South Asian Migrations
MIT's course traces the global history of South Asian migration out of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh into America, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Students examine why these communities were welcomed as a model minority in some destinations and treated as unwanted outsiders in others, using literature, memoirs, films, music, and historical scholarship as primary material. The syllabus follows migrants across distinct regional case studies, comparing indentured labor movements to the Caribbean, professional and student migration to Britain and North America, and diaspora communities in the Gulf states and East Africa. Materials include readings, assigned films, and writing assignments drawn from MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access online. No certificate is offered, but full course materials, including the reading list and assignment prompts, are published for self-study.