Prerequisits:

There are no specific prerequisites for this course. Basic knowledge of social science and humanities theories and research methods, especially in migration studies, is recommended.

Content (Syllabus outline):

Content

1. Intersectionality as a key perspective on the complexity of migration: method, theory, and concept
2. Decolonization of academic knowledge production: multiperspectivity, transdisciplinarity, anti-Eurocentrism
3. The social construction of emotionality and intimacy: gender in historical perspective
4. Paid care work in historical perspective: the largest category of female migrant work, from Alexandrians to Filipinas
5. Life documents and their use in research into transnational emotional worlds: experiences and perceptions in the words of their actors
6. Transformative processes of migration: hybridization and fluidity of social and intimate identities

Readings:

• Milharčič Hladnik, Mirjam (2015) From Slovenia to Egypt: Aleksandrinke’s Trans-Mediterranean
• Domestic Workers’ Migration and National Imagination. Gottingen: V & R unipress.
• Sayad, Abdelmalek (2004) The Suffering of the Immigrant, Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Borges, Marcelo J., Cancian, Sonia, Reeder, Linda (eds) (2021) Emotional landscapes: love, gender, and migration, Urbana; Chicago; Springfield: University of Illinois Press.
• Milharčič Hladnik, Mirjam, Mlekuž, Jernej (ur.) (2009). Krila migracij: po meri življenjskih zgodb. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
• Mihurko Poniž, Katja (ur.) (2022) Ljubezen v pismih: dopisovanje med Felicito Koglot in Francem Pericem: Aleksandrija-Bilje: 1921-1932). Nova Gorica: Založba Univerze.
• Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar (2005) Children of Global Migration. Transnational Families and Gendered Woes. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Koprivec, Daša (2013) Dediščina aleksandrink in spomini njihovih potomcev. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
• Cancian, Sonia, Leese, Peter, Mikulova, Sona (ur.) (2024) Migrant Emotions. Inclusion and Exclusion in Transnational Spaces. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
• Leese, Peter (2022) Migrant Representations. Life Story, Investigation, Picture. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
• Cukut Krilić, Sanja (2009) Spol in migracija. Izkušnje žensk kot akterk migracij. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.

Objectives and competences:

The course aims to present emotions in the context of migration on several levels:

• first, at the level of the subjective experience of the migration process of those who leave and those who remain, at the intersection of family, gender, and class, and by addressing individual emotions at the level of intimacy and sexuality in transnational emotional worlds;
• second, at the level of the emotional dimension of paid care work, the largest category of female migrant work in history and the present, at the intersection of ethnic, racial, and class hierarchies, as well as in cases of Slovenian female migration and cross-border work;
• thirdly, at the meso, macro, and micro levels in the multifaceted dimension of the emotions of intimate love and romantic relationships, family emotions and the transformative dynamics of the family division of labor, as well as national, patriotic, and political emotions and identity transformations.

Student competences:

• familiar with the history of emotions, paid female care work, and the intersection of migration, gender, class, and work
• trained in the methodological treatment and use of emo and/or ego documents, such as migrant correspondence, testimonies, diaries, life stories, and auto/biographies
• able to analyze sources and determine how emotions shape everyday aspects of political, social, and cultural change and exchange in the context of global migration
• be familiar with multi-perspective and post-colonial understanding and research of migration and the emotional dimensions of migration processes, with a special emphasis on the analysis of experiences
• understand the experiential and emotional complexity of migration processes beyond political and economic rationalist approaches.

Intended learning outcomes:

• prepare a written scientific paper with scientific apparatus,
• critically analyze diverse sources,
• interpret the results of research in a broader historical context,
• uses transdisciplinary analytical approaches,
• is familiar with qualitative, narrative methodological procedures and knows how to use them

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Case studies
• Different presentation
• Inviting guests from companies

Assessment:

• Short written assignments 20 %
• Long written assignments 60 %
• Presentations 20 %

Lecturer’s references:

• MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam. 2021. “People cannot live on love alone”: negotiating love, gender roles, and family care between Slovenia and Egypt. V: BORGES, Marcelo J. (ur.), CANCIAN, Sonia (ur.), REEDER, Linda (ur.). Emotional landscapes : love, gender, and migration, (Studies of world migrations). Urbana; Chicago; Springfield: University of Illinois Press, str. 57-74.
• KALC, Aleksej, MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam, ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja. Doba velikih migracij na Slovenskem, (Migracije, 30). 2020. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC SAZU.
• MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam. 2016. Nadzor nad nadzorom: strategije upiranja in avtonomnost delovanja migrantk v sodobni in zgodovinski perspektivi. Dve domovini : razprave o izseljenstvu, št. 43, str. 35-46
• MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam (ur.). 2015. From Slovenia to Egypt: Aleksandrinke’s Trans-Mediterranean Domestic Workers’ Migration and National Imagination. Gottingen: V&R Unipress.
• MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam, MLEKUŽ, Jernej (ur.). 2014. Going places : Slovenian women’s stories on migration. Akron: University of Akron Press.
• MILHARČIČ HLADNIK, Mirjam, MLEKUŽ, Jernej (ur.). 2009. Krila migracij: po meri življenjskih zgodb. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.