FALL 2024
DTS1000H1 Comparative Research Methods in DTS
Wednesdays, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Building: JHB
Room: 235
K. MacDonald
This seminar will introduce students to a range of theories to do with diaspora and transnationalism from the humanities and the social sciences. Core questions will include the methodological differences between diaspora and its many synonyms, such as migrant communities, exile, refugee, etc. The different emphases and overlaps between Migration Studies, Urban Studies, and Diaspora and Transnational Studies will also be pursued.
SPRING 2025
DTS2001H1 Grad Topics in DTS: Topic TBA
Wednesdays, 4:00pm-6:00pm
Building: JHB
Room: 235
A. Pesarini
Description TBA
DTS2002H1 Grad Topics in DTS: Rethinking Diaspora: Cultures, Futures, Homes
Mondays, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Building: JHB
Room: 235
S. Kassamali
This graduate-level class considers the meaning of "diaspora" in the 21st century. What has happened to earlier divisions between place of origin and place of arrival in the context of ever-faster media technologies, shifts in national demographics due to increased migration and displacement, and new political calls to reckon with diversity and representation? Sitting in Toronto, how can we think together about the collapsing of space and time, nation and difference, arrival and departure, origin and identity? Drawing on examples rooted in contemporary global political conditions (war, migration, economic disparity, racial hierarchy, and more), we will build conceptual vocabularies to rethink "diaspora" beyond an earlier paradigm focused on hyphenated identity, multiculturalism, and intergenerational conflict. We will engage as many genres of cultural production as is possible in a short semester - alongside academic writing (primarily ethnography), we will read novels and essays, watch films, listen to podcasts, and more. Students will be expected to approach all genres with the same generosity and rigor they would bring to academic texts. Some prior familiarity with "diaspora" and "transnationalism" as both analytic and experiential categories is required.
If you are a graduate student outside the DTS program and would like to take one of these courses, please fill out the form below and send it to Dr. Antonela Arhin at cdts@utoronto.ca.
