A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Almost 68.5 million refugees in the world today live in a protection gap, the chasm between protections stipulated in the Geneva Convention and the abrogation of those responsibilities by states and aid agencies. With dwindling humanitarian aid, how do refugee communities solve collective dilemmas, like raising funds for funeral services, or securing other critical goods and services? In Networked Refugees, Nadya Hajj finds that Palestinian refugees utilize Information Communication Technology platforms to motivate reciprocity-a cooperative action marked by the mutual exchange of favors and services-and informally seek aid and connection with their transnational diaspora community. Using surveys conducted with Palestinians throughout the diaspora, interviews with those inside the Nahr al Bared Refugee camp in Lebanon, and data pulled from online community spaces, these findings push back against the cynical idea that online organizing is fruitless, emphasizing instead the productivity of these digital networks.

Sovereignty in Exile explores sovereignty and state power through the case of a liberation movement that set out to make itself into a state. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) was founded by the Polisario Front in the wake of Spain's abandonment of its former colony, the disputed Western Sahara. Morocco laid claim to the same territory, and the conflict has locked Polisario and Morocco in a political stalemate that has lasted forty years. Complicating the situation is the fact that Polisario conducts its day-to-day operations in refugee camps near Tindouf, in Algeria, which house most of the Sahrawi exile community. SADR (a partially recognized state) and Polisario (Western Sahara's liberation movement) together form an unusual governing authority, originally premised on the dismantling of a perceived threat to national (Sahrawi) unity: tribes. Drawing on unprecedented long-term research gained by living with Sahrawi refugee families, Alice Wilson examines how tribal social relations are undermined, recycled, and have reemerged as the refugee community negotiates governance, resolves disputes, manages social inequalities, and improvises alternatives to taxation. Wilson trains an ethnographic lens on the creation of administrative categories, legal reforms, aid distribution, marriage practices, local markets, and contested elections within the camps. Tracing social, political, and economic changes among Sahrawi refugees, Sovereignty in Exile reveals the dynamics of a postcolonial liberation movement that has endured for decades in the deserts of North Africa while trying to bring about the revolutionary transformation of a society which identifies with a Bedouin past.

What does it means to be Palestinian in the diaspora? This collection of 100 personal reflections on being Palestinian is the first book of its kind. Reflecting on Palestinian identity as it is experienced at the individual level, issues of identity, exile, refugee status, nostalgia, belonging and alienation are at the heart of the book. The contributors speak in many voices, exploring the richness and diversity of identity construction among Palestinians in the diaspora. Included are contributions from Palestinians living in the Anglo-Saxon diaspora, mainly the UK and North America. They come from a variety of professional backgrounds: business people, lawyers, judges, fiction writers, poets, journalists (press, TV and radio), film-makers, diplomats and academics. Men and women, young and old, Christians and Muslims offer essays, as do Palestinians from different generations (first, second and third generations). This mix of professional, gender, faith and generational categories ensures that a variety of voices are heard. The editor sets the scene with an Introduction, and his Epilogue deals with issues of identity, exile and diaspora as concepts that give sense to the personal reflections. Key Features The first book to gather personal reflections on what it means to be Palestinian Contributes to the debate on what it means to be Palestinian Asks what the diaspora is for Palestinians Looks at how being Palestinian varies across gender, generation, religious affiliation and professional interest

By foot, in buses, prison vans and trains, a steady stream of refugees traveled from the Greek island of Lesbos into Europe. In the autumn of 2015, award-winning writer Navid Kermani decided to accompany them on the "Balkan route." In this perceptive account from the front line of the "refugee crisis," Kermani shows how a seemingly distant world in which war and conflict rage has suddenly collided with our own. Kermani describes the situation on the Turkish west coast where thousands of refugees live in the most desperate conditions, waiting to take the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Then, on Lesbos, he observes the culture shock amongst those who have survived the ordeal by sea. He speaks to aid workers and politicians, but most importantly of all to the refugees themselves, asking those who have come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere what has driven them to risk everything and embark on the long and treacherous journey to Europe. With great sensitivity Kermani reveals, often through small details, the cultural and political upheaval that has caused people to uproot their lives, and at the same time shining a light on Europe's inadequate and at times openly hostile response to the refugees. Interspersed with powerful images by the acclaimed photographer Moises Saman, Upheaval is a much-needed human account of a crisis we cannot ignore.

