Overview of Course

This course offers a unique opportunity to explore the complex dynamics of migration, transnational politics, and cultural flows across Europe, Africa, and Asia. From the construction and contestation of Europe’s borders to decolonization movements in Africa and Asia, we will investigate how borders shape human experiences and how people, in turn, reshape and transcend those borders. Our voyage will serve as an opportunity to cross both intellectual and geopolitical boundaries as students travel across continents and engage with postcolonial theory, border studies, and critical perspectives on globalization. Students will witness firsthand the legacies of slavery and colonialism, the challenges of postcolonial nation-building, and the ongoing negotiations of freedom in a globalized world.
Key topics include European border enforcement; decolonization and anti-Apartheid movements in Ghana and South Africa; unfree labor and creolization in Mauritius; the Partition of India; war memory in Vietnam; and policing and abolitionist organizing in Hong Kong. This course will challenge students to reconfigure their perceptions of the world’s borders, think critically about their place in an interconnected world, and develop the skills necessary to engage thoughtfully with historical and contemporary global issues. We will examine how people differentially navigate national boundaries, global politics, and cultural exchanges based on race, class, gender, and nationality. As we connect the histories and ongoing experiences of people, politics, and culture across the globe, we will experience how border crossings can transform our understandings of ourselves, others, and the world we inhabit.