Grand Challenge First-Year Seminar: In Transit: Exile, Migration, and Culture
Course Number: 66-144
In this course, we will examine the representation and self-representation of refugees and exiles through the multiple disciplinary lenses of, e.g., history, literature, philosophy, anthropology,and political science. This is a highly relevant topic, since the world is currently experiencing a profound refugee crisis, with well over 100 million people forcibly displaced or stateless, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This crisis is unprecedented in scope and intensity, but it is also rooted in earlier experiences of global displacement caused by World War II and then by the Cold War.
What does history teach us about the current crisis? This is the question that inspired our focus on materials discussing the legacy of World War II and the Cold War on migration and exile, but we also aim to bring history in dialogue with our current times.
This Grand Challenge Seminar has three interrelated goals:
- to give you a nuanced and historically grounded understanding of the migration crisis
- to introduce you to a multidisciplinary perspective on migration
- to allow you to actively engage with discussions on migration, by working collaboratively with your peers on a project you will design and execute together (e.g., a short documentary based on interviews with exiles in residence in Pittsburgh; a database of resources that capture the experience of exile; a policy brief focused on political reform impacting the reception of refugees and exiles).
Academic Year: 2026-2027
Semester(s): Spring