300675 Seeking greener pastures: contemporary trends among German emigrants (LEH) (SoSe 2023)

According to figures from the German Federal Census bureau, about 100,000 Germans leave per year. Who exactly is leaving? Why are they leaving? Where are they going? Are they leaving temporarily and permanently? In light of the recent demographic develop-ments and the expected decline of the skilled workforce, political decision-makers and aca-demics alike are interested in reliable information about the extent, causes and conse-quences of emigration.
In this two-semester research seminar/Lehrforschung participants will not only study the latest trends among highly skilled German emigrants, but try to explore individual and col-lective aspiration underlying the decision to leave Germany. Under supervision and peer-to-peer learning, participants will each work on an individual research project that investigates migratory decision-making strategies. Methodologically, these research projects are grounded in qualitative methods for data collection and analysis.
The main objective of this research seminar/Lehrforschung is to support students through-out the process of conducting an independent project, which includes selecting a relevant topic and a pragmatic scope, formulating a proper research question, detecting and consult-ing relevant readings and sources, designing a suitable data collection plan/schedule, con-ducting biographical interviews, collecting other data, presenting findings to peers and final-ly writing a research report. This Lehrforschung/research seminar is open to advanced stu-dents who have already successfully completed introductory courses on forced migration and qualitative methods. Participation in an excursion, to be organised by students them-selves, to the Auswanderermuseum in Hamburg (or alternatively Deutsches Auswander-erhaus Bremerhaven) is mandatory and funds will be provided by the faculty.

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