Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - GSWS 312 D100

Gendering Borders and Belonging in Migration (4)

Class Number: 2923

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Fri, 12:30–4:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    15 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the forces involved in displacements and global migration. Centring both the exploitation involved in the extraction of land and labor, and the modes of belonging and resistance of migrants and immigrants, the course explores the gendered, economic, border and racial regimes involved in contemporary global migration and nation-building.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course examines current global (im)migration issues and lived experiences at the nexus of colonialism and racial capitalism. We start from thinking about how contemporary forms of global displacements and migration relate to borders in our everyday lives on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh peoples. From this starting point, the course will cover topics and concepts that revolve around (im)migration and borders at various scales -- from the personal to the structural, from the local to the global. We will examine concepts like home, diaspora, and belonging alongside topics that attend to the racial and gendered dynamics of displacement and migration. We will use feminist, queer, anti-racist and anti-colonial frameworks to understand contemporary migration issues and struggles for social justice. Overall, the course aims to provide students with critical ways of understanding the global migration, diasporas of people, and their different forms of resistance.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

For more detailed information please see the GSWS website: https://www.sfu.ca/gsws/undergraduate/courses/goals

Grading

  • Participation 10%
  • Story Maps 5%
  • In-Class Course Engagement Activities 30%
  • Final Group Project Proposal 10%
  • Final Group Project 35%
  • Final Group Project Presentation 10%

NOTES:

Unceded Territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) & kwikwəƛ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem) nations

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

All the weekly assigned readings will be uploaded on Canvas and/or will be available through SFU library databases.


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.