Bringing together a range of perspectives to examine the full impact of political, socio-economic or psychological experiences of exile, Performing Exile: Foreign Bodies presents an inclusive mix of voices from varied cultural and geographic affiliations. The collected essays in this book focus on live performances that were inspired by living in exile. Chapters blend close critical analysis and ethnography to document and interrogate performances and the contexts that inform them. In a world where exiled populations continue to grow, the role of art to document and engage with these experiences will continue to be essential, and this diverse book offers an important model for understanding the rich body of work being created today. A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform, Performing Exile. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License and is part of Knowledge Unlatched.

A clear and concise A-to-Z of keywords that echo our current human rights crisis As millions are forced to leave their nations of origin as a result of political, economic, and environmental peril, rising racism and xenophobia have led to increasingly harsh policies. A mass-mediated political circus obscures both histories of migration and longstanding definitions of words for people on the move, fomenting widespread linguistic confusion. Under this circus tent, there is no regard for history, legal advocacy, or jurisprudence. Yet in a world where the differences between "undocumented migrant" and "asylum seeker" can mean life or death, words have weighty consequences. A timely antidote to this circus, A is for Asylum Seeker reframes key words that describe people on the move. Written to correct the de-meaning of terms by rhetoric and policies based on dehumanization and profitable incarceration, this glossary provides an intersectional and historically grounded consideration of the words deployed in enflamed debate. Skipping some letters of the alphabet while repeating others, thirty terms cover everything from Asylum-seeker to Zero Tolerance Policy. Each entry begins with a contemporary or historical story for illustration and then proceeds to discuss the language politics of the word. The book balances terms affected by current political debates-such as "migrant," "refugee," and "illegal alien"-and terms that offer historical context to these controversies, such as "fugitive," "unhoused," and "vagrant." Rendered in both English and Spanish, this book offers a unique perspective on the journeys, histories, challenges, and aspirations of people on the move. Enhancing the book's utility as an educational and organizing resource, the author provides a list of works for further reading as well as a directory of immigration-advocacy organizations throughout the United States. ***** Un claro y breve abecedario de palabras clave que hacen eco en nuestra crisis humanitaria presente. Mientras millones son forzados de huir de sus naciones de origen debido a peligro politico, economico, y ecologico, racismo y xenofobia han llevado a politicas mas y mas severas. Un circo politico en los medios oculta a ambas las historias de inmigracion y las definiciones antiguas de palabras para personas en movimiento, creando confusion linguistica amplia. Bajo esta carpa de circo, no hay consideracion para historia, defensa legal, o jurisprudencia. Pero en un mundo donde las diferencias entre "migrante indocumentade" y "solicitante de asilo" pueden ser la diferencia entre vida y muerte, palabras tienen consecuencias graves. Un antidoto oportuno a este circo, A de Asilo re-enmarca palabras claves que describen a personas en movimiento. Escrito para corregir la de-significacion de terminos por retorica y politicas basadas en deshumanizacion y encarcelacion lucrosa, este glosario provee una consideracion interseccional e historica de las palabras usadas en debate inflamado. Brincando a unas letras del alfabeto mientras repite a otras, treinta terminos cubren todo desde Asilo a Tolerancia Cero. Cada articulo empieza con una historia contemporanea u historica para ilustrar, y despues discute la politica alrededor de la palabra. El libro balancea terminos impactados por debates politicos contemporaneos-como "migrante," "refugiado" y "extranjero ilegal"-y terminos que ofrecen contexto historico a estas controversias, como "fugitivo" "sin casa" y "vagante." Escrito en ingles y espanol, este libro ofrece una perspectiva unica en las jornadas, historias, retos, y aspiraciones de personas en movimiento. Aumentando la utilidad del libro como un recurso educacional y organizacional, la autora provee una lista de obras para mas lectura, igual que un directorio de organizaciones de defensa de inmigrantes a traves de los Estados Unidos.

