HIS32810 Europe's age of immigration

Academic Year 2021/2022

Between the mid-nineteenth century and the outbreak of the First World War, 55 million Europeans left the continent. The booming guns of war brought an end to a period of largely unregulated emigration from Europe, with the United States leading the way in subsequently introducing immigration restrictions. This meant that Europe no longer had a safety valve for its more vulnerable populations, such as those fleeing famines, poverty, or pogroms. Europe had previously provided huge swathes of immigrants to large parts of the world through colonisation, settlement, and labour migration but it had never received large numbers of immigrants from outside the continent. By providing a chronological overview of Europe’s migration history since 1919, this course will demonstrate that Europe has slowly transformed from a continent of emigration into a continent of immigration over the last 100 years. How did it cope with such a transition?

The course will be divided into three distinct phases:
1) The ‘age of refugees’ from the First World War to the 1951 Refugee Convention, when millions became displaced as a result of the fallout from the two world wars, the collapse of various empires within Europe (e.g. Austro-Hungarian Empire), and the rise of totalitarian regimes.
2) The ‘age of global immigration’ from 1945 to the 1990s, when extensive post-colonial immigration took place from (former) European colonies in Asia and Africa, guest worker schemes saw millions of people moving from southern Europe, Turkey, and northern Africa to west Europe, and increasing number of people outside Europe arrived in search of asylum.
3) The ‘Europeanization of immigration’ since the 1990s, as ‘Fortress Europe’ developed, the enlargement of the EU took place, and support for radical right-wing anti-immigration parties grew.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, students should be able:
- to better understand how migration has affected European society since 1919
- to clarify why different people (e.g. labour migrants, refugees, postcolonial migrants) have migrated within and to Europe since 1919
- to analyse contemporary immigration debates from a historical perspective
- to independently formulate clear and well-argued opinions concerning migration

Indicative Module Content:

1. Introduction: Ages of Migration
2. A new type of refugee? Russian refugees and the Nansen passport in the 1920s
3. Exchanging people: The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey
4. Jewish refugees in the 1930s
5. The devastation of war: Displaced Persons and German expellees, 1940s
6. Migration and the Metropole: ‘We are here because you were there’? Post-colonial migration to Britain, France, Netherlands, and Portugal, 1940s-1970s
7. ‘We wanted workers, but we got people’: The ‘guest workers’ who remained, 1960s-1970s
8. Migration behind the Iron Curtain, 1950s-1980s
9. ‘Jet-age refugees’ and the globalisation of asylum, 1980s-1990s
10. The creation of ‘Fortress Europe’
11. Migration in an enlarged Europe since 2004: the case of Ireland
12. The rise of the far right in Europe

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

22

Specified Learning Activities

101

Autonomous Student Learning

100

Total

223

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
There will be no weekly lecture. Instead, I will provide a short introduction to the topic (c. 30 mins) at the start of the weekly two-hour seminar. Thereafter, we will examine primary sources and discuss the assigned literature – often in groups. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Participation grade for seminars, including attendance Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20

Assignment: Four discussion posts on the assigned literature to be uploaded to Brightspace Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20

Essay: The papers should be based on primary and secondary sources and be approximately 4000 words Week 12 n/a Graded No

50

Assignment: Group presentation Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

10


Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the presentation and discussion posts will be given in writing via Brightspace. Oral feedback will be provided on an ongoing basis on preparatory plans for end-of-semester research paper assignments. Feedback on the end-of-semester research paper assignment will be given by appointment in one-to-one meetings.