The equivalent course in Sociology BA Curriculum: ALR3420 International migration

Dr. Manuel Mireanu

ECTS: 3

Code: ALR3420

2h lecture

Language of Instruction: English

Optional, 3rd and 5th semester, BA, Sociology, Anthropology, Human Resources

1. History of the nation state in relation to violence and territory 
2. Security and protection of the population as raison d’état 
3. The border as a site of state violence 
4. State as empire and colonial territoriality 
5. The European Union as empire and the control of its borders 
6. War and peace on EU borders 
7. Asylum policies in the EU and Romania 
8. Detention and solitary confinement, areas of suspension of rights 
9. Repression, securitization and criminalization of refugees 
10. Society’s participation in repression 
11. Repressive practices of the far right 
12. Acts and practices of resistance against the violence of securitization 

Agamben, Giorgio (2008) ‘Starea de excepție’, Idea, Cluj, 2008 

Aradau, Claudia; Lucrezia Canzutti (2022) ‘Asylum, Borders, and the Politics of Violence: From Suspicion to Cruelty’, Global Studies Quarterly, 2: 1 – 11  

Aretxaga, Begoña (2003) ‘Maddening States’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 32, October 2003 

Bigo, Didier (2001) ‘The Möbius Ribbon of Internal and External Security(ies)’, in Identities, Borders, Orders. Rethinking International Relations Theory, ed. Mathias Albert, David Jacobson, Yosef Lapid, Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2001 

Bourbeau, Philippe (2011) The Securitization of Migration. A study of movement and order, Routledge, 2011 

Chandler, David (2006) Empire in Denial. The Politics of State-Building, Pluto Press, 2006 

Edkins, Jenny; Véronique Pin-Fat (2009) ‘Through the Wire: Relations of Power and Relations of Violence’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 34 (1): 1 – 24  

Foucault, Michel (2009) Securitate, teritoriu, populaţie, Idea, Cluj, 2009 

Genova, Nicholas de (2019) ‘The Securitization of Roma Mobilities and the Re-bordering of Europe’, in The Securitization of the Roma in Europe, ed. Huub van Baar; Ana Ivasiuc; Regina Kreide, Palgrave, 2019 

Guga, Simina (2012) ‘Migranţii invizibili din centrul de detenţie de la Otopeni’, CriticAtac, 27 iunie 2012, https://www.criticatac.ro/migranii-invizibili-din-centrul-de-detenie-de-la-otopeni/  

Guillaume, Xavier; Bilgin, Pinar (eds.) (2017) Routledge Handbook of International Political Sociology, Routledge, 2017 

Huysmans, Jef (2006) The Politics of Insecurity. Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU, Routledge, 2006 

Kallius, Annastiina; Daniel Monterescu; Prem Kumar Rajaram (2016) ‘Immobilizing mobility: Border ethnography, illiberal democracy, and the politics of the “refugee crisis” in Hungary’, American Ethnologist, 43, (1): 25 – 37 

Mireanu, Manuel (2022) ‘Panica morală şi refugiaţii din Timişoara’, Cărămida, 16, Martie 2022 

Neocleous, Mark (2011) ‘The Police of Civilization: The War on Terror as Civilizing Offensive’, International Political Sociology, 5 (2): 144 – 159  

Perkowski, Nina; Maurice Stierl; Andrew Burridge (2023) ‘The evolution of European border governance through crisis: Frontex and the interplay of protracted and acute crisis narratives’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 41 (1): 110 – 129  

Rajaram, Prem Kumar; Grundy-Warr, Carl (eds.) (2007) Borderscapes. Hidden Geographies and Politics at Territory’s Edge, Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2007 

Wendt, Alexander (2011) Teoria socială a politicii internaționale, Polirom, Iași, 2011 

Assessment 

– Course attendance – 10% 

– Participation in discussions – 30% 

– Final essay: address one of the course themes in an analytical text, containing a literature review and a relevant case study illustrating the theme. Maximum word limit: 4000 – 70% 

This class provides a critical perspective on various concepts and phenomena situated at the intersection between international relations, political science and sociology. We will discuss issues in which global dynamics are reflected in everyday life, by looking especially at moments of change and conflict. The main focus will be on the ways in which some individuals and groups who flee (from war zones, climate catastrophes or economically marginalized areas), seeking refuge and asylum in Europe, are constructed as threats to state security. We will discuss the historical relationship between the state, violence and territory – and the ways in which this relationship translates today into security practices directed against people coming from areas deemed to be problematic.  

Discussing these themes will give us the opportunity to question a range of social and political processes through which different categories of people are subjected to different regimes of movement and isolation. It will also allow us to discuss concrete aspects of state policies towards asylum seekers, such as the criminalization of migration, border crossing, detention centers, European agencies for border control, and the daily repression towards these people. 

The class will also discuss the colonial dimensions of these security and control practices. We will address the importance of discrimination based on place of origin and racialization. The various social and neo-fascist movements opposing asylum seekers will be given significant attention. In addition, the class will focus on the ways in which asylum seekers contest and resist their treatment in the countries where they seek refuge. 

The class will consist of presentations followed by discussions. Participants are encouraged to actively engage in the discussion of each topic. The bibliographical list is approximate, each topic will have its own bibliographical material, supplied in advance by the teacher.