A riveting story of dislocation, survival, and the power of stories to break or save us When Clemantine Wamariya was six years old, her world was torn apart. She didn't know why her parents began talking in whispers, or why her neighbours started disappearing, or why she could hear distant thunder even when the skies were clear. As the Rwandan civil war raged, Clemantine and her sister Claire were forced to flee their home. They ran for hours, then walked for days, not towards anything, just away. they sought refuge where they could find it, and escaped when refuge became imprisonment. Together, they experienced the best and the worst of humanity. After spending six years seeking refuge in eight different countries, Clemantine and Claire were granted refugee status in America and began a new journey. Honest, life-affirming and searingly profound, this is the story of a girl's struggle to remake her life and create new stories - without forgetting the old ones. ____________________________________ 'Extraordinary and heartrending. Wamariya is as fiercely talented as she is courageous' JUNOT DIAZ, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 'Brilliant ... has captivated me for a couple of years' SELMA BLAIR

In 1936, the Nazi state created a massive military training site near Wildflecken, a tiny community in rural Bavaria. During the war, this base housed an industrial facility that drew forced laborers from all over conquered Europe. At war s end, the base became Europe s largest Displaced Persons camp, housing thousands of Polish refugees and German civilians fleeing Eastern Europe. As the Cold War intensified, the US Army occupied the base, removed the remaining refugees, and stayed until 1994. Strangers in the Wild Place tells the story of these tumultuous years through the eyes of these very different groups, who were forced to find ways to live together and form a functional society out of the ruins of Hitler s Reich."

From pre-arrival to detention and deportation, Borderline Justice describes the exclusionary policies, inhumane decisions, and obstacles to justice for refugees and migrants in the current legal system.Frances Webber, a legal practitioner with over 30 years experience, provides a unique insight into how the law has been applied to migrants, refugees and other "unpopular minorities." The book records some of the key legal struggles of the past thirty years which have sought to preserve values of universality in human rights - and the importance of continuing to fight for those values, inside and outside the courtroom. With its combination of legal and political analysis with insider insights, Borderline Justice will appeal to both academic and non-academic audiences. The themes and analysis cross boundaries of law, politics, sociology, criminology, refugee studies, and terrorism studies, appealing to the radical tradition in all these disciplines.

People in danger have received protection in communities beyond their own from the earliest times of recorded history. The causes - war, conflict, violence, persecution, natural disasters, and climate change - are as familiar to readers of the news as to students of the past. It is 70 years since nations in the wake of World War II drew up the landmark 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. People Forced to Flee marks this milestone. It is the latest in a long line of publications, stretching back to 1993, that were previously entitled The State of the World's Refugees. The book traces the historic path that led to the 1951 Convention, showing how history was made, by taking the centuries-old ideals of safety and solutions for refugees, to global practice. It maps its progress during which international protection has reached a much broader group of people than initially envisaged. It examines international responses to forced displacement within borders as well as beyond them, and the protection principles that apply to both. It reviews where they have been used with consistency and success, and where they have not. At times, the strength and resolve of the international community seems strong, yet solutions and meaningful solidarity are often elusive. Taking stock today - at this important anniversary - is all the more crucial as the world faces increasing forced displacement. Most is experienced in low- and middle-income countries and persists for generations. People forced to flee face barriers to improving their lives, contributing to the communities in which they live and realizing solutions. Everywhere, an effective response depends on the commitment to international cooperation set down in the 1951 Convention: a vision often compromised by efforts to minimize responsibilities. There is growing recognition that doing better is a global imperative. Humanitarian and development action has the potential to be transformational, especially when grounded in the local context. People Forced to Flee examines how and where increased development investments in education, health and economic inclusion are helping to improve socioeconomic opportunities both for forcibly displaced persons and their hosts. In 2018, the international community reached a Global Compact on Refugees for more equitable and sustainable responses. It is receiving deeper support. People Forced to Flee looks at whether that is enough for what could - and should - help define the next 70 years.

