https://uchri.org/events/refuge-at-risk-concepts-infrastructures-futures/
Featuring GSS faculty member Dr. Jeanne Scheper who spoke on February 17th on Collaborative Research in Critical Refugee Studies.
Feb 16–Feb 17, 2023
University of California Humanities Research Institute, UC Irvine
Refuge at Risk: Concepts, Infrastructures, Futures
In 1943, Hannah Arendt, who had arrived in New York two years earlier, published “We Refugees” in a small Jewish journal called Menorah. Merging satire, memoir, and manifesto, Arendt’s essay both railed against the term “refugee” and reclaimed it for a renewed politics led by the vanguard of the displaced. Her own emigration was partly enabled by scholar rescue efforts that continue today through the work of organizations such as the Scholars at Risk Network, the Institute for International Education Scholar Rescue Fund, and the New University in Exile Consortium. Eighty years after the publication of “We Refugees,” this UCHRI conference considers the ongoing relevance of Arendt to the heightened stakes of refuge today, gathers together at-risk scholars and their hosts and allies from UC campuses to discuss first principles, and takes stock of humanistic approaches to refuge across the University of California.
1:00-2:30 pm | Collaborative Research in Critical Refugee Studies
Critical Refugee Studies mounts a humanistic approach to forced migration by centering refugee stories and experiences, rejecting narratives that disavow the role of host countries in the causes of dispossession and displacement, and documenting the world-repairing role of culture, memory, and imagination in the difficult work of resettlement. This panel features two projects that demonstrate the power of working across campuses to support research on refuge.
Anita Casavantes Bradford (UC Irvine), moderator
The Critical Refugee Studies Collective: Yến Lê Espiritu (UC San Diego), Ma Vang (UC Merced), and Victor Bascara (UC Los Angeles)
Queer and Trans Transnational Refugee Storytelling: Debanuj DasGupta (UC Santa Barbara) and Jeanne Scheper (UC Irvine)