engage with migration as both a lived experience and a field of academic inquiry. The course is divided into two interconnected parts. The first part introduces key theories, concepts, and analytical frameworks in migration studies, including transnationalism, intersectionality, political membership, and participation. Drawing on political science, sociology, urban studies, and feminist theory, students will develop a conceptual understanding of how migration intersects with power, inequality, and governance across multiple scales. The second part, Migration in Action, turns to empirical explorations of diasporas, migration governance, urban integration, and labor regimes. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to bring examples from their own local, national, or regional contexts into discussion, allowing migration to be analyzed comparatively and relationally rather than from a single geographic vantage point. By the end of the course, students will have developed a multidimensional understanding of migration, belonging, and boundary-making, as well as the analytical tools to critically assess migration-related debates in diverse political and social settings.
This is session 1 course. Deadline to register is May 29.
Credits: 3 US / 6 ECTS