Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2026 - LBST 312 D100

Migration, Migrants, and Work: A Global Perspective (3)

Class Number: 2902

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 9 – Dec 7, 2026: Wed, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Strongly Recommended: LBST 101.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Global labour migration has increased substantially in the last several decades. What factors contribute to the current wave of labour migration? Which countries send and receive migrants, and what is the role of internal migration? What challenges do migrant workers face in their host countries? This course will examine these questions to uncover the nature, trends and impacts of this growing phenomenon. Students who have taken LBST 330 Global Labour Migration may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

People have migrated since time immemorial. Today migration is highly criminalized, politicized, and regulated. Controlled by states, borders, and capitalism, and induced by complex processes such as imperialism, inequality, and environmental destruction, the push to migrate has intensified in the last decades.

In this course we will delve into the contemporary migrant phenomena by examining diverse migrant labour regimes characterized by extreme forms of precarity. Starting with Canada, we will explore the rise of Temporary Foreign Worker Programs and the state’s creation of disposable non-citizen workers. We will explore case studies focussed on the Americas and Asia such as the kafala system, the Philippines as a labour brokerage state, and intra-regional migration to export-processing zones.

We will also examine the impacts of precarious labour migration on migrant workers’ families, including their children, and the rise of violence, racism, and xenophobia affecting already structurally vulnerable migrants. Lastly, we will turn to organizing models led by migrant workers to fight back and claim the right to a life with dignity wherever they may find themselves in the globe.

The course will be interactive and enlivened by the voices of migrant workers, their advocates, and powerful migrant films. Our discussions and readings will encompass various themes such as gender, sexuality, class, global apartheid, ethnicity, and hemispheric settler-colonialism.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Identify intersecting factors inducing the push to migrate among workers from the Majority World/Global South
  • Compare diverse migrant regimes in terms of rights, recruitment, and control;
  • Critically assess how states establish regimes of exclusion that impact migrant workers and their families;
  • Detail the ways in which migrant workers and their advocates are fighting back and reclaiming human rights and
  • Situate their own privileged and/or constrained mobility within global migration systems and reflect on their role in migrant justice using course theories and concepts.

Grading

  • Engaged participation and attendance 15%
  • Im/mobility Privilege Journal 15%
  • In person mid-term exam 30%
  • Group presentation on organizing and resistance 15%
  • Final take home-exam: 25%

NOTES:

Attendance and participation are important to be successful in the course and to promote a community of collective learning.

Grading: Where a final exam is scheduled and the student does not write the exam or withdraws from the course before the deadline date, an N grade will be assigned. Unless otherwise specified on the course syllabus, all graded assignments for this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned. An N is considered as an F for the purposes of scholastic standing.

Grading System: The undergraduate course grading system is A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F, N (N standing indicates student did not complete course requirements). Intervals for the assignment of final letter grades based on course percentage grades are as follows:

A+ (95-100) | A (90-94) | A- (85-89) | B+ (80-84) | B (75-79) | B- (70-74) | C+ (65-69) | C (60-64) | C- (55-59) | D (50-54) | F (0-49) | N*
*N standing to indicate the student did not complete course requirements

Academic Honesty and Student Conduct Policies: The Labour Studies Program follows SFU policy in relation to grading practices, grade appeals (Policy T 20.01) and academic honesty and student conduct procedures (S10-S10.05).  Unless otherwise informed by your instructor in writing, in graded written assignments you must cite the sources you rely on and include a bibliography/list of references, following an instructor-approved citation style.  It is the responsibility of students to inform themselves of the content of SFU policies available on the SFU website: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student.html.    

Centre for Accessible Learning: Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need classroom or exam accommodations are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (1250 Maggie Benston Centre) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.

REQUIREMENTS:

LBST 101 strongly recommended but not required/

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

All materials will be derived from the SFU library and made available digitally.

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.