General information

Course name	Seminar: 08-27-GS-2 From Environmental Refugees to Climate (Im)Mobilities -Investigating a changing academic and political discourse
Subtitle
Course number	08-27-GS-2
Semester	WiSe 2025/2026
Current number of participants	8
expected number of participants	25
Home institute	Geographie
Courses type	Seminar in category Teaching
Next date	Wednesday, 10.12.2025 16:00 - 18:00, Room: FVG O0150 (Seminarraum)
Type/Form
Participants	Geographers and social scientists and also educators (Pädagogen) who are interested in interdisciplinary research on the relationship between climate change and human movement.
Pre-requisites	English needs to be sufficient for discussion during the seminar and for preparing presentations. No need for perfect English but the entire seminar will be conducted in English.
Performance record	1) Students will have to do weekly readings 2) Students will have to give a 20 min presentation and give feedback to their peers on their presentation (3 CP option; no grade) 3) Students will have to write a 3000 word long narrative literature review on climate change and human migration (6 CP, graded)
Englischsprachige Veranstaltung	Ja
ECTS points	3-6 CP

Lecturers

Leonie Tuitjer

Rooms and times

FVG O0150 (Seminarraum): Wednesday: 16:00 - 18:00, weekly (14x)

Module assignments

Comment/Description

Since the 1980s debates on so-called “environmental refugees” have resurfaced and inspired a vivid academic and political debate in the UN, EU and at national security bodies. Within this seminar students will encounter the shifts and changes that marked that debate and learn to reflect on the relationship between academic discourses and changing political landscapes. We will explore the security-focused approaches to “environmental refugees” in the 1980s to early 2000s, the strong voices of migration scholars arguing against mono-causal perspectives of migration; international law scholars’ arguments for/ against broadening the category of “refugee” and finally turn to present-day debates on how migration in the light of climate change can be perceived as an adaptation strategy.
Lernziele/Kompetenzen: 1) Understand and explain key concepts in the changing debate on climate change and human migration 2) Identify and critically assess the features of such changing discourses and discuss them in the context of political developments 3) Practice academic skills such as presentations and debates in English 4) Practice how to write a narrative literature review

Registration mode

After enrolment, participants will manually be selected.

Potential participants are given additional information before enroling to the course.

Seminar: 08-27-GS-2 From Environmental Refugees to Climate (Im)Mobilities -Investigating a changing academic and political discourse - Details