Ateneo - UPO

The course will provide elements of sociological analysis with regard to the causes of migration and the place of migrants and their descendants in the society of migration. It will also offer tools of socio-political analysis and sociology of media to read and interpret the migration narratives that our societies produce.

A. Wimmer, N. Glick Schiller, Methodological nationalism, the social sciences and the study of migration: an essay in historical epistemology, International Migration Review, 37, 3 (2003)
W. Schinkel 'The imagination of "society" in measurements of immigrant integration', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36, 7 (2013), 1142-1161
A. Colombo, G. Dalla Zuanna, 'Migrazioni, demografia e lavoro in un paese diviso', Quaderni di Storia Economica, 45, settembre 2019
N. Elias, 'Introduzione' di N. Elias, J. Scotson, Strategie dell'esclusione, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2004
M. Piore, Birds of Passage. Migrant labor and industrial societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1979, cap 2 'The jobs';

Selected parts of the 'Secondgen' research final report (secondgen.uniupo.it/rapporti)
A. Pogliano. Media, politica e migrazioni in Europa. Una prospettiva sociologica, Carocci, Roma 2019.

The course will adopt a broad sociological perspective, integrating research findings by sociologists with those produced by members of other disciplines. Within this interdisciplinary framework, it will examine some aspects of migration and its long-term effects. It will also examine 'common sense' with respect to migration and some notions that are widespread even in apparently qualified fields (e.g. with respect to 'immigrant culture'). It will encourage awareness of the methods used to generate quantitative and qualitative knowledge about immigrants and immigration societies.
Moreover, it will offer tools to reason about the contemporary media and political communication environment; to interpret the role of storytelling and in particular the articulation of the victim/victim nexus in media narratives; to interpret the meaning of images in journalistic narratives; to understand representations in relation to power dynamics and axes of difference; to assess the use made of the concept of public opinion in a digital democracy. In line with the educational objectives of the course, one of the aims of this course is to lead students to understand the use made of the concept of culture and migrant cultures in public discourse and its impact on the issue of social cohesion (and integration) and the issue of discrimination. A specific aim of the course is to recognise culturalism in media and political discourses in the field of migration and to be able to read and interpret it in relation to both security and humanitarian narratives.

There are no formal entry requirements. However, it would be advisable for students to understand, before tackling the course, the specificity of a sociological view of migration. Students who have no knowledge in the field of sociology of migration should consult an introductory book, for example, M. Ambrosini, Migrazioni (2nd ed), Egea, Milan 2019 or the first four chapters of M. Ambrosini, Sociologia delle migrazioni (3rd ed), Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020. Moreover, it is good to be aware of the importance of the narratives produced in public discourse (by media, politics and civil society). Narratives are an essential part of the process of constructing social reality. On this point, useful readings are all those that have to do with the concept of ideology, discourse and representations (from Karl Mannheim to Michel Foucault, from Stuart Hall to Edward Said).

In addition to lectures, various materials (from videos to articles) will be shown and discussed collectively, and short choral discussion sessions on relevant topics will be organised. Students are also encouraged to bring texts and media products related to the course topic into the classroom for open discussion on the content. Students are encouraged to participate actively, asking questions and responding to the lecturer's prompts.

Materials on the DIR website form an integral part of the material to be studied

The final examination is based on a double assessment, as a consequence of the partial examinations of the two modules that compose it. The examination of "Society and Migration Flows" consists of an oral examination. Students must demonstrate that they understand the main concepts of the examination texts and are aware of the sources and methodologies employed by the authors. Above all, in order to obtain a medium-high grade, students must be aware of the argumentative context of the reasoning contained in the texts and be able to critically examine both the data and the reasoning of the texts. The ability to apply concepts to contexts of their own personal knowledge will also be appreciated. The teacher may ask the student to interpret simple empirical material (e.g. a simple table of statistical data, a short extract from a qualitative interview).
The "Narrative of Migration" test will be written and will last two hours. It will consist of 6 questions and you will have to answer a minimum of four and a maximum of five questions. The questions are based on the examination book. Attending students can expand on the answers by referring to material analysed in class or discussions held in class, but the basis for the answers is the study of the book "Media, Politics and Migration in Europe", which is made easier by attending the course. The students will have to show their ability to understand the specific meaning of the questions asked, an adequate capacity for reasoning and analysis, a good use of concepts and an ability to judge the issues dealt with. In particular, in order to achieve a high grade, in addition to presenting the arguments in a comprehensible manner and in a manner consistent with what has been studied and learnt, students will have to demonstrate that they have grasped the critical nodes of the relationship between migration narratives and migration policies in the various areas of analysis (integration, creation of differentiated pathways for different types of migrants, security issues). They should also be able to effectively account for the triangulation between politics, media and public opinion on contemporary migration issues. Finally, they should show an understanding of the main mechanisms of reproduction of humanitarian/victimising, security/decency and racist/culturalist discourses. Answers based solely on lecture notes, where it is clear that there has been no in-depth study of the examination book will not be awarded a pass. Answers showing study but a lack of general understanding of the mechanisms and issues involved in migration narratives and which do not clearly highlight the relationships between narratives and spaces of political action will be assessed as sufficient but will not achieve a high mark.

The course will examine some of the ways in which 'migration' and 'migrants' are conceived in public discourse, academic discourse and media and journalistic discourse.
Concepts such as assimilation and integration, the 'ethnicization' of discourses in nation states and the spread of 'methodological nationalism' in many public and some academic discourses will be discussed. We will look at how media and political communication reproduce humanitarian and securitarian discourses and nurture forms of culturalism and 'new racism' and study the mechanisms of these discourses and their proliferation, as well as their consequences in terms of political actions and public opinion.
In order to investigate the social and economic causes and effects of migration per se (beyond the nationality of the protagonists), internal migration will also be considered.
The reasons why there is a demand for immigrant labour and the trends in the receiving society that generate mass migration and a 'segmented' labour market will be discussed. The issue of competition between immigrant and local workers will be examined.
The trajectories of children of migrants in the education system and the labour market will be discussed, comparing the trajectories of children of internal migrants and children of international migrants.
Finally, some forms of counter-narratives of migration from civil society and art worlds will be discussed.

Understanding of the main causes of mass migration and of some long-term effects in the society of migration, in particular for the system of social stratification and for the educational and professional careers of migrant children.
Ability to seek information on migration and 'integration' processes of migrants and their descendants.
Ability to interpret such information: technical skills to interpret simple quantitative and qualitative data; critical skills and awareness of the sources of information and the methodologies used to generate it.
Ability to apply the learned theories to situations in Italy (or another national context with which the student is familiar).
At the end of the course, students are expected to possess new knowledge about the political and social trends of the migration phenomenon on a European and Italian scale and about the local applications of the circuit between migration narratives and the cultural and political construction of consensus on migration management. Students are also expected to be able to understand how migrants' living conditions, integration policies and dynamics, and the related phenomena of discrimination and racism are strongly conditioned by the narrative mechanisms of political communication and media.
Students are also expected to be able to apply acquired knowledge and understanding in assessing integration policies and their administrative applications, but also immigration and flow management policies and agreements, recognising the discursive foundations on which consensus depends. That they are able to think and imagine alternative solutions on the basis of alternative discursive premises, imagining possible counter-narratives and highlighting their limitations and strengths. The classroom discussions, the material analysed in class, the exam book and the questions in the written exam go in the direction of developing these abilities to apply the knowledge acquired and stimulate an ability to make autonomous judgements on the complex issues of the migration narratives - migration management nexus.