Migration doesn’t just move people—it transforms societies, challenges borders and reshapes what belonging means in the modern world.
Now, a new MA Program in Migration and Diaspora Studies launched this fall by the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts & Sciences (CCAS) guides students through understanding and influencing these transformations.
The interdisciplinary program equips students with the knowledge and skills to address some of the world’s most pressing issues. At the same time, it prepares them for career paths from policy-shapers and research leaders to refugee aid experts and immigrant advocates.
While rooted in the U.S. immigration context, the program takes a transnational approach to migration and diaspora dynamics across the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Courses address issues such as race, ethnicity and place; inequality and urbanization; cultural histories; immigrant histories and well-being; mobility and detention; and nationalism and policymaking.
“Anchored in theories and methodologies developed in the social sciences, the program aims to provide an understanding of migration and human mobility that captures the complexities underlying current and future issues affecting our collective futures in a globalized society,” said Program Director Kavita Daiya, a CCAS professor of English and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.
Policy, Advocacy, Scholarship
In addition to leveraging GW’s strategic location—steps from the State Department, Capitol Hill, international development organizations and the NGOs shaping U.S. and global migration policy in real time—students benefit from partnerships and expertise within the GW community.
Drawing on GW’s deep bench of migration scholars, it features cross-disciplinary perspectives from leaders in geography, sociology and anthropology. “Students in the program will have the opportunity to work with faculty with a strong record of research on immigrant communities in the United States and on transnational mobility worldwide,” Daiya noted.
At the same time, the program connects students directly to immigration research and advocacy resources, such as GW’s Center for Immigration and Migration Studies. Dedicated to exploring the multifaceted dynamics of migration, the center—“A key intellectual and community hub,” Daiya noted—hosts the Metropolitan Washington Workshop on Immigration and Race and convenes leading national and international scholars.
For students, the MA program opens doors to leadership roles across sectors—whether as policy analysts at federal and international agencies or researchers in think tanks, advocacy groups and community organizations.
“Given our location in the nation’s capital, we expect students from backgrounds in a range of disciplines in the arts and sciences to be interested in this program,” Daiya said, “whether they aim to pursue further research and scholarship or to establish themselves as practitioners in the field of migrant and refugee settlement, integration, policy and advocacy.”
To learn more about the field of migration and diaspora studies and the CCAS Master of Arts in Migration and Diaspora Studies program, prospective students are encouraged to join an information session on September 24. Registration is now open.