Course Description
Summary
How have transnational diaspora communities become new sites for the rethinking core concepts of psychology such as self and identity alongside culture and nation? How do people build self, identity, and community in multiple homes? Who belongs in where? In this course, we will explore the social, cultural, and economic influences of globalization and neoliberalism on the lives of migrants and refugees while we also discuss how both “host/receiving” societies and the migrants’ countries of origin go through cultural and economic transformations with migration flows. We will challenge the notion that all immigrants go through a universal psychological process of acculturation and adaptation. Through different examples of various transnational immigrant communities in the world, we will develop a contextual understanding of self and identity. In order to familiarize you with key questions, theoretical debates, and issues within the field, our readings will range across a body of interdisciplinary and critical scholarship, and will include elements from digital media and pop culture.
