Contemporary Migration in the Mediterranean: Politics, Law, Colonialism 3700-AL-CMM-QSP
The course is conducted as a seminar (konwersatorium) based on discussion grounded in familiarity with the relevant literature, in dialogue with presentations prepared by the instructor. The presentations are designed to visually support the organisation of knowledge and course topics, and to introduce students to empirical materials: EU institutional reports, statistical data, legal documents, and journalistic materials.
The course begins with a conceptual introduction: what migration, refugee status, and asylum mean under international law, and how these categories function in public and academic debate. Students are introduced to the basics of the 1951 Geneva Convention, the Dublin system, and EU asylum and migration law, which are then analysed in the context of their practical functioning under conditions of mass population movement across the Mediterranean.
On the theoretical side, the course introduces postcolonial tool – Orientalism (Said), the subaltern (Spivak), structural dependency (Wallerstein) – and applies them to the analysis of relations between Europe and the countries of origin of migrants. The course asks how the colonial legacy of France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain in North Africa and the Middle East shapes the contemporary directions and scales of migration, as well as European policies toward migrants.
The course discusses the role of frontline countries, with particular attention to Greece and Cyprus as EU member states bearing disproportionately high costs within the system, and to cities and regions as actors in migration policy. The course draws in part on the instructor’s own research materials, including reports prepared for the European Committee of the Regions and ICMPD on the impact of migration on frontline regions of the Mediterranean and on the national legal systems of Greece and Cyprus with regard to labour migration.
The course engages with normative questions: students are encouraged to reflect on the ethical dimensions of migration policy, the tension between state sovereignty and human rights, and Europe’s responsibility toward the Global South as a historical consequence of colonialism.
The assigned literature includes theoretical texts, legal and institutional documents, and empirical materials pre-selected by the instructor. This will facilitate the writing of the assessed paper, which should include a minimum of 4 items from the suggested reading list in its bibliography.
Approximate estimated student workload:
• 30 hours of active participation in the seminar
• 45 hours of reading
• 40 hours for topic and material selection, reading and analysis of texts, writing assessed written notes, and revising them in consultation with the instructor
Total: 4.00 ECTS credits.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knowledge – the student:
• has in-depth knowledge of facts and phenomena relating to contemporary Mediterranean migration as a structural phenomenon, along with theories explaining the complex interdependencies between colonial heritage, postcolonial inequalities, armed conflicts, and contemporary demographic shifts [K_W01];
• has in-depth knowledge of the terminology and research methodology of migration and asylum law, EU policy, and postcolonial theory, including the conceptual apparatus of Orientalism, the subaltern, and structural dependency, necessary for the critical analysis of migration as a political and historical phenomenon [K_W02];
• has in-depth knowledge of facts and concepts from the sociological sciences concerning social structures and changes related to migration, including Islamophobia, racism, the criminalisation of solidarity, humanitarianism as politics, and migrants’ experiences with particular attention to gender and sexual orientation [K_W08];
• has in-depth knowledge of sociological research methods and tools for discourse analysis of media and political narratives surrounding the “migration crisis” in Europe [K_W09];
• knows and understands the interdependencies between legal studies, history, political science, sociology, and postcolonial theory in the study of Mediterranean migration, and the significance of this interdisciplinary research for understanding fundamental dilemmas of the contemporary world: global inequalities, human rights, and state responsibility [K_W13];
• knows and understands the impact of the colonial legacy of France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain in North Africa and the Middle East on the contemporary migration landscape and European policies toward migrants [K_W14].
Skills – the student is able to:
• use knowledge from law, political science, history, and postcolonial theory to creatively formulate and address complex research problems concerning Mediterranean migration from a structural and ethical perspective [K_U01];
• independently adapt research methods and tools, including interdisciplinary ones, to the analysis of EU migration policy, the legal systems of frontline states, and the social experiences of migrants and host communities [K_U02];
• critically analyse and synthesise academic texts, legal documents, institutional reports, and empirical materials on Mediterranean migration, drawing on theoretical frameworks from multiple disciplines [K_U04];
• independently formulate research hypotheses concerning the structural, legal, and political conditions of Mediterranean migration, and appropriately select source materials necessary for their verification [K_U05];
• formulate written and oral statements using specialised terminology from migration law, political science, and postcolonial theory, taking into account the needs of different audiences [K_U07];
• Conduct academic debate on the ethical dimensions of migration policy, the tension between state sovereignty and human rights, and Europe’s responsibility toward the Global South as a historical consequence of colonialism [K_U08].
Social Competences – the student is prepared to:
• critically evaluate their own knowledge of Mediterranean migration, particularly through in-depth confrontation of dominant narratives about the “migration crisis” with knowledge of colonial and postcolonial structures of global inequality [K_K01];
• seek expert opinion when facing difficulties in independently resolving complex research problems requiring knowledge of international law, political science, sociology, and postcolonial theory [K_K02];
• take responsibility for the ethos of academic activity, including rigour and ethical sensitivity in researching the experiences of migrants and host communities [K_K05];
• respect ethical norms and intellectual property rights in academic research, demonstrating this through the process of writing and revising assessed notes [K_K06].
Assessment criteria
1. Active participation in discussion based on reading of the assigned texts or excerpts thereof;
2. Written notes – a note of max. 1 page including bibliography, prepared on the basis of the previous session and a portion of the course literature, submitted to the instructor and discussed in accordance with the instructor’s feedback;
3. Attendance: students with perfect attendance receive a half-grade increase in their final mark. In the case of more than 2 absences per semester, additional absences must be made up in consultation with the instructor – in the form of an individual conversation/consultation, a presentation, or a short paper.
Bibliography
1. El Akkad, O. (2025). One day, everyone will have always been against this. Knopf.
[in Polish: El Akkad, O. (2026). Któregoś dnia okaże się, że wszyscy od zawsze byli przeciwko (A. Ostrowska, tłum.). Obroty.]
2. European Committee of the Regions: Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs and CASE, Territorial impact of migration on frontline regions and cities on the EU shores of the Mediterranean, European Committee of the Regions, 2021, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2863/627667
3. de Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2019). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world (6th ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
4. Mayblin, L., & Turner, J. (2021). Migration studies and colonialism. Polity.
5. Nayeri, D. (2019). The ungrateful refugee: What immigrants never tell you. Catapult.
6. Saïd, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
[in Polish: Said, E. W. (2005). Orientalizm (M. Wyrwas-Wiśniewska, tłum.). Zysk i S-ka.]
7. Spivak, G. C. (1994). Responsibility. Boundary 2, 21(3), 19–64. https://doi.org/10.2307/303600
8. Spivak, G. C. (2014). Readings. Seagull Books.
Additional legal and journalistic texts relevant to the seminar topics will be used during class.