CFP: Conference on Critical Refugee Studies, UWM, November 3-4, 2011

Conference on Critical Refugee Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
November 3-4, 2011
 

Displacement of populations affects the uprooted as well as communities that receive them. Recognized by international proxy after World War II, the identity category of refugee has a history as long as the incidence of warfare and other crises that result in displacement. This conference uses the 20th century invention of the category of refugee as a means to compare the experiences of displaced persons across time and space.
 

We invite papers that chronicle and reflect on the experiences and representations of refugee populations. In particular, we are interested in work that expands the idea of the refugee to create comparisons and parallels with the experiences of other groups. Papers that define the term refugee broadly and creatively are most welcome.
 

Among the questions we invite:
• How do refugee identities compare to those of other migrants?
• As local and global political contexts change, how do refugees conceptualize notions of citizenship and home?
• How are refugee identities in dialogue with concepts of place/displacement?
• What is the role of memory and the creation of refugee texts?
• How is the refugee experience mediated/mass mediated?
 

Abstracts by May 15, 2011 to: criticalrefugee-studies@uwm.edu
 

Confirmed Speakers:

• Michael Rios, Director, Sacramento Diasporas Project, University of California-Davis
• Ghita Schwarz, Legal Aid, New York; author, Displaced Persons
• Romola Sanyal, Lecturer in Global Urbanism, Newcastle University
• Shirley Tang, Asian American/American Studies University of Massachusetts, Boston
 

Possible Appearance:
• Dinaw Mengestu, Author, The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears & How to Read the Air
 

Sponsored By: Comparative Ethnic Studies * Hmong Diaspora Studies * Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures * Center for 21st Century Studies * College of Letters and Science* Latin American Caribbean & US-Latin@
Studies * Jewish Studies