The thousands uprooted and displaced by the Holocaust had a profound cultural impact on the countries in which they sought refuge, with numerous Holocaust escapees attaining prominence as scientists, writers, filmmakers and artists. But what is less well known is the way in which this refugee diaspora shaped the scholarly culture of their new-found homes and international policy. In this unique work, David Simon explores the pioneering role played by mostly Jewish refugee scholars in the creation of development studies and practice following the Second World War, and what we can learn about the discipline by examining the social and intellectual history of its early practitioners. Through in-depth interviews with key figures and their relatives, Simon considers how the escapees' experiences impacted their scholarship, showing how they played a key role in shaping their belief that 'development' really did hold the potential to make a better world, free from the horrors of war, genocide and discrimination they had experienced under Nazi rule. In the process, he casts valuable new light on the origins and evolution of development studies, policy and practice from this formative postwar period to the present.

Forty thousand people died trying to cross international borders in the past decade, with the high-profile deaths along the shores of Europe only accounting for half of the grisly total. Reece Jones argues that these deaths are not exceptional, but rather the result of state attempts to contain populations and control access to resources and opportunities. "We may live in an era of globalization," he writes, "but much of the world is increasingly focused on limiting the free movement of people." In Violent Borders, Jones crosses the migrant trails of the world, documenting the billions of dollars spent on border security projects and their dire consequences for countless millions. While the poor are restricted by the lottery of birth to slum dwellings in the aftershocks of decolonization, the wealthy travel without constraint, exploiting pools of cheap labor and lax environmental regulations. With the growth of borders and resource enclosures, the deaths of migrants in search of a better life are intimately connected to climate change, environmental degradation, and the growth of global wealth inequality.

Uno de los libros mas destacados del verano 2020 segun las revistas Time y People USA TODAY: "El libro de Rosy es uno de los cinco libros mas relevantes". Parade: "Uno de los mejores libros para leer este verano". Shondaland: "Esta historia es un manual para el activismo del dia a dia". "[El libro de Rosy] ofrece esperanzas ante probabilidades desconcertantes". -- Uno de los libros mas anticipados del verano 2020 segun la revista Elle "Una autobiografia inolvidable [...] que narra la lucha a la que se enfrentan muchas familias que son separadas en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y Mexico". --Libro DESTACADO por Publishers Weekly "La inquietante y elocuente historia de una guatemalteca en busqueda de una vida mejor". --Libro DESTACADO por Kirkus Una historia conmovedora sobre dos madres marcadas por la crisis migratoria: una guatemalteca que ha sido separada de sus hijos y la estadounidense que la ayuda a reunirse con su familia. Cuando Rosayra Pablo Cruz tomo la desgarradora decision de buscar asilo en Estados Unidos con sus dos hijos, sabia que la travesia seria dificil, peligrosa y probablemente mortal. Pero la violencia rampante en Guatemala era insostenible; Rosy sabia que su familia solo sobreviviria si migraba al norte. Tras un peligroso viaje que los deja deshidratados, hambrientos y exhaustos, Rosy y sus hijos logran llegar a Arizona. Pero casi inmediatamente son separados a la fuerza por los oficiales gubernamentales del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional bajo la politica "tolerancia cero". Rosy y Julie Schwietert Collazo, la fundadora de Immigrant Families Together (Familias Inmigrantes Juntas), la organizacion comunitaria creada para reunir a madres con sus hijos, cuentan su historia y desvelan las crueles condiciones de los centros de detencion, la insoportable ansiedad que padecio Rosy al ser separada de sus hijos y como la Fe y el amor la ayudaron a sobrellevar sus momentos mas oscuros. Un retrato insolito y cautivante de las consecuencias que las politicas inhumanas infligen sobre los inmigrantes que cruzan la frontera estadounidense y de los lazos inquebrantables de la familia, la Fe y la comunidad. "Un libro que evidencia la compasion de los desconocidos y revela que, en estos tiempos tan desconcertantes, las historias aun tienen el poder de potenciar nuestra empatia y comprension. Esta historia te cambiara para siempre". --J. Courtney Sullivan, autora de Saints for All Occasions "El libro de Rosy es una cronica valiente sobre uno de los momentos mas vergonzosos de la historia de los Estados Unidos". --Christopher Soto, autor de Sad Girl Poems

