Diaspora and Transnational Studies

Diaspora and Transnational Studies: Introduction

Lead Faculty of the Collaborative Specialization

Arts and Science

Participating Degree Programs

Anthropology — MA, MSc, PhD
Art History — MA, PhD
Cinema Studies — MA
Comparative Literature — MA, PhD
Criminology and Sociolegal Studies — MA, PhD
Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies — MA, PhD
English — MA, PhD
Geography — MA, MSc, PhD
Germanic Languages and Literatures — MA
Germanic Literature, Culture and Theory — PhD
History — MA, PhD
Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations — MA, PhD
Political Science — MA, PhD
Religion — MA, PhD
Slavic Languages and Literatures — MA, PhD
Social Justice Education — MA, MEd, EdD, PhD
Sociology — MA, PhD
Spanish — MA, PhD
Women and Gender Studies — MA, PhD

Supporting Units

Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies;
Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies

Overview

Diaspora in contemporary thought involves the shifting relations between homelands and host nations from the perspective of those who have moved, whether voluntarily or not. Diaspora emphasizes the inescapable lived translocal experiences of many migrant communities that exceed the boundaries of the nation-state. Questions of nostalgia, of the dynamics of co-ethnic identification, of the politics of homeland and host nation, and of the inter-generational shifts in responses to all these are central to studies of diaspora.

Transnationalism, on the other hand, focuses on flows and counterflows and the multistriated connections to which they give rise. It encompasses in its ambit not just the movement of people but also concepts of citizenship and multinational governance, the resources of information technology, and the realities of the global marketplace, among others.

Taken together, the two concepts of diaspora and transnationalism enable our understanding of the complex realities of vast movements of people, goods, ideas, images, technologies, and finance in the world today.

This collaborative specialization is designed to bring together both social science and humanities perspectives to augment our existing tri-campus undergraduate program and to contribute to increased research collaboration between participants in the collaborative specialization.

Upon successful completion of the degree requirements of the participating home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization, students will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Diaspora and Transnational Studies” on their transcript.

Contact and Address

Web: cdts.utoronto.ca
Email: cdts@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 946 8464
Fax: (416) 978 7045

Diaspora and Transnational Studies Collaborative Specialization
University of Toronto
Suite 230, 170 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5R 2M8
Canada

Diaspora and Transnational Studies: Master's Level

Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are enrolled in a participating master's degree program in the graduate unit in which the research is conducted, which is known as the participating home graduate unit. The applicant must meet the admission requirements of both the home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization.

Specialization Requirements

  • Students must meet all respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating unit.

  • Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

    • 0.5 full-course equivalent (FCE) seminar in Comparative Research Methods in Diaspora and Transnational Studies (DTS). As part of the Research Methods seminar, students are required to submit an ethnographic, archival, or documentary paper on a diasporic community in Toronto or elsewhere.

    • 0.5 FCE DTS topics course (DTS2000H, DTS2001H, or DTS2002H); course themes to be decided each year by the collaborative specialization committee. The DTS collaborative components may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home unit requirements.

    • The DTS collaborative components may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home unit requirements.

    • If the student undertakes a major paper or thesis in their home unit, this will be on a topic in diaspora and transnational studies, approved by the collaborative specialization committee.

Diaspora and Transnational Studies: Doctoral Level

Admission Requirements

  • Applicants shall be enrolled in a participating doctoral degree program in the graduate unit in which the research is conducted, which is known as the participating home graduate unit. The applicant shall meet the admission requirements of both the home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization.

  • Students who complete the collaborative specialization at the master's level will not be eligible for the program at the doctoral level.

Specialization Requirements

  • Students must meet all respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating unit.

  • Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

    • 0.5 full-course equivalent (FCE) seminar in Comparative Research Methods in Diaspora and Transnational Studies (DTS). As part of the Research Methods seminar, students are required to submit an ethnographic, archival, or documentary paper on a diasporic community in Toronto or elsewhere.

    • 0.5 FCE DTS topics course (DTS2000H, DTS2001H, or DTS2002H); course themes to be decided each year by the collaborative specialization committee. The DTS collaborative components may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home unit requirements.

    • The DTS collaborative components may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home department requirements.

    • The student's dissertation in their home department must be on a topic in diaspora and transnational studies, approved by the collaborative specialization committee.

Diaspora and Transnational Studies: Courses

Course Code Course Title
DTS1000H
Comparative Research Methods in Diaspora and Transnationalism
DTS2000H
Graduate Topics in Diaspora Studies
DTS2001H
Graduate Topics in Diaspora Studies
DTS2002H
Graduate Topics in Diaspora Studies
JCD5135H Race, Politics, and Jewishness
JCD5136H Migration and Memory: Narratives of Jewish Exile and Displacement