REFUGEES REIMAGINED: A Spotlight on Olympic medalists, Michelin-Star Chefs, and Award-winning Artists

Course Description

Who do you picture when you think of refugees? Is it Alfonso Davies, a world-renowned soccer star? Or is it Michelin-star chef James Syhabout? What about Mila Kunis, Freddie Mercury, or even Albert Einstein?

This course explores representations of refugees in the media and challenges the stereotypes that we often see online and in the news. We will learn about famous refugee athletes, chefs, and entertainers, and use their stories to reimagine who refugees are and what they can achieve.

This course will include film screenings, guest speakers, and a culinary experience. Through these activities, we will explore themes such as agency, power, resilience, self-reliance, and identity, and highlight the tensions that exist between governments, humanitarian organizations, media outlets, and refugees themselves.

Throughout the course, students will work towards completing a project that tells the story of a refugee’s success, triumphs, or accomplishments. This can be done in the form of a social media campaign, artwork, podcast, video, presentation, or another form of media.

We will start by addressing the question, “What is a Refugee?” and unpack what this term looks like with regards to representation versus reality. We will focus on three different spaces in which refugees exist and are breaking barriers: in sports, in the culinary world, and in the entertainment industry.

This course is interdisciplinary, drawing from the fields of communication and media studies, international studies, political science, and migration studies.

By the end of this course, students will:
- Gain a foundation of knowledge on refugee experiences in the global migration regime
- Develop critical media analysis skills
- Engage with the sites and spaces that facilitate refugee empowerment
- Produce a media project that tells an inspiring story about a refugee

This course works towards reimagining refugees in the world. They are not just passive victims of conflict; they are Olympic medalists, Michelin-star Chefs, Grammy-nominated Artists, and more – there is no limit to what refugees can achieve!