Minorities and Refugees: A century caught between persecution and self-reliance

Module code: SAC7004-B

Module Aims

You will gain a critical understanding of some of the ways national / ethnic minority groups have been accommodated into multicultural societies.

You will examine in detail cases in which accommodation broke down and persecution of national /ethnic groups took over.

You will study the development over the last century of a modern approach to managing refugee movements.

You will consider ways in which members of national / ethnic minority and refugee groups have engaged with wider society and political processes with a view to promoting their own interests and solving their own problems.

You will identify a relevant topic which they find important, to research it and to prevent their findings and arguments to the module group.

Outline Syllabus

The module examines the place of national / ethnic minorities in national and international society as they have developed over the last century or so.  In particular it pays attention to progressive ideas about social organisation and the management of multiculturality which have come from a number of minorities themselves.  In the process, it displays some of the ways in which minorities have attempted to take their ideas onto the international stage.  Of course, at times liberal projects for the accommodation of minorities have broken down. The module analyses cases where this has happened with a view to interpreting the proliferation of anti-minority rhetoric and action.

When tolerance of national / ethnic minorities collapses, the way opens to persecution and, eventually, the creation of refugee movements. The modern management of refugees began after the First World War when Fritjof Nansen became the first High Commissioner for Refugees and operated under the auspices of the League of Nations. The module considers how he performed his role and how others took up his mantle. How have successive statesmen and practitioners conceptualised successful national and international responses to the challenge of refugees?

The study of diverse and mobile populations is very much a topic for the twenty first century.  Diversity and mobility sit at the heart of many of today's national and international experiences. Appropriately, this module attempts to blend an appreciation of past and current social concerns.  Given the sheer complexity and multifariousness of the material intrinsic to this module, space will be made to allow you to follow up, research and present topics which motive you especially.

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