Empires and Diasporas

When a society moves, we call it a diaspora. When a state moves, we call it an empire. This course explores how the interaction of these two kinds of mobility gave shape to the world we live in. We will discuss 1) how to trace the movement of states and societies across space and time, 2) how to understand empire and diaspora both as historical realities and as conceptual categories, and 3) how to use this conceptual history to generate fresh perspectives on contemporary affairs.