The history of migration and mobility stands at the
crossroad of several fields and disciplines: demography, sociology and
cultural, religious, social and economic history. This course will present a
typology of early modern forms of mobility and migration, taking place in or
originating from Europe, from the end of the fifteenth to the eighteenth
century. We will study forced migrations in their different forms and context,
whether related to the religious and political transformations of Europe
(expulsion of Jews, Muslims, coerced migration of Puritans, Huguenots, Catholics),
or linked to certain professional activities or social groups (merchant and
seasonal mobility, aristocratic and elite mobility, mobility from poverty). The
purpose of this course goes beyond push and pull factors and effects of
mobility and migration for host societies. We will take into consideration the
experience of mobility from the point of view of the migrants and study such
material aspects as travel and settlement, and how early modern communities and
societies accommodated newcomers. In addition, special attention will be paid
to identity, gender, life-cycle and social group. A good understanding of
written and spoken English is required.