Refugee connections – call for papers
We are pleased to announce that the ‘Doing Refugee History’ series will continue this year with two roundtables. The first will explore the subject of refugee connections and will take place on Thursday 20 October 2022, 2-4pm UK time.
As displaced people, refugees are often assumed to be disconnected—to have lost their connections to the places, people, and things that matter to them. Humanitarian programming in first countries of refuge, and refugee integration strategies in resettlement countries, aim to create new economic and social connections for refugees. But what connections have refugees, over time, made for themselves?
The purpose of this roundtable is to explore refugee connections in history. With whom, and with what places and things, have refugees made connections? How have these connections shaped their journeys? Who are the people, and what are the processes and structures, that enable or challenge these connections? What are the sites and spaces where connections are forged? We welcome contributions that discuss connections, broadly defined, and consider how these inform approaches to doing refugee history.
Scholars at all career stages are encouraged to submit abstracts for papers that use empirical case studies to explore subjects including (but not limited to):
The nature of diverse refugee connections: material, cultural, social, political and physical
Sites and spaces of connection: where do refugee connections take place, and what are the consequences of attention to place and space for how we do refugee history?
Refugee connectors: who are the people who have forged refugee connections and on what scale?
Familial, community and diasporic connections
We will run this roundtable with four short (c.2,000-word) pre-circulated papers. Presenters will comment on each other’s work and engage with audience Q&A.
Timeline
Please send your abstract (no more than 200 words) to doingrefugeehistory@gmail.com no later than 26 August 2022.
Decisions on the programme will be made by 2 September 2022 and invited speakers will be asked to submit their short papers for circulation by 7 October 2022.
The roundtable will take place on 20 October 2022, 2-4pm UK time, via Zoom.
Co-convenors
Anna Maguire (UCL)
Laura Madokoro (Carleton University)
Benjamin Thomas White (University of Glasgow)
The header image is a portrait-format photograph showing three refugee women in Athens in 1922, one seated on the ground and two standing, each occupied with a piece of knitting or sewing. On the ground around them are a handbroom, a woven basket, and a piece of sacking on which what might be chestnuts are scattered. Behind them is a washing line hung with washing. And immediately behind them rise the stone base and enormous pillars of the temple of Theseus. Source: Library of Congress.