This book examines the educational systems into which students with refugee backgrounds are placed when relocated into their new homelands. It discusses the current climate of neo liberalism which pervades schooling in many western countries and the subsequent impact on curriculum focus and teaching strategies. The authors propose ways in which these students can be educated with policies and perspectives which respect diversity and uniqueness, using among others a primary school in regional Australia dedicated to holistic education as an example. Informed by postmodern perspectives on education and its purposes and drawing on the interdisciplinary wisdoms of critical scholars, this book presents a theoretical introduction to the educational landscape as found in many of the countries in which students with asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds are placed as the result of forced resettlement in new homelands. It discusses the impact of reductionist pedagogical and epistemological policies which are the foundations of neo liberalism. It challenges educators and policy makers to see beyond superficial differences and competition and to focus instead on the very significant impact of trauma and loss that these students have experienced as children and young people. The book dares educators at all levels of policy and practice to become truly human again and to consider the role of educational love and care that formed the cornerstones of educational endeavours for authentic pedagogues for decades. The book concludes with a research-based study of a school in a regional Australian town which not only educates with an ethic of pedagogical love and care, promoting a sense of belonging and emotional wellbeing for all students, 30% of which are of asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds, but celebrates high academic standards needed for student success, as well.

The United States has always been a land of immigrants and a destination for refugees. With the increase in immigration in the late 1980s -- when the number of refugees entering the United States nearly doubled as well -- the number of clients needing social work services rose dramatically. "Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Refugees" takes an ecological systems perspective on working with these two distinct groups, paying special attention to the relationship between individuals and their social environment.

Focusing on the major immigrant groups who have come to the United States since the 1965 Immigration Act, the book contains chapters on immigrants and refugees from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Pallassana R. Balgopal and contributors explore ideas, concepts, and skills that will help human service workers, social workers, helping professionals, and policymakers deepen their understanding of cultural attitudes toward newly arrived immigrants and refugees, thus strengthening their ability to better serve an ethnically diverse clientele.

'The sea was rough, waves a few metres, falling on top of us. We were just waiting and hoping and praying that we were going to make it.' - Taozen, proud Australian, proud Hazara Smuggled offers a previously unseen glimpse into the dangerous and shadowy world of people smuggling. It shares harrowing true stories of those fleeing persecution to seek asylum and reshapes our idea of those -sometimes family, sometimes mafia - who help them find it. People smugglers have such currency in Australian politics yet they remain unknowable figures in our migration history. But beyond the rhetoric lies a rich past that reaches far from the maritime borders of our island continent - to Jews escaping the Holocaust, Eastern Europeans slipping through the Iron Curtain, 'boat people' fleeing the Vietnam War, and refugees escaping unthinkable violence in the Middle East and Africa. Based on revealing personal interviews, Smuggled provides a compelling insight into a defining yet unexplored part of Australian history.

A Country of Refuge is a poignant, thought-provoking and timely anthology of writing on asylum seekers from some of Britain and Ireland's most influential voices, among them Sebastian Barry, William Boyd, A. L. Kennedy and Hanif Kureshi. Compiled and edited by human rights activist and writer Lucy Popescu, this powerful collection of short fiction, memoir, poetry and essays explores what it really means to be a refugee: to flee from conflict, poverty and terror; to have to leave your home and family behind; and to undertake a perilous journey, only to arrive on less than welcoming shores. These writings are a testament to the strength of the human spirit. The contributors articulate simple truths about migration that will challenge the way we think about and act towards the dispossessed and those forced to seek a safe place to call home.

Departures supports, contextualizes, and advances the field of critical refugee studies by providing a capacious account of its genealogy, methods, and key concepts as well as its premises, priorities, and possibilities. The book outlines the field's main tenets, questions, and concerns and offers new approaches that integrate theoretical rigor and policy considerations with refugees' rich and complicated lived worlds. It also provides examples of how to link communities, movements, networks, artists, and academic institutions and forge new and humane reciprocal paradigms, dialogues, visuals, and technologies that replace and reverse the dehumanization of refugees that occurs within imperialist gazes and frames, sensational stories, savior narratives, big data, colorful mapping, and spectator scholarship. This resource and guide is for all readers invested in addressing the concerns, perspectives, knowledge production, and global imaginings of refugees.

