Migrants/DisplcedPlp:Eurasia

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course focuses on two neighboring regions of Eurasia - the Caucasus and Central Asia that have witnessed enormous social, political, and economic change since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Drawing on the work of social scientists, especially anthropologists, this course is intended to broaden and deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of the ethnic, linguistic, and religious similarities and differences among the people of the Caucasus and Central Asia, with an emphasis on the regions’ minority groups. This course also serves to focus students’ attention on two of the more pressing issues for both the national governments of the states in these regions and the international community: migration and forced displacement. Tajikistan is consistently one of the top remittance-receiving countries as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in the world, while Georgia and Azerbaijan host large populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). This course is divided into three parts: 1) a socio-cultural overview of the Caucasus and Central Asia, with an emphasis on the regions’ transformation from Soviet to post-Soviet; 2) an examination of migration in the Caucasus and Central Asia; and 3) an examination of forced displacement in the Caucasus and Central Asia.