Overview
The Migration Studies graduate minor is offered through The New School for Social Research, the Schools of Public Engagement, and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.
This graduate minor uses a multidisciplinary approach to critically engage with the causes, processes, and outcomes of human mobility. Students explore the economic, political, and social causes and contexts of mobility as well as the effects of human
mobility on origin, transit, and destination communities. Students also learn about various practical responses of individuals, organizations, and policymakers that shape the experience and narratives of mobility and migration, displacement, and containment.
Students also expand their knowledge of migration from the mobility perspective, including the way infrastructure and technology shape the movements of people, nonhuman species, and things.
Curriculum
This graduate minor requires successful completion of 9 credits. The required core course for this minor is Boundaries and Belonging. In addition to taking the core course, students must select two electives from the chart below.
Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time. Students seeking to pursue alternative coursework in other subject areas to fulfill the minor should consult with their advisors.
Fall 2024 courses are listed below. Please consult this spreadsheet for an archive of past courses.
Learning Outcomes
A student who has completed this graduate minor should be able to demonstrate:
- A theoretical understanding of the causes of various forms of migration, considering economic, social, environmental and political dimensions
- The ability to distinguish between different forms of migration and the various concepts, practices, and research methods that emerge from different disciplines, interests, ideologies, and traditions
- The employment of different methodologies to conceptualize migration and mobility at a variety of scales—from everyday practices to regional systems to global networks and flows
- An understanding of the ethics and responsibility of conducting research on and working directly with migrant and refugee populations
- Application of critical analysis to primary sources such as policy reports, agency reports, media, interviews, observations, literary texts, photographs, films, and data sets
- The ability to recognize debates around migration and mobility as sites of engagement and contestation over governance, rights, citizenship, sovereignty, identity, borders, and social justice
Faculty
T. Alexander Aleinikoff, University Professor; Director, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility
Everita Silina, Assistant Professor, International Affairs
Eligibility
The Migration Studies graduate minor is available to graduate degree students across The New School.
The Migration Studies graduate minor requires an application for admission.
Students can retroactively count successfully completed courses toward a minor upon declaring or applying. After students successfully complete the minor’s requirements, the completed minor will appear on their academic transcripts at graduation.
For questions about this minor, please contact Catherine McGahan, Associate Director, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, at [email protected].