Course Name Year Term Period Faculty / Graduate School All Instructors Credits
13103:[2025 Fall]IR18‐EE332 International Migration (RB) § 13104:RUIR-3516 International Migration(RB) § 13105:IR-ECS302 International Migration (RB) 2025 Fall Wed2 College Of International Relations TSUJIMOTO TOSHIKO 2

Campus

KIC

Class Venue

KOSHINKAN KS201

Language

English

Course Outline and Method

*【+R-Jugyo】Information for “+R-Jugyo” will be posted on the “Course News” on manaba+R by September 20 for fall semester. Please check the “Course News” on manaba+R before the start of the course.

International migration has been attracting much scholarly attention in the past decades. In modern times, people move from their countries of origin to their destination countries for various reasons; these are migrant workers with or without official documents, professional elites employed in multinational corporations, international students, and tourists. On the other hand, people involuntarily (or sometimes voluntarily) migrate as refugees, asylum seekers, and victims of human trafficking, though the boundary between forced and voluntary migration is not always straightforward.

This Course, classified under the Culture and Society Cluster of the Global Studies Major Program, provides an introductory level of concepts and frameworks for analyzing international migration. It also introduces students to critical thematic topics for understanding current international migration regionally and disciplinarily cross-cutting ways. Besides, the Course aims for students to understand how international migration inseparably influences or is influenced by international relations.

First, this Course examines the theoretical discussion of international migration grounded in history, sociology, anthropology, demography, economics, and political science. Second, we deal with thematic topics such as the histories, theories, and infrastructures of international migration and various types of migrants (labour, family dependents, students, and refugees). We also address the notions of integration, governance, gender, and citizenship that define the status of international migrants nowadays.

The classes consist of lectures and student group discussions based on weekly assigned reading and students' reports. I evaluate students' performance based on their submitted assignments (ex., regional & country case reports, reflection comments, after-class discussion comments), contribution to class discussions, and the Final Research Paper. I return my feedback to students' assignments not individually but to the whole class as the overall assessment of students' understanding and engagement with the class contents and discussions.

Student Attainment Objectives

Students will be able to:
1) understand the causes and effects of international migration on the sending and host countries or communities from interdisciplinary perspectives;
2) develop necessary skills to read and summarize the assigned readings in their own words and express their views orally and in a written form;
3) explain how international migration deeply affects international relations from various disciplinary perspectives;
4) critically engage in the texts or class discussions to convert them to scholarly meaningful problems and topics; and
5) acquire comprehensive skills to analyze empirical case studies on international migration by connecting practical issues with theories or scholarly debates to ultimately write a well-organized and deeply analyzed final research paper in English.

Recommended Preparatory Course

Course Schedule

Lecture/Instructor(When there are multiple instructors) Theme
Keyword, References and Supplementary Information
1

Introduction to the Course: People on the Move and International Migration in a World History

‧Is global migration a new phenomenon in contemporary times?
‧ International migration before and after World War II

Readings)
Chapter 2: Migration Histories (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)
Chapter 1: International Migration as a World Issue (“Migration and International Relations”)

2

Why Do People Migrate?: Theories of International Migration (Group Discussion ①)

‧ The classical and neo-classical theories of international migration
‧ Push-pull model of international migration/ Economic-household-individual approaches to international migration

Reading)
Chapter 3: Migration Drives—Why Do People Migrate? (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

3

International Labour Migration

‧ Highly-Skilled vs. Low-Skilled Migration
‧ Migrants in Construction, Agriculture, Health, and Domestic Service/ Care Sectors

Reading)
Chapter 7: Labour Migration (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

4

International Family Migration

‧ Family migration policies in EU and East Asia
‧ Separated Families and Forced Transnationalism
‧ Cross-border marriage as the cause of international migration

Reading)
Chapter 8: Family Migration (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

5

Involuntary and Humanitarian migration

‧ “Voluntary” and “forced” migration
‧ Refugees/ asylum seekers, victims of trafficking, internally/ internationally displaced people

Reading)
Chapter 9: Humanitarian Migration (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)
Chapter 3: Refugees (“Migration and International Relations”)

6

International Student Migration (Group Discussion ②)

‧ The Internationalization of Higher Education
‧ The Global Race for Talent

Reading)
Chapter 11: Student Mobilities (“Introduction to Migration Studies)

7

How Do People Migrate?

‧ The rise of “migration infrastructures”
‧ The Migration Industry as the Catalyst of International Migration
‧ The roles of a state in restricting and facilitating human mobility

Readings)
Chapter 4: Migration Infrastructures—How Do People Migrate? (“Introduction to Migration Studies)
Chapter 3: Migration Trajectories and the Migration Industry: Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Examples from Asia (“The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration”)

8

The Governance of International Migration

‧ What is migration governance?
‧ Migration policies and border controls.
‧ Multilateral governance of international migration

Reading)
Chapter 20: Migration Governance (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)
Chapter 5: Migration Diplomacy and Multi-Actor Governance (“Migration and International Relations”)

9

Gender and International Migration

‧ Migrant women’s engagement in domestic service and care sectors
‧ The global chains of care
‧ Gendered norms that shape migration flows

Reading)
Chapter 18: Gender and Migration (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

10

Development and International Migration (Group Discussion ③)

‧ How does international migration impact the development in sending countries?
‧ The transfer of money, skills, technologies, and knowledge through international migration.
‧ The costs of international migration

Reading)
Chapter 19: Migration and Development (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

11

Exploring the Concepts of “Integration”

‧ Contesting the notion of “integration”
‧ Multiculturalism and Transnationalism

Reading)
Chapter 14: The Contested Concept of ‘Integration’ (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

12

Citizenship and International Migration

‧ Dual citizenship, denizens, and stateless people
‧ Dissociation of citizenship and nationality
‧ “Irregular” or Illegal” status of migrants

Reading)
Chapter 4: Citizenship and Migration in the International Order (“Migration and International Relations”)

13

The Nation and International Migration (Group Discussion ④)

‧ Globalization, international migration, and nationalism
‧ “Us” vs. “others”
‧ Public attitudes to international migrants and its impacts on migration policies

Readings)
Chapter 13: Migration and the Nation
Chapter 23: Public Opinion and the Politics of Migration (“Introduction to Migration Studies”)

14

Wrapping up the Course and the Peer-Review of the Final Research Papers (Group Discussion ⑤)

Assessment of the Course and students' final research papers

Class Format

No online classes will be provided without any special reasons.

Recommendations for Private Study

Students must complete all readings assigned to every class. Besides, please refer to additional readings introduced by the instructor in class.

Grade Evaluation Method

Kind Percentage Grading Criteria etc.
Final Examination (Written) 0

Report Examination
(A report to be submitted by the unified deadline)
0

Exams and/or Reports other than those stated above, and Continuous Assessment 
(Evaluation of Everyday Performance in Class)
100

① Regional & Country Case Report plus Oral Summary in Class (10 %; approximately 700-800 words in length, 2- or 3-minute oral summary)
② Reflection Comments (15%; approximately 200-300 words per posting)
③ The participation and contribution to the group discussions & after-discussion comments (25%; approximately 200-300 words per posting)
④  Final research paper (50%; approximately 2000-2300 words excluding a reference list)

Grade Evaluation Method (Note)

* Students who attended class and group discussions can post their reflections and after-discussion comments.

* Students absent from two-thirds of the group discussion classes will automatically fail the course.

* Students' Final Research Papers will be assessed by the systematic criteria or rubric (i.e., selecting an appropriate topic, the paper's focus, logical organization, fair use of scholarly resources and engaging & coherent in-depth discussions, etc.). Please remember that I will check the originality of all Final Research Papers through the online program. If your paper is found to significantly overlap with others' writings without adequate citations or reuse the previous term papers submitted to other courses (ex., both papers' contents are almost identical), and your paper is detected to using Chat GPT or other AI programs, you will fail this course. Students must know what acts can constitute academic misconduct on their responsibility.

Advice to Students on Study and Research Methods

Textbooks

Textbooks (Frequency of Use, Note)

Reference Books

Title Author Publisher ISBN Code Comment
Introduction to Migration Studies Peter Scholten (ed.) Springer 978-3030923761 Open E-Book
Migration and International Relations Catherine Wihtol de Wenden Springer 9783031317163 Open E-Book

Reference Books (Frequency of Use, Note)

We will refer to the books throughout the course. Additional references will be introduced in class.

Web Pages for Reference

How to Communicate with the Instructor In and Out of Class(Including Instructor Contact Information)

Talk with Students

Other Comments

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