Refugee Hosts' PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Co-I, Dr. Anna Rowlands have appeared on BBC 5 Live and LBC respectively, responding to the Governments' proposed overhaul of the UK's asylum system. In her interview on BBC 5 Live's Drive programme, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh discussed the UK's long history of preventing refugees from seeking asylum and of…
Tag: asylum
Supporting LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in Germany: a story of hope and contradiction
Queer refugees and queer refugee-led organisations are key actors supporting other queer refugees and asylum seekers in Germany, offering hospitality and solidarity and challenging homophobia, transphobia and anti-refugee attitudes. This LGBT+ History Month, Refugee Hosts Project Coordinator and ESRC-funded PhD candidate Aydan Greatrick, explores the challenges that queer refugees and support organisations have faced in Germany…
A System of Profiteering: Outsourcing the Asylum Interview Process
Allegations of ‘gross maladministration’ and human rights abuses exist alongside ‘staggering’ profit margins for private companies brought in to manage the UK’s immigration and VISA systems. In this post, Bethany Morris, a content writer for the UK's Immigration Advice Service, lays bare the UK Government’s policy to prioritise profit over people and the multiple problems…
Belonging: a privilege or a right? Conditional inclusion in the Netherlands
‘Why do some refugees receive huge outpourings of public support, while others do not? Why are some people allowed to stay, while others in a similar legal situation are not?’ In this post, Aukje Muller, examines the ‘construction of belonging’ within the Netherlands and its influence on decisions regarding the deportation of migrants to…
World Refugee Day – DIY Humanitarianism in Paris
World Refugee Week provides an opportunity to reflect on and highlight the diverse challenges facing displaced peoples. In this piece, Tatiana Thieme (UCL-Geography) draws on her project's research with refugees and asylum seekers living in the city of Paris. The everyday (and every-night) challenges faced by marginalised refugees and asylum seekers - stemming from the…
Psychogeography, Safe Spaces, and LGBTQ Immigrant Experience: Reflections from the “At Home in The Village?” project
How can representations of local communities as particularly ‘hospitable’ and ‘welcoming’ spaces in fact obscure complex realities of exclusion? In this contribution to our Representations of Displacement series, Siobhán McGuirk explores the ways in which NGO and media reports have (mis)represented sexual minority refugees’ arrival in an "inclusive" community in the USA characterised by rainbow flag…
Summer Newsletter
Our Summer newsletter is now available to view online. This issue highlights our activities over the summer, as well as our recent Faith and Displacement series, which you can read in full on our website. Please follow the link below for important project updates, including blog highlights and information on recent and forthcoming events