Holocaust Refugees in the Global South

In this course we will undertake an interdisciplinary exploration of often underrepresented experiences of the forced migration ofHolocaust refugees to colonial locations during the Second World War. Our study of global refugee transit experiences in places like Shanghai, India, South Africa, Kenya, South America, Mauritius, and the Caribbean will reveal entanglements between occupied Europe and the colonial world that significantly shaped Holocaust refugee trajectories. This course employs interdisciplinary approaches, blending (diasporic) historiography with literary and postcolonial studies and delving into personal narratives. It seeks to uncover nuanced dimensions of the refugee experience, challenge Eurocentric perspectives and established victim/perpetrator binaries and examine complex forms of “implication.” Course materials are in English, but students with linguistic competency are encouraged to analyze documents in other languages. This course is part of the Axinn Center for the Humanities’ Mellon Foundation Public Humanities Initiative.