Four courses. Four weeks abroad. One theme. One semester.

We’re excited to be taking part in DukeImmerse’s inaugural semester in Spring 2012, sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education. Leaving Home: The Law, Ethics, and Political Economy of Displacement (LEAPED) is a global collaboratory on forced migration.

Think of LEAPED as Focus on steroids: a semester-long, research-based, student-faculty collaboration on a single theme–plus a weekly dinner meeting and a four-week mid-semester field trip to Nepal or Egypt.

LEAPED strives to understand the contemporary dynamics of displacement and the challenges it poses. Its aims to offer concrete research-based interventions to address both the causes and consequences of displacement. Duke students and faculty will collaborate both with refugee communities and international, national and local NGOs working with these communities. Working from a variety of methodological, theoretical, disciplinary and political perspectives, participants will address a single research question: how does displacement affect the well-being and the social identity of those displaced?

LEAPED will involve a systematic comparison of Bhutanese and Iraqi refugees, two of the three groups the U.S. State Department and Office of Homeland Security have specially targeted for resettlement, and the two fastest growing refugee populations in Durham and surrounding areas. These two communities also make for interesting comparison. The Bhutanese were expelled from Bhutan two decades ago, lived in poverty in refugee camps, are largely illiterate, mostly don’t speak English, mostly come from agricultural backgrounds, and tend to convert from Hinduism to Christianity just before or after resettlement. The Iraqis left only recently, spent little or no time in refugee camps, are solidly middle-class, highly educated professionals, speak fluent English, and don’t tend to convert. How do these factors affect the likelihood of successful resettlement?

Courses include

• Global Migration and Ethics (Ethics/CulAnth.): An overview of current scholarship on the anthropology of global migration, and the key ethical predicaments at the center of contemporary forms of human mobility. Featuring an anthropological examination of current debates drawing on ethnographic texts, legal and policy materials, biography, literature and film. Areas of Knowledge: CZ, SS. Modes of Inquiry: EI. Meeting time TBD.

• Field Ethics (Ethics/ DocSt): An introduction to methods of social scientific field research, including principles of research design, particularly surveys and interviews, with a substantial focus on data analysis and interpretation. Students will also learn a variety of visual methods, including mapping and photo elicitation. Emphasis on the ethics of research design, implementation, and presentation and ethics of research with vulnerable populations. Areas of Knowledge: SS, QS. Modes of Inquiry: EI, R, W.

• Displacement and Global Health (Ethics, Global Health and CulAnth): A discussion of the health consequences of global displacement, including nutrition, mental health and lifestyle diseases, with a focus on social/community impacts and policy solutions. Particular attention will be paid to the ethics of asylum and the extent to which refugees are actually afforded the physical and mental health protection and support they need. Areas of Knowledge: SS. Modes of Inquiry: CCI, EI. Meeting time TBD.

• Refugee Policies and Practice (Ethics, ICS & PolSci): An exploration of the policies and practices affecting refugees. Particular attention will be paid to Bhutanese refugees of Nepali descent, and to refugees resettled in Durham. Involves fieldwork and community engagement activities—this is a service learning course. Areas of Knowledge: SS. Modes of Inquiry: CCI, EI. Meeting time TBD.

Contact Professor Suzanne Shanahan for more information about the program and how to apply.