“Forgotten,” “Hidden”: Predicaments of the Urban Refugee

Urban refugees are widely viewed as anomalous—people who stand outside a refugee regime which, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, is based upon rural encampment. This article considers why states and humanitarian agencies view urban refugees in this way. It examines the history of the refugee as an urban person and the recent change in perspective which has enforced a rural norm. It considers the extreme pressures placed upon displaced people in the city and the consequences for communities which contest their marginal status.Les réfugiés urbains sont généralement considérés comme une anomalie – des gens qui ne tombent pas sous le domaine d’application d'un régime de réfugié qui, en Afrique, en Asie et en Amérique latine, est fondé sur des camps ruraux. Cet article traite des raisons pour lesquelles les états et les organismes humanitaires conçoivent les réfugiés urbains de cette façon. Il examine l'histoire du réfugié comme citadin, ainsi que le changement de perspective intervenu récemment qui a imposé une norme rurale. Il tient compte des pressions extrêmes exercées sur les personnes déplacées dans les villes et les conséquences pour les communautés qui contestent leur marginalité

Displacements of Memory

The experiences of refugees—their “voices” and memories—have routinely been excluded from the historical record. With rare exceptions, refugees are absent from mainstream history: although specific episodes of forced migration may be carefully recorded and even celebrated in national histories, most refugee movements are ignored and their participants silenced. This article examines the practice of exclusion and its implications for historical research and for the study of forced migration. It considers experiences of refugees from the early modern era until the twenty-first century, mobilizing examples from Europe, the Americas, and South Asia, and offering comparative observations. It examines relationships between forced migrants and institutions of the nation-state, and the meanings of exclusion within ideologies of national belonging. It considers remedial measures and their implications for current efforts to ensure refugee voices are heard and understood.Les expériences des réfugiés—leurs « voix » et leurs souvenirs— ont été exclues de façon systématique des chroniques et témoignages historiques. Sauf quelques rares exceptions, les réfugiés sont absents de l’histoire conventionnelle. Bien que des instances spécifiques de migrations forcées soient soigneusement documentées et même commémorées dans le cadre des histoires nationales, la majorité des mouvements de réfugiés sont ignorés et leurs participants sont réduits au silence. Cet article examine la pratique de l’exclusion et ses implications pour la recherche historique, ainsi que pour l’étude de la migration forcée. Il considère les expériences des réfugiés depuis les débuts de l’ère moderne jusqu’au XXIe siècle, en rassemblant des cas provenant de l’Europe, des Amériques et de l’Asie du Sud, et offrant des observations comparatives. Il se penche sur les liens entre les migrants forcés et les institutions de l’état-nation, ainsi que sur la signification de l’exclusion dans le contexte des idéologies d’appartenance nationale. Il étudie des mesures de réparation et leurs implications pour les initiatives actuelles visant à garantir que les voix des réfugiés sont entendues et comprises

Secularism, Racism and the Politics of Belonging

This collection of papers is a reflection of an ongoing debate about the relationships between religion, the citizen and the state. It is a debate that is far from settled, and indeed one which may be unsettling, but a debate which too often generates more heat than light. It is, however, a crucial discussion since it goes to the heart of our understanding of modern citizenship, the role of the state and the struggle for equality. Runnymede was especially pleased to partner with colleagues at the Centre for Refugees, Migration and Belonging (CRMB) at the University of East London in co-hosting the two conferences from which these papers are drawn. CRMB’s serious and engaged approach to relating political theory to political action enabled academics, commentators and practitioners to share a platform where disagreements were aired and constructive debate and discussion enabled. We hope that the conferences act as a model for the deliberations which are necessary to address the thorny challenges raised by the authors. Many of these disagreements are reflected in the papers presented here. The collected papers discuss faith-based schooling, the veil, honour based violence, religious arbitration, and the delivery of public services by faith communities. All of these issues remain very much alive in contemporary public policy debates in the UK and beyond

Gendered barriers to educational opportunities: resettlement of Sudanese refugees in Australia

This paper argues that whilst equitable educational pathways are integrated into educational policy discourses in Australia, there are significant gendered barriers to educational participation among members of the Sudanese refugee groups. The specific conditions of forced migration reinforce disadvantage and further limit opportunities. Cultural factors play a key role in this, as the data from this study demonstrate. Participants in this study are Sudanese refugees who arrived in Australia as part of the humanitarian programme. The paper draws upon interviews and focus group data that were collected for a larger study on the broader issue of resettlement of Sudanese refugees in Australia. This paper argues that women from refugee backgrounds are particularly at risk and face cultural and linguistic barriers in accessing educational opportunities

Accidents, Agency and Asylum: Constructing the Refugee Subject

Refugee law demands that the asylum seeker demonstrate an extremely limited and distorted form of agency that is encapsulated within the legal definition of the refugee. Such a framework also denies the role of the accidental in the refugee experience. I argue that the problem lies at the heart of the legal form, as constructed under capitalism. The sans-papiers show us the potential for refugees themselves to reconstruct a subjectivity that transcends the distorted form of agency and the false dichotomy between the accidental and agency found in law, through their rejection of legal definitions and the re-emergence of themselves as political subjects