CLASSIC vhb course: “Migration & Development (M&E): Spatial Mobilities and Social Transformations in West Africa”

Migration is an integral part of human history. The fact that migration is closely structurally linked to development is undisputed in the social sciences. However, there is no clear answer to the questions of how migration affects development and how this in turn influences migration. Migration movements and socio-economic development processes are highly complex, dynamic and context-specific in terms of their origin, form and impact.

What are the prerequisites and motivations for migration decisions? Do poverty and social inequalities inevitably lead to migration? And does migration promote processes of “development” or does it set in motion negative development dynamics at the place of origin?

The nexus of migration and development (M&E) is a (primeval) geographical field of research. It combines two core concepts around which two geographical sub-disciplines have established themselves, each with their own expertise and perspectives: geographical development research and - much more recently - geographical migration research. Both make important contributions to the consideration of the diverse interactions and complex issues within this highly politicized field of research.

The planned CLASSIC vhb course introduces the topic of “Migration & Development” from a geographical perspective and with a regional focus on West Africa. In addition to the critical and reflective development of basic definitions, terms (such as “development”) and theories, the focus is on core and cross-cutting topics of the M&E debate. With regard to the core topics, the central aspects of remittances (social and monetary remittances), diaspora and mobility of human capital (brain drain/gain etc.) are explained in the M&E context. Based on regional case studies from West Africa, the cross-cutting topics deal with selectable focus areas that can be associated with M&E - such as gender, education, climate change or urbanization. By engaging with the empirical case studies, students also gain valuable insights into the wide range of methods used in the research field.

The online course is largely designed by Professor Andreas Eberth, Dr Christian Ungruhe and Christian Haase from the Professorship for Geography with a focus on Education for Sustainable Development and Dr Philipp Aufenvenne (Chair of Anthropogeography) and will be included in the teaching program in the winter semester 24/25.

This text was machine-translated from german.

Principal Investigator(s) at the University	Prof. Dr. Andreas Eberth (Professur für Geographie mit Schwerpunkt Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung)
Project period	01.09.2023 - 30.09.2024
Source of funding	vhb - Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern
Projektnummer	23-I-10-19Ste1