300661 Refugee Activism, Transnationalism and Diaspora (with Yazidi and Myanmar case studies) (MA: Soziologie der globalen Welt) (S) (SoSe 2025)

The course focuses on the emergence of transnational refugee and migrant communities and their activism in public spaces, particularly communication with communities in the home country. We speak of diaspora when a transnational community becomes a voice for a cultural or political group in the home country. In contrast to migrant groups, the diaspora is characterized by an often traumatic dispersion across multiple countries, a strong ethnic-cultural identity, a collective memory, and a painful shared experience of political and cultural persecution. They develop empathy and solidarity with diaspora members in several countries outside their homeland. Using the example of the Yazidi and Burmese communities abroad, we will explore the strategies, activism, communication, and decision-making within the diasporic community, not least in Germany.

The course is open to students of Sociology of the Global World and World Studies.

Literaturangaben

Bhimji, Fazila 2016. Visibilities and the Politics of Space: Refugee Activism in Berlin. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies Volume 14, 2016 - Issue 4, pp. 432-450.