This course places contemporary experiences of migration, refuge, and asylum at the heart of critical inquiry. In this light, and motivated by one's Hope for a better future as well as one's mere attempts of Survival, the Passages we'll encounter shall consist not only in geographical and physical journeys, but also in metaphoric and reflective materials. Encompassing both the intellectual and experiential, our own rite of passage will alternate between the seemingly familiar "local" and the remotely located "global" while engaging depictions from within -- as found in documentaries, music, vlogs, letters, and memoirs -- and responses from without -- as manifested in media reports, political platforms, and general discourse. In doing so, and while testing present encounters against our previous notions of identity, belonging, and otherness, we shall constantly strive to recognize, understand and articulate the Differences that asylum, migration, and refuge make in our own, immediate world.