Studying Refugee Migration in Rome
September 17, 2025
Studying Refugee Migration in Rome
About the Global Refugee Crisis Study Abroad Program: From Devastation to Diaspora
By Dr. J. Carey Jackson
Streams of migrants flow to the United States and Italy from the Southern Hemisphere, where Europe had long-held colonies, and where the United States has dominated business and politics for generations. Both countries are wrestling with swings in political discourse and shifting immigration policy, including debates about perceived threats to cultural identity. Italy and the United States provide similarities and contrasts for studying migration, immigration law, resettlement, and the lived experience of migrants.
My colleague and I brought a group of 19 undergraduate Honors students to the University of Washington Rome Center in 2024, joined by two Italian professors affiliated with the Center. Our courses delved into the issues surrounding the ongoing refugee crisis while supporting students through the experience of living (temporarily) as non-citizens in a world capital.
How Students Learn in this Program
Students learned basic Italian to navigate the city, have some understanding of simple commerce, and better interact with their neighbors. Our curriculum outlined patterns of disasters from genocide and civil war to earthquakes and global warming. We focused on some of the varied traumas migrants experience: physical assault and depravation, perilous migration routes, under-resourced and unsafe camps, detention, torture, and trafficking. We learned together about the institutions, policies and immigration law in Italy and the U.S. that migrants must navigate after they escape.
Beyond the classroom, students worked in and examined resettlement organizations assisting migrants in Rome, including respectful contact with refugees in these service sites. Finally, they studied Roman history and used the built environment of Rome to study narratives of power through the millennia that continue to reverberate today in discussions of public benefits, law and order, citizenship, trafficking, forced assimilation, and structures of inequity. Each course touched on elements relevant to the other courses and challenged students intellectually and emotionally.
UW Honors students come from every discipline, so class discussions included a lively mix of perspectives: Environmental Studies, Biology, Philosophy, History, Public Health, Public Policy, and Anthropology. There is no discipline untouched by migration studies, from the biology of starvation and traumatic brain injury to the politics of water during global warming. Students engaged with real people who were living through the conditions most of us only read about. They learned about the enormity of losses faced, and the remarkable resilience of survivors.
Seeking Compassionate Students Spring 2026
I’m proud of our students for committing to the sometimes uncomfortable work. They balanced the joys of their own international exploration with sobering revelations about the global refugee crisis. And I enjoyed learning from them, too. So much that I’ve been inspired to repeat this international learning experience with my faculty co-lead, Dr. Diem Nguyen, in the spring of 2026. If you’ve read this far, I hope to see you this fall at an info session. And we’re happy to answer questions if you prefer to reach out directly.
Learn more, find information session dates, and apply here!
Contact: J. Carey Jackson (jacksonc@uw.edu), UW School of Medicine, Global Health) & Diem Nguyen (diem9@uw.edu), Global Health
Written by Dr. Jonathan Carey Jackson, professor in the Department of Medicine and an adjunct professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. Dr. Jackson has 32 years of experience designing research programs and services for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. He has mentored and taught generations of graduate students, medical students, residents, fellows, and colleagues on refugee-related issues for decades.