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The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

Online ISBN:
9780191755705
Print ISBN:
9780199652433
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (ed.),
Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh
(ed.)
International Development, University College London
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Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh was the Director of the Refugee Studies Centre's International Summer School in Forced Migration between 2010 and 2012. Prior to joining the RSC, Elena was Senior Teaching Fellow in Development Studies and Research Fellow in Diaspora Mobilisation and International Security at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She has also worked as a legal advisor for refugees in Cairo with AMERA-Egypt, as a refugee case-worker with Amnesty International Australia's Refugee Team, and as a legal clerk at the International Criminal Court, conducting research on crimes committed in Darfur (Sudan). She is Departmental Lecturer in Forced Migration at the Refugee Studies Centre, and Junior Research Fellow in Refugee Studies at Lady Margaret Hall, both at the University of Oxford.

Gil Loescher (ed.),
Gil Loescher
(ed.)
Refugee Studies Centre, RSC, Oxford University
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Gil Loescher is Visiting Professor at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford and Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of numerous books on refugee policy including most recently UNHCR: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2012) and The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Katy Long (ed.),
Katy Long
(ed.)
International Development, London School of Economics
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Katy Long is a Senior Research Associate at the Refugee Law Initiative at the School of Advanced Studies, University of London and an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Nando Sigona (ed.)
Nando Sigona
(ed.)
Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology, University of Birmingham
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Nando Sigona was previously a Senior Research Officer at the Refugee Studies Centre and Senior Researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford. His research explores the impact of globalisation, migration and the human rights regime on meanings and practices of citizenship and non-citizenship in countries affected by significant population movements. He is particularly interested in statelessness, diasporas and the state; Romani politics and anti-Gypsyism; 'illegality' and the everyday experiences of undocumented migrant children and young people; and governance and governmentality of forced migration in the EU. He is a Birmingham Fellow at the School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham.

Published online:
4 August 2014
Published in print:
1 June 2014
Online ISBN:
9780191755705
Print ISBN:
9780199652433
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This Handbook critically traces the birth and development of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, and vividly illustrates the vibrant and engaging debates that characterize this rapidly expanding field of research and practice. The contributions highlight the key challenges faced by academics and practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced populations around the world, as well as identifying new directions for research in the field. Since emerging as a distinct field of study in the early 1980s, Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has grown from being of concern of a relatively small number of scholars and policy analysts to become a global field with thousands of students worldwide studying displacement, either from traditional disciplinary perspectives or as a core component of newer interdisciplinary programmes across the Humanities and Social and Political Sciences. Today the field encompasses both rigorous academic research as well as action-research focused on advocating in favour of refugees’ needs and rights and more directly concerned with influencing policy and practice. The Handbook’s fifty-two state-of-the-art chapters, written by leading academics, practitioners, and policymakers working in universities, research centres, think tanks, NGOs, and international organizations across every continent, provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the key intellectual, political, social, and institutional challenges arising from mass displacement in the world today. The Handbook is divided into seven parts. Part I discusses diverse disciplinary and methodological approaches to Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, including History, International Law, Political Theory, International Relations, Anthropology, Sociology, Livelihoods and Economics, and Geography. Part II then provides an overview of the shifting spaces and scenarios of displacement, tracing changes in academia, policy, and practice vis-à-vis encampment and self-settlement, urban displacement, protracted refugee situations, internal displacement, refugees, diasporas and transnationalism, and the conceptualization of forced migrants as illegal migrants. Part III in turn presents a comprehensive analysis of legal and institutional responses to forced migration, with chapters exploring the multifaceted connections between forced migration and human rights, UNHCR, UNRWA, state controls, securitization, protection gaps, statelessness, humanitarian reform, and humanitarianism. In Part IV, a critical review of our understanding of the root causes of displacement addresses conflict- and crisis-induced displacement, development-induced displacement, the environment-mobility nexus, and trafficking and smuggling. A detailed focus on the diversity of lived experiences and representations of forced migration in the fifth section of the Handbook include contributions on memories, narratives and representations, children, gender, older displaced persons, disability, health, religion, and the media. The penultimate section, Part VI considers how rethinking durable solutions might offer new means of resolving forced migration crises, as well as analysing existing practices of local integration, repatriation and reintegration, and resettlement and the nature of burden sharing. The final section consists of twelve chapters which address the historical trends, current realities, and future challenges of forced migration on a region-by-region basis.

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