The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.
You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 17
Recent Publications and New Research
Feeling the Scope of Solidarity: The Role of Emotions for Volunteers Supporting Refugees in Germany by Serhat Karakayali
In recent political debates in Germany, volunteers and citizens who support the cause of refugees are often accused of being “too emotional”. Based mainly on empirical evidence from 10 group discussions and 35 individual interviews with volunteers, conducted in 2016, this article undertakes a sociological analysis of the role of emotions for volunteers. Available at:
Palestine as ‘a state of mind’: second-generation Polish and British Palestinians’ search for home and belonging by Dominika Blachnicka-Ciacek
This article reflects on the ways in which children of Palestinian exiles born in Poland and the UK relate to their ancestral homeland and how they make sense of their Palestinian inheritance in the present. It argues that while the second generation of Palestinian diasporic subjects maintain links with their parents’ homeland these connections are not limited to the intergenerational transmission of cultural identity. The article explores how Palestine ‘becomes’ important for second-generation Palestinians. It argues that it is the re-occurring waves of violence inflicted on Palestinians that activate and shape their engagement with Palestine. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1369868
New Book: Noncitizenism, Recognising Noncitizen Capabilities in a World of Citizens by Tendayi Bloom
Often hard to situate within traditional frameworks that prioritise citizenship, noncitizens can appear voiceless and rightsless, which has implications for efforts towards global justice and justice in migration. This book proposes an alternative. It identifies an analytical category of noncitizenship. While maintaining the importance of citizenship, noncitizenship is another form of special individual-State relationship. It operates far from a State, at its borders, and within its territory, providing a tool for examining the continuity between sites of engagement and the literatures, questions, and conclusions relating to them. Available at: https://www.routledge.com/Noncitizenism-Recognising-Noncitizen-Capabilities-in-a-World-of-Citizens/Bloom/p/book/9781138049185
Tracking the Interregional Mobility of Recently Arrived Refugees in Canada: Data Snapshots from the IMDB, by Fernando Mata
Using data from the Immigration Database (IMDB) which links tax-filer information to provinces of landing and their current provinces of residence, this conference paper tracks the interregional mobility among three cohorts of refugees arriving in Canada between 2000 and 2013. Available at:
http://www.fern2350.com/uploads/4/6/3/7/4637956/intergv_migration_refugees-_march30_final.pdf
Reports, Working Papers and Briefs
Immigration Detention through the Lens of International Human Rights: Lessons from South America, Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 23 By Pablo Ceriani Cernadas
South America has not witnessed the same growth in immigration detention systems that has occurred elsewhere. This Global Detention Project Working Paper discusses developments across the region through the lens of international human rights standards to argue that while the failure of many Latin American countries to implement aggressive detention regimes may appear to be anomalous, this helps underscore how detention has become legitimated across the globe as a tool to respond to the complex phenomenon of irregular migration. Available at:
Migrant Voices: Regional Forum on Migrant Worker Issues
Hosted by the Canadian Council for Refugees and Migrants in Alberta (June 4, 2017, Edmonton), the forum provided an opportunity to share information, experiences, and best practices among migrant workers and people in diverse sectors across Canada who work with or advocate for the rights of migrant workers. This report reflects on the objectives, the proceedings and the results of the forum. Available at:
http://ccrweb.ca/sites/ccrweb.ca/files/migrant-worker-forum-report-june-2017.pdf
How to Get Refugees into Work Quickly
From research, analysis, and evidence from 22 advanced economies that receive substantial numbers of refugees and asylum seekers, this study sets out 16 key policy recommendations, and highlights best practices and promising new approaches. Available at:
News Reports and Blog posts
The Forgotten Refugees: Survivors of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, by Swee Chai Ang
Thirty-five years ago, as Israel overran West Beirut, Lebanese Christian militiamen entered the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in West Beirut. Over three days, Israeli forces sealed the camp and allowed them to slaughter several thousand refugees. In 1982, Dr. Swee Chai Ang, a refugee living in the U.K., was working as a young volunteer medic in the camp. On the 35th anniversary, Ang describes her memories and unanswered questions. Available at:
From ‘tolerated’ asylum seeker to ‘accepted’ refugee: Reflections on refugee integration in Scotland, by Helen Baillot (IGHD)
Baillot reflects on her experience working with the Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD) in 2015 as a Research Assistant for the evaluation of Scotland’s Holistic Integration Service. This partnership project, led by Scottish Refugee Council, provided advice, advocacy, access to English language assessment and classes; and employability support to newly granted refugees in Scotland from 2013 to 2016. Her experience and the data she worked with showed that as a society, Scottland still has a long road to travel to meet the governmental rhetoric that promotes integration and social cohesion. New refugees may in theory be able to enjoy many of the same rights as other UK residents, but systemic barriers continue to interrupt their integration journeys. She argues that, the voluntary sector’s role in plugging these gaps and highlighting systems failures continues to be of vital importance. Available at:
Disrupting Humanitarian Narratives?
Representations of Displacement is a new blog series which aims to offer critical and creative insights into the politics, ethics, poetics and aesthetics of representations of displacement. In disrupting humanitarian narrative, the aim has been to disrupt mainstream humanitarian narratives which have traditionally represented, and therefore constituted, refugees as individual suffering victims, passive recipients of aid and/or as unique ‘ideal’ refugees who are truly worthy of international sympathy, assistance, and protection. By disrupting these and other established narratives and representational strategies, the project ultimately aims to document, trace and examine alternative ways of seeing, knowing, feeling, listening to, writing, reading, drawing, conceptualizing, and otherwise responding to displacement. Available at:
https://refugeehosts.org/representations-of-displacement-series/
Digital and Social Media
Refugees Jobs Agenda – Videos and Resources
This is a four-part webinar series hosted by Cities of Migration, Hire Immigrants, and Bertelsmann Stiftung that explores good ideas, promising practices, and the opportunities of refugee labour market integration with international experts. Available at: http://citiesofmigration.ca/webinar/refugees-jobs-agenda-videos-and-resources/
Migration Experts Series – Michael Doyle
In this Migration Experts Series interview, Professor Doyle speaks about the need for a comprehensive legal framework to address various movements across borders, the development of the Convention to meet this need, and the efforts to circulate the document and enlist support for its adoption. Available at: http://cmsny.org/multimedia/mes-michael-doyle/