Advanced Topics in Law: Disasters and Climate Change Migration

What do rising sea levels in the Pacific, droughts in Central America, hurricanes in Haiti, and bushfires in Australia have in common? How does migration as an environmental adaptation strategy clash with immigration regimes that reinforce racial and neocolonial disparities, while using technology to produce and enforce borders Ð both within and outside of states? Do existing legal regimes help or hinder climate adaptation and resilience? This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between climate change, transnational law, and migration. Through a series of case studies focused on the Pacific Islands, Haiti, Central America, and Australia, we will examine the impacts of climate change and transnational legal strategies being pursued to mitigate those effects. We will also explore how transnational migration law in the United States both constructs and reinforces racialized borders that disrupt people's ability to move and respond to climate change. *As this is a discussion-based class, it is critical that students complete assigned readings and exercises and come prepared to participate in class discussion*