The growing racial, religious, and linguistic diversity generated by international migratory flows continues to generate heated public debates over national identity, social cohesion, economic prosperity, and political stability in many parts of the world.
In a moment marked by heightened nativism and xenophobia, Professor Osman Balkan‘s Borders & Migration seminar offers an overview of the causes and consequences of global migration and examines how different countries have responded to the phenomenon.
As an Engaged Scholarship course, classroom meetings are supplemented with immersive, field-based learning trips to Philadelphia, where students observe immigration hearings and meet with NGOs and community organizations working to promote migrant rights and support refugee re-settlement.
Between Spring 2021 and Fall 2022, students in the course also conducted oral history interviews with immigrants residing in the United States to learn about their lived experiences, struggles, hopes, and dreams for the future. Some of the interviewee’s names have been changed to protect their privacy.
This initiative was generously funded by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and the President’s Fund for Racial Justice.
Special thanks to Lamia Makkar ’21, Anna Considine ’23, and Ramiro A. Hernandez ’23 for their assistance in designing and updating this website.