IREL 216: Borders, Traffic, Statelessness
Undergraduate Seminar Taught: Spring 2013 and Spring 2014
Debates around borders, their changing status in the age of globalization, what it means to cross them, and how goods and bodies are transported through them are key features of both contemporary politics and everyday life. Borders, trafficking, and statelessness are at the root of everything from national security to the food we eat. But what do these terms mean in practice? Why is there so much debate over them? How do governments and non-governmental agencies variously address these issues? This course explores practical, theoretical, and policy issues addressing these questions. It will ask, variously, what are borders and how do they come into being? What is sovereignty and how is it constituted through borders? How are borders policed and regulated? How are goods and people trafficked across them? What does trafficking entail? And what does it mean to be "stateless"?
Debates around borders, their changing status in the age of globalization, what it means to cross them, and how goods and bodies are transported through them are key features of both contemporary politics and everyday life. Borders, trafficking, and statelessness are at the root of everything from national security to the food we eat. But what do these terms mean in practice? Why is there so much debate over them? How do governments and non-governmental agencies variously address these issues? This course explores practical, theoretical, and policy issues addressing these questions. It will ask, variously, what are borders and how do they come into being? What is sovereignty and how is it constituted through borders? How are borders policed and regulated? How are goods and people trafficked across them? What does trafficking entail? And what does it mean to be "stateless"?