In the aftermath of World War II, twelve million German expellees lost their homes in Central and Eastern Europe. The overwhelming majority came to occupied Germany. However, expellees found themselves also stranded in Western Europe, Africa and the Americas, which is often overlooked by researchers and the public. Going beyond the standard narratives of flight, vigilante evictions and transfers, this book follows expellees in West Germany and Canada and shows, for example, how German prisoners-of-war, exilees or immigrants experienced the expulsions in distant Canada. As the author illustrates making extensive use of oral histories, their experiences were an integral part of the multi-faceted expellee story even though they were physically absent from their homes. Juxtaposing the record of two countries with disparate public discourses on immigration, the author also reveals how in both countries expellees eventually adopted national identities which, based on their ethno-regional heritage, reflected their experience of extreme nationalism, war and expulsion as well as the initially difficult settlement into a new political, social and cultural environment.

Lit Hub's Most Anticipated of 2021 A year in the life of a Chicago high school that has one of the highest proportions of refugees of any school in the nation "A wondrous tapestry of stories, of young people looking for a home. With deep, immersive reporting, Elly Fishman pulls off a triumph of empathy. Their tales and their school speak to the best of who we are as a nation-and their struggles, their joys, their journeys will stay with you." -Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Award For a century, Chicago's Roger C. Sullivan High School has been a home to immigrant and refugee students. In 2017, during the worst global refugee crisis in history, its immigrant population numbered close to three hundred-or nearly half the school-and many were refugees new to the country. These young people came from thirty-five different countries, speaking among themselves more than thirty-eight different languages. For these refugee teens, life in Chicago is hardly easy. They have experienced the world at its worst and carry the trauma of the horrific violence they fled. In America, they face poverty, racism, and xenophobia, but they are still teenagers-flirting, dreaming, and working as they navigate their new life in America. Refugee High is a riveting chronicle of the 2017-8 school year at Sullivan High, a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric was at its height in the White House. Even as we follow teachers and administrators grappling with the everyday challenges facing many urban schools, we witness the complicated circumstances and unique education needs of refugee and immigrant children: Alejandro may be deported just days before he is scheduled to graduate; Shahina narrowly escapes an arranged marriage; and Belenge encounters gang turf wars he doesn't understand. Equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring, Refugee High raises vital questions about the priorities and values of a public school and offers an eye-opening and captivating window into the present-day American immigration and education systems.

An in-depth look at Qatar's migrant workers and the place of skill in the language of control and power Skill-specifically the distinction between the "skilled" and "unskilled"-is generally defined as a measure of ability and training, but Does Skill Make Us Human? shows instead that skill distinctions are used to limit freedom, narrow political rights, and even deny access to imagination and desire. Natasha Iskander takes readers into Qatar's booming construction industry in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup, and through her unprecedented look at the experiences of migrant workers, she reveals that skill functions as a marker of social difference powerful enough to structure all aspects of social and economic life. Through unique access to construction sites in Doha, in-depth research, and interviews, Iskander explores how migrants are recruited, trained, and used. Despite their acquisition of advanced technical skills, workers are commonly described as unskilled and disparaged as "unproductive," "poor quality," or simply "bodies." She demonstrates that skill categories adjudicate personhood, creating hierarchies that shape working conditions, labor recruitment, migration policy, the design of urban spaces, and the reach of global industries. Iskander also discusses how skill distinctions define industry responses to global warming, with employers recruiting migrants from climate-damaged places at lower wages and exposing these workers to Qatar's extreme heat. She considers how the dehumanizing politics of skill might be undone through tactical solidarity and creative practices. With implications for immigrant rights and migrant working conditions throughout the world, Does Skill Make Us Human? examines the factors that justify and amplify inequality.