The Center for Policy Studies,
the Department of Gender Studies,
the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology and
the Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations
invite you to a Public Lecture
Remembering and forgetting refugees - forced migrants, inclusion and exclusion
by Philip Marfleet
University of East London
Why are refugees excluded from dominant discourses and from the historical record of most states? Under what circumstances do refugees appear as social actors and as people who have meaningful relations with the wider society? This lecture examines practices of exclusion, their implications for the study of forced migration and for the construction of "official" histories. It considers when and how refugees enter the mainstream of national discourse and the rare occasions on which they have been represented as celebratory figures. It examines relationships between forced migrants and institutions of the nation-state, and the meanings of exclusion within ideologies of national belonging. The lecture also looks at practices of solidarity in relation to the wider society and their implications for current efforts to contest racism and exclusion. The lecture 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 proposes that assertion of the refugee presence in history is a key element in establishing citizen status for forced migrants in contemporary society.
Philip Marfleet is Professor in the School of Social Sciences. He works in the fields of Migration Studies, Refugee Studies and Middle East Studies. His latest book is Egypt - contested revolution (Pluto Press 2016). Philip's research interests include globalization and migration; patterns and dynamics of mass displacement; refugee histories; diaspora; racism and exclusion in Europe; migration and religion; religious activism; and social and political movements in the modern Middle East.
To register, please RSVP to: challengingthepolitical2016@gmail.com
Poster (Download)