Racism and Migration

What is the course about?

This 2-hour session is part of the day on racism and racial justice on 3 June 2025.

Adopting approaches from anthropology and a critical historical lens, this course will examine how ideas about race, and processes of racialisation, have shaped patterns and policies of migration to and from Britain over the past century. Our aim is to understand how these histories are still felt today, from ‘go home’ vans and the ‘hostile environment’ to the 2024 anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim riots.

What will we cover?

• The meaning and process of ‘racialisation’

• Motivations for migration – including Empire-building, post-war reconstruction, economic growth, family reunification and more

• C20th and C21st British migration policies and trends

• The connections (and differences) between xenophobia and racism

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• Understand how ideas about nationalism and belonging have been historically constructed in relation to processes of racialisation

• Trace major trends and policy changes in British migration – and the reasons behind them – across the past 125 years

• Explain how – and why – racial identity categories are continuously (re)constructed in Britain

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This session is suitable both for newcomers to the subject and for those who have some background knowledge. You will need a good grasp of English to keep up with the course. 

Given the sensitive nature of the topics the session will explore, we also expect everyone to engage in group and class discussions with respect and the willingness to learn from others.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

This class will be taught through a mixture of lecture, small group activities, individual reflection, and whole group discussion.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

There are no additional costs, but you may wish to bring pen and paper or a digital equivalent for notetaking .

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

• Amnesty International UK racial justice keynote by Racial Justice Director Ilyas Nagdee
• The philosophy of race
• Land Acknowledgement and Racial Justice: Approaches from Different Settler Societies
• Ethnicity, Racism, Crime and the Criminal Justice System in Britain
• Radical Black Feminism
• Rhetoric and Refugees: Deconstructing migrant otherness in politics, pop culture and the press
• Asylum for Sale? Capitalism and the Migration Industry
• Black British Studies: Ethnicity, Race and Society
• Nazi Germany: politics, society, war and genocide
• Silent segregation in the city: race and class in Colombia and Mexivo
• History and memory in the United States of America<