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HIS33180

Academic Year 2025/2026

Migrants and migration in modern global history (HIS33180)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Marilena Anastasopoulou
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module examines the voices and lived experiences of people on the move from 1919 to the present. Using a global perspective, it explores the experiences of migrants, refugees, or those who have gained a sufficient group identity to be deemed a diaspora. The module unpacks migration in the modern world throughout different historical periods and regions such as Central and South Eastern Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. How have migrants and refugees experienced their displacement and settlement? How have migration experiences shaped their individual, collective, and public memories and identities? What comparisons can be drawn with other experiences of migration? This module explores the causes and consequences of population movements and displacements, global hierarchies, the journeys of people on the move, and their memories, self-perceptions, and identities at local, national, transnational, and global levels.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyse, compare, and contrast the voices and diverse experiences of people on the move across different places and times.
• Better understand conceptual and methodological tools and apply theories related to migration to regional (European and non-European) case studies.
• Interpret contemporary migration debates from a historically informed perspective.
• Critically engage with primary and secondary sources.
• Develop an interdisciplinary understanding of migration.
• Facilitate independent study.
• Develop skills in oral communication and written analysis.

Indicative Module Content:

• Introduction to core themes and concepts: migrants, refugees, diasporas
• People on the move across time and place: 1919 to the 2015 ‘migration crisis’
• From empire to nation-state: The 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange
• Decolonisation: South Asia & The 1947 partition and migration within and from the Indian subcontinent
• Middle East & The 1948 Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• From an emigration to an immigration country: The case of Ireland
• History, memory, and identity from below
• Trauma and its intergenerational transmission
• Historical parallels and comparisons
• Essay preparation

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

95
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Total

212

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The module consists of a weekly 2-hour seminar. These will begin with a short lecture providing an overview of the week’s topic, focusing on key concepts, historiography, and events, while outlining the context for the seminar. The seminars promote active, task-based learning, and critical engagement with primary and secondary sources through class discussions, group work, guided tasks, and presentations. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debates and discussions. Advanced research and writing skills are developed over the course of the module through a 2,500-word research essay.

Students are required to read the recommended sources, engage actively in group discussions, prepare short presentations in connection with seminar themes, and write their own research projects.

‘Students, researchers and staff achieve academic integrity through sound academic writing, avoiding plagiarism, and use of appropriate referencing and citation’ (University College Dublin, Student Plagiarism Policy, 2020:1). Generative AI may not be used for assessments in this module. If students use generative AI for any stylistic purposes (e.g. citation, translation, and improvement), they should do it critically and acknowledge its use in the bibliography. The Module Coordinator will provide further information during the module.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Students will be graded on their participation during the seminars. This is not based on
attendance, but rather active discussion and participation.		 Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10 Graded No
20
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Each student will complete a 1,000-word document analysis. The module coordinator will
release the document for analysis early in the semester.		 Week 7 Graded No
30
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): This is a semester-long research paper of 2,500 words, accompanied by short informal presentation. Week 10, Week 14 Graded No
50
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the presentation will be given in writing on Brightspace after submission and grading. Feedback on Participation is given to the class throughout the trimester. Feedback on end-of-semester essays is given in writing on Brightspace after submission and grading.

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