FUNDED PROJECTS
MIGMERICAS
This virtual exchange project explores transatlantic migration from Europe to the Americas during the long 19th century (ca. 1760–ca. 1914), with a focus on Swiss, Italian, French, German, and Iberian experiences..
Category: Incubator Grant
University:
University of the Basque Country, University of Bern
Period:
2025-2027
This virtual exchange project explores transatlantic migration from Europe to the Americas during the long 19th century (ca. 1760–ca. 1914), with a focus on Swiss, Italian, French, German, and Iberian experiences. Students will investigate migrant narratives and voices using digitized and non-digitized archival materials – such as letters, photographs, newspapers, administrative records, and memoirs – and share their findings across borders.
The course will emphasize how migrants were integrated into their host societies and how they actively shaped the processes they were involved in. Special attention will be given to the role of migration in driving political, economic, social, cultural, scientific, and intellectual transformations in the emerging nations of the Americas.
"The most outstanding feature of this course is that it brings together students from both the sending and receiving countries involved in the mass migration processes of the long nineteenth century. In most cases, students encounter national narratives that approach this topic from a narrowly focused, country-specific perspective. This course offers students the opportunity not only to share these narratives with one another but also to move beyond them, enabling the collaborative construction of a broader and more integrated understanding of their shared past."
Participants and Stakeholders
- Coordinators: University of Bern, Christian Büschges and Carlos Olano
- Other Partner Institutions: University of the Basque Country and Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Argentina
Team Composition:
Christian Büschges, Institute for History, Department of Iberian and Latin American History, University of Bern (PI and teacher)
Carlos Olano, Institute for History, Department of Iberian and Latin American History, University of Bern (task coordinator Bern and teacher)
Oscar Alvarez Gila, Faculty of Arts, University of the Basque Country (task coordinator UPV/EHS and teacher)
Virginia López de Maturana Diéguez, Faculty of Arts, University of the Basque Country (coordinator and teacher)
Ruy Gonzalo Farías, School of Humanities, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina (coordinator and teacher)
Pablo Escalante, School of Humanities, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina (coordinator and teacher)
- Stakeholders/External Partners:
Initiative of the Directorate for the Basque Community Abroad, Presidency of the Basque Government.
Deutsches Tagebucharchiv Emmendingen
Burgerbibliothek Bern
Centro DIHA Buenos Aires
Objectives
To foster transcultural dialogue about migration and its historical legacies through student-led presentations and collaborative interpretation of historical sources.
Web
- The site where the results will be published is MIGMERICAS ENLIGHT (under construction)
Contact
Christian Büschges (
Additional information
The course is based on collaborative learning, through which students develop intercultural communication competencies by investigating migration cases using archival materials located in both the countries of origin and the countries of destination of migrants. In this sense, research skills and information-seeking abilities are complemented by the development of strategies and competencies that facilitate communication and collaboration among students of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds.