Course Description
Summary
Moving and circulating through local, national, and global space—whether for economic opportunity, military conquest, pilgrimage, tourism, or otherwise—has long been one of humanity’s great preoccupations. Human mobility at once represents a source of liberation for people seeking a new life, a challenge to governments looking to control and monitor their populations, and the foundation of social differences as some people and classes enjoy more freedom of movement than others. This course uses anthropological perspectives to explore the significance of human mobility and circulation, as well as its counters of fixity and spatial restriction. Addressing current controversies about mobility and “illegality,” we will examine how experiences of undocumented migration and refugee displacement draw upon and generate cultural values regarding human movement among both mobile cultural groups and receiving nations. We will also use ethnography to investigate topics such as traffic and urban circulation, experiences of dislocation and resettlement, and new patterns of travel and tourism, including the fraught encounters of migrants returning to their ancestral homelands after an extended absence.
