International migration has steadily increased for the past fifty years, and will likely continue to rise. This course focuses on the causes and consequences of international migration of refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers, and is interested in thinking critically and empirically about mobility and containment. Course materials will interrogate constructions of the “migrant” subject and categorization of people, generally, looking beyond national regimes of migration control and integration to explore how cities, local communities, and even neighborhoods can condition migrant futures and vice versa. Topics covered in class will include: refugee/migrant education as a tool for integration, local policymaking responses to migration, grassroots humanitarian aid efforts, citizenship and borders, diaspora politics and refugee/migrant activism, among others. While we will contextualize course material within US immigration debates, we will also consider the similarities and differences across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Students enrolled in the course will be encouraged to conduct their own research, creative project, or practicum, related to the historical and contemporary cases of local integration and focusing on the reciprocal relationship between host communities and migrants.