Centre for Migration and
Diapsora Studies

The centre aims to foster and promote a supportive research and teaching environment for scholars concerned with issues of migration and diaspora, drawing on the skills and expertise of academics situated in disciplines such as anthropology, history, development studies, politics, religion, music and art history.

The centre covers not only the traditional SOAS heartlands of Asia and Africa, but also issues of migration and diaspora in Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.

Since its inception in 1916, SOAS has built a worldwide reputation for its specialisation in regional scholarship, establishing a long tradition of research which is inherently transnational in character. Through the years, SOAS has built on this strength, and the school has attracted a growing number of academics from a variety of disciplines with interests in issues of transnationality, migration and diaspora.

In 2003, the school began one of the first interdisciplinary MA programmes in Migration and Diaspora Studies in the country, and in 2007, the centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies was established in order to co-ordinate activities across the school and establish collaborative links with other institutions both nationally and internationally.