Mahanirban Calcutta Research group

Introduction

Care and Protection of the Migrants and Refugees in the Global South
 

Introduction

Keeping in harmony with the overall agenda of EMMIR’s multi-perspective study programme in migration studies, the aim of the course is to familiarise students with the post-colonial realities of the Global South in relation to migration and forced migration studies. Contemporary global events of population movement triggered by wars, environmental disasters, conflict, and economic challenges merit a new understanding and intra-European responses. Population flow has increasingly become complex in contemporary times- marked by massive movements of people across international and local borders – setting up of refugee colonies, giving rise to migrant workers, and the forcibly displaced, movements across deserts and seas, the pandemic induced border closing- and the long march back home resulting into several hapless deaths only show us the conundrum surrounding contemporary population movement. With massive and mixed population movements taking place simultaneously, categories get enmeshed - for instance, refugees, asylum seekers, labour migrants, climate refugees, and stateless persons- all get rolled into one massive and mixed population movement signifying major shifts in the global discourse of geo-politics and social contexts of borders, boundaries and nation making. It is thus a natural outcome that CRG has devoted itself in studying various dimensions of migration and forced migration. Studying migration and population flows have remained CRG’s niche for many years and with that in mind, the course is designed accordingly.

The post 2015 migration crisis has exposed multiple fault lines and consequences that also necessitate a non-European perspective to address contemporary refugee and migration situations especially questions gearing around immigration, labour market from the south, gender, race, ethnicity, and something that is becoming impossible to ignore anymore- climate displacement. There is therefore a need to discuss, widen our lens and problematise our existing understanding of forced migration. This course tries to fill in those gaps and address some of the most pertinent themes and concerns of Refugee and Migration studies in the global South focusing upon interdisciplinary methods and practices.

There are two parts of the programme. The first part are the classes that students must take in Kolkata, India- details of which are given in the class-schedule (Section II). This course spanning over 12 weeks is further divided into 6 sub-modules – 1) Methods of Studying Population Flows 2) Migrant Labour of the Global South 3) Evolving Legal Discourse on Care and Protection and Regional Legal Mechanisms 4) Environmental Challenges and Displacement in South Asia 5) Gender, Race, Caste, and Other Faultline in Protection Strategies and 6) Cities, Migrants and Refugees. Each module has a separate note that is mentioned under the class schedule in section II.

The second part of the programme is ‘The Eighth Annual Research and Orientation Workshop’ (Winter Workshop) on Global Protection of Refugees and Migrants from 16-20 November 2023 (morning) organised by the CRG in collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-South Asia (RLS) and Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna (IWM). The workshop will be followed by a two-day conference on Wars, Climate Disasters, and Displacement: Call for New Protection Strategies from 20 November (evening)-22 November 2023. Both the workshop and conference are complimentary to each other as they will address the common theme of contemporary challenges faced by migrants. It will be mandatory to attend most of the sessions of the workshop and conference for the EMMIR students. The workshop has been divided into eight modules from which participants are required to select two modules- one compulsory and one optional module. There are creative assignments in the form of Investigative Reports/Photo Essay/Short Documentaries/Posters/Podcasts/Literature writings/Pictural descriptions etc. that the participants can choose to do. Besides creative assignments the workshop requires participants to do research assignments, module discussions, and group participations. The online sessions of the course have begun before the physical classes in November and EMMIR students have already started doing these classes.

Participants & Faculties

Schedule

Field Visit

Classes