LALS 375 - Unaccompanied Migrant Children

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as SOCI 375) Child and youth migration has become an increasingly visible and recognized part of 21st century global migration flows. This course explores the complex and evolving phenomenon of child and youth migration, with a particular focus on unaccompanied minors. Adult perspectives across platforms - e.g., news media, academic research, and policy debates - often assume that unaccompanied child and youth migrants are passive recipients of adult decisions and routinely represent them as passive victims of exploitation, trafficking, and coercion. This course questions such assumptions by examining the multidimensional nature of unaccompanied child migration, highlighting children’s agency in making migration-related decisions, including those involving work, education, and family strategies. Students engage critically with an array of texts (e.g., memoir, fiction, social science research, and policy frameworks) to analyze the varying experiences of unaccompanied migrant children—both positive and negative—and to understand the broader socio-political contexts shaping their journeys. Eréndira Rueda.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS