main content How Migrant Stories Are Told

If the last 25 years are any indication, migration will be among the defining themes of the 21st century. Global migration has nearly tripled over the last 45 years, according to trends tracked by Pew Charitable Trusts, with 103 million migrants in 1980 and 281 million in 2020.

For many years, Lewis & Clark students have engaged directly with the topic of migrants and borders in courses offered through the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of History. But now, for the first time, students are examining migration through firsthand stories and representation in the arts. In a testament to student interest, Playing at the Border: Migration and Art, filled up quickly, easily reaching its maximum capacity of 25 students. The course is taught by Assistant Professor of Theatre Suhaila Meera.

Assistant Professor of Theatre Suhaila Meera By exploring “stories of migration and the migration of stories,” students will analyze how refugee stories are told “by whom, for whom, and to what ends” and engage with representations of migration in different media, including film, theatre, poetry, and visual art.

The course grew out of Meera’s current book project, The Child at the Border: How Children Perform Displacement, which examines theatrical and cinematic representations of children navigating national borders in and beyond South Asia and the Middle East.

“We are looking at the regions that I write about, but we’re also looking at the U.S.–Mexico border,” said Meera. “And, while my research is mostly about plays and films, the class is looking at novels, plays, films, poetry, even architecture, to think about border walls themselves and performances around them.”

Students will read firsthand accounts of migration, discuss critical perspectives, engage with guest visitors, and attend an art installation event and a dance performance produced by Portland-based Boom Arts.

“In the class we are asking questions around how refugee stories tend to be told—by whom and for whom. We’re looking at the politics of representation as seen across a range of mediums,” says Meera.

A Local Partner: The Immigration and Refugee Community Organization

While students consider representations of borders and migration in art, they will also have the opportunity to put theory into practice. A significant part of the class is the creation of a community-engaged, scholarly creative project that center migrant voices through a partnership with the Portland-based nonprofit Immigration and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). Students will choose between two types of semester-long projects: either developing and executing a creative community-based event, such as a performance, or engaging in a semester-long volunteer project with IRCO.

IRCO, founded in 1976 “by refugees for refugees,” has a mission “to welcome, serve, and empower refugees, immigrants, and people across cultures and generations to reach their full potential.”

“My hope is that we are both critiquing representations in class and considering the ethics and stakes of telling refugee and migrant stories,” says Meera.

The work with IRCO is supported by a Health + Humanities Community Connections Grant, funded by the Mellon Foundation and offered by the Center for Community and Global Health. This one-time $4,500 grant is intended for work that revises or expands an existing course in collaboration with a partner organization in Portland or the surrounding areas. The funds are split between the faculty member for use in enhancing the course and the partnering organization, in this case IRCO.

In February, students will begin their engagement with IRCO by participating as a group in the New Beginnings Market, where they will be assisting newcomer families in receiving the supplies they need to set up their new homes in Portland.

The class fulfills requirements for both the theatre major and ethnic studies minor, as well as general education.

Theatre Center for Community and Global Health