This course uncovers the migrant radical tradition at the heart of global history. Examining novels, films and ethnographies of 20th – century migrations alongside forensic reports, poetry and footage produced by recent border-crossers, we will trace how mobile subjects – from stowaways to pirates and anticolonial militants – have shaped new identities, political geographies and emancipatory futures. We will situate border regimes in relation to practices of policing the colonies, the plantation, the factory and, finally, we will ask: why did we stop seeing migrants as political subjects and start treating them like humanitarian ones?
