851-0516-05L  Mobility and the Border: Migration and Control between Mexico and the USA, 19th– 21st Century

SemesterSpring Semester 2019
LecturersS. M. Scheuzger
Periodicitynon-recurring course
Language of instructionGerman
CommentNumber of participants limited to 30


AbstractThe course is dedicated to the history of migration between Mexico and the United States and to the history of control of these migratory movements. The role of technological change and scientific discourses in these developments will be a subject of special interest in the discussions.
ObjectiveA) The students know relevant approaches of the studies of migration, they are able to assess the analytical capacities of these approaches and they know how to apply them to concrete events and processes.
B) The students have acquired knowledge about important aspects of the history of migration between Mexico and the United States.
C) The students are able to identify relevant relations between scientific and technological change on the one hand and developments of migration and its control on the other.
ContentThe land border between Mexico and the United States, where the ‚global North‘ and the ‚global South‘ meet in the most prominent form worldwide, provides an exemplary case to study how borders generate spaces of agency, constitute human communities and create identities – not only by separating people but also by connecting them. The course is dedicated to the history of migration between Mexico and the United States and to the history of control of these migratory movements. The role of technological change and scientific discourses in these developments will be a subject of special interest in the discussions.