Avi Sharma

On Migration. People, Money, Policy, Style, Culture, Things

Module 3: Öffentlicher Raum und Stadtkultur

Donnerstag: 12:00 -14:00 Uhr ● HBS 103 ●  Beginn 18.10.2018

For more than three decades, historians, sociologists and social theorists have argued that “acceleration” is one of the key logics of urban modernity.  Movement – and accelerating movement – has become a central part in narratives about globalization (and its discontents).

Examining migration both as part as a state of exception and as part of the urban everyday, this seminar tries to place narratives about movement, speed, and urban modernity into their global historical contexts.  The seminar argues that plural identifies have long been central to the creation of urban space and place; it analyzes the politics of place and belonging; and it analyzes the way that migration sometimes generates political energies while in other cases it does not.

The course also attempts to problematize the category of migration itself. How does a broader definition of migration – the movement not just of persons, but of finance, technology, taste, style, and ideas – fit with accepted popular and academic representations? Are there advantages to expanding the definition so that it focuses on movement rather than who or what is moving? This seminar suggests that we can better understand the logics of urban modernities by focusing on process rather than persons. Students are warmly invited to disagree!

Finally, the course explores futures of migration in terms of its history, focusing in particular on the challenges posed by transformative climate change.