Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh discusses COVID-19 and poverty on Channel 4 News

Refugee Hosts PI Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, on Channel 4 News, discusses how Covid-19 is impacting people living in poverty around the world. Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh highlights the diversity of national and international responses, including by Low and Middle Income Countries. She argues for global solutions based on principles of solidarity to address the global pandemic in…

With a third eye, I see the catastrophe

With a third eye, I see the catastrophe By Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts  [I write the secret]. On the doorstep, finding her way to the seeds that escaped her lap: Like the one who read the book, Son, read my swollen legs, another’s land. The camp happens in the distance.…

Syrian Refugees in Lebanon amid Confinement, Health Scares and Escalating Needs

“We will not die from Coronavirus, but from hunger.” How do state and humanitarian policies further compound the risks that refugees are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic? In this post, Jasmin Lilian Diab examines UNHCR’s response to Covid-19 and the impact of social distancing and isolation policies on Syrian refugees living in Lebanon. Thus far,…

Refugee-led Local Responses in the Time of COVID-19: Preliminary reflections from North Lebanon

Refugee-led Local Responses in the Time of COVID-19: Preliminary reflections from North Lebanon by Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, PI of Refugee Hosts, UCL How can we, and why should we, write about a deadly pandemic which is further compounding the vulnerabilities of millions of people whose lives and wellbeing have long been shattered by protracted conflict…

New Report Launched: “Religion and Social Justice for Refugees”

The Refugee Hosts project is delighted to launch a new report titled “Religion and Social Justice for Refugees: Insights from Cameroon, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia and Mexico”. This report identifies and examines the roles that faith plays in supporting social justice for refugees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff0-5FIeRVY READ THE REPORT HERE This major report, made possible through the…

The Active Citizens Sound Archive

‘A critical mass of articles and incendiaries, reflections and rallying cries, has skewered the notion that refugee storytelling is somehow inherently useful, and that ‘giving voice’ is a benevolent practice.’ In this piece, Tom Western, argues that within these reductive narratives of ‘refugeeness’ the ‘complexities, creativities, histories, humour, ambiguities, and political struggles go missing’ and…

Models for Refugee Governance – Legal, political and institutional responses in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

This blog post is an extract from Zeynep Sahin’s book ‘Refugee Governance, State and Politics in the Middle East’ published in December 2018. The book examines the patterns of legal, political and institutional responses to large-scale Syrian forced migration and how Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, three of the world’s top refugee hosting countries, responded to…

‘Refugees ask Refugees: The Poetics of Displacement’ – Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge’s guest talk at Bard College, Berlin

On the 16th of March 2020, Refugee Hosts' Co-I Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge will offer a guest talk at Bard College, Berlin, titled 'Refugees ask Refugees: The Poetics of Displacement'. The talk will draw on the Refugee Hosts project, including the writing of Refugee Hosts' writer-in-residence, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, whose poetic lines in 'Writing the Camp. Vis-à-vis…

‘And then they issued an ultimatum’: Ethical and practical considerations for conducting fieldwork in volatile and research-crowded settings

‘The last thing they needed – I assumed – was one more researcher who wanted to ask them questions for an hour of their precious time.’ Following the ultimatum issued by Turkish authorities to unregistered Syrian refugees in Istanbul to leave the city within one month, Hanna Schneider reflects on the ethical and practical considerations…

Objective Enough to Tell the Truth

Objective Enough to Tell the Truth This presentation was given by Dima Hamadmad at the Refugee Hosts International Conference, Without Exception: The Politics and Poetics of Local Responses to Displacement, Dima's presentation examines the importance of language within academic research and the ethics of using dominant narratives, often perceived as objective, but that can decontextualize and ignore…