Course description

Separating and at the same time connecting the shores of the Mediterranean, the sea has served as a major resource for conquerors, traders, travelers, labor migrants and refugees from the antiquity until today. Considering that mobility and connectivity has been one of the constituting elements of the Mediterranean, the topic of this course will range from historical networks in the Mediterranean to the touristic endeavour starting in the beginning of the 20th century up to recent clandestine migration from the Middle-East and the Sub-Sahara Region to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. As this phenomenon will definitely concern us over the next years, we will get into a closer examination of the actual scenarios and the actors involved in the production of illegality, clandestine migration and risk.
Departing from an historical approach to mobility in the Mediterranean, we will highlight different kinds of migration typical for that area: postcolonial migration due to wars or independent movements at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as lifestyle migration of artists, thinkers and pensioners in search of utopias and better ways of life. As a special form of mobility, we will also take a closer look at the touristic annexation of some areas, which started in the late sixties and continues until today.

As the alarming scenarios of the actual refugee crisis in the Mediterranean call for a deeper analysis of this issue, we will consider the production of illegalness and the illegality industry, studying the strategies of the clandestine migrants, who try to reach Europe by making decisions about which routes and transports to take, where to hide and how to deal with embodied illegalness. The ontological, social and political dimension of the border and the modus operandi of the European border regimes executed through Frontex and other gatekeepers will concern us here. Thereby a special focus will be set on gender aspects of illegal migration as women are more vulnerable to harassments connected to their physical integrity and usually opt for different strategies as their male fellow travelers.
During the whole course, we will do a joint research about the history of migration in Venice and the cohabitation of different people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. The actual situation of migrants in and around the area of Venice will be explored via media analysis (newspapers, journals, television) and fieldwork.

Syllabus
- Historical approach to connectivity and mobility in the Mediterranean
- Anthropological Approach to Mobility and Migration
- Postcolonial migration in the Mediterranean
- In search of Utopias in the sunny South: travelers, tourists, retirement- and lifestyle- migration
Border regimes on the northern shores of the Mediterranean
- Woman crossing borders – the female experience
- The making of Illegalness and the illegality Industry
- Migration and mobility in Venice: joint research and fieldwork on the actual situation of different types of migrants in and around Venice

Learning outcomes
- students will learn to analyse and contextualize texts
- they will get an introduction into the anthropology of migration and learn about border regimes and mobility from an anthropological perspective
- students get trained in fieldwork and research techniques as well as in presenting their findings
- they will learn how to design an own research project and carry out research

Course requirements
- the course is a seminar. Each session is organized around readings that must be completed before class. Students have to be prepared to discuss the texts and physically bring them to class (either on paper or on screen) so that we can re-read certain passages.
- prepare one oral presentation (alone or in group) accompanied by power point presentations, based on the readings
- do fieldwork (alone or in group) and present and discuss their research
- write one final essay. The essay must include bibliographical references and notes. The topic can be chosen in agreement with the professor and may range from one of the topics of the seminar to reflections on own research experiences.

Evaluation
30% attendance and participation
30% oral presentation in class
40% written final essay

Online Modus
For all students who aren’t able to come to Venice and also in case the entire course has to be held online, the following modes of participation will apply:
- presentations must be created with zoom (filmed) or Power Point/Audio and uploaded in our shared virtual platform.
- texts have to been discussed in virtual peer discussion groups previous to our zoom-conferences. Students must send me a short written report on their discussions
- throughout the semester there will be small scale research challenges, that might be carried out in one’s own country (city, surrounding) and might also be carried out via online chats.

Evaluation in case of online participation or in case the entire course will be held online
- 30% participation (short written reports on text discussions and research experiences)
- 30% presentation in virtual format
- 40% final written essay

Bibliography

Connectivity and Mobility – a Historical Approach
Mobility and Travel in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Kongressbericht Paderborn. Münster 2004: Lit Verlag
Peregrine Horden & Nicholas Purcel. 2000. The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford, Malden (Massachusetts): Blackwell

Anthropological Approach to Mobility and Migration
Noel. B. Salazar. 2016. Keywords in Mobility. A critical Introduction p. 1-12 In: Keywords in Mobility. A Critical Engagements. Noel B. Salazar & Kiran Jayaram (eds.) NY, Oxford: Berghahn
Arjun Appadurai. 1996.Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy p.27-47. In: Arjun Appadurai. Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. London, Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press

Postcolonial Migration in the Mediterranean
Sayak Abdelmalek. 2000. El Ghorba. From Original Sin to Collective Lie p. 147-170.
In: Ethnography 2000.1; 147.London, NY: Sage Publications

In Search of Utopias
Eduardo Moyá.2016. Journeys in the Sun: Travel Literature and Desire in the Balearic Islands (1903-1939). Mallorca: Universitat de les Illes Balerars
Valene S. Smith (ed.) Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism. Philadelphia: Univ. Press

Anthropology of the Border
Sharam Khosravi. 2011. Illegal Traveller. An Auto-Ethnography of Borders. Introduction. London: Pallgrave McMillan
Chris Rumford.2006. Theorizing Borders In: European Journal of Social Theory 9(2): 155-169

Border Regimes
Paolo Gaibazzi, Alice Bellagamba, Stephan Dünnwald (eds.) 2017. EurAfrican Borders and Migration Management: Political Cultures, Contested Spaces and Ordinary Lives. NY: Pallgrave McMillan
Nick-Vaugham Williams. 2011. Off-Shore Biopolitical Border Security: The EU’s Global Response to Migration, Piracy and “Risky Subjects” In: Luiza Bialasiewicz (eds.) Europe in the World. EU Politics and the making of European Space. Franham Burlington:

Clandestine migration
Alessandro Triulzi & Robert L. McKenzie (eds.) 2103. Long Journeys. African Migrants on the Road. Leiden: Brill
Gebrewold Bealchew & Tendayi Bloom: 2016. Understanding Migrant Decisions: From Sub-Sahara Africa to the Mediterranean Region. London, NY: Routledge
Andersson, Ruben. 2014. Time and the Migrant Other: European Border Controls and the Temporal
Economics of Illegality. In: American Anthropologist 116(4):795-809

Woman crossing borders – the female experience
Kristin Kastner. 2013. Nigerian Border Crossers: Woman Travelling to Europe by Land In: Long Journeys. African Migrants on the Road. Alessandro Triulzi and Robert L. McKenzie (Eds.) Leiden: Brill
Eva Evers Rosander.1991. Woman in a Borderland. Managing Ethnic Identity where Morocco meets Spain. Stockholm

The making of illegalness and the illegality Industry
Anderson, Ruben. 2014. Hunter and Prey: Patrolling Clandestine Migration in the Euro-African Borderlands. In: Anthropological Quarterly 87(1): 119-150.
Itty Abrahams & Willem van Schendel.2005. The Making of Illicitness In: Willem van Schendel & Itty Abrahams (eds.): Illicit Flows and Criminal Things. State Borders and the Other Side of Globalization. Indiana: Indiana Univ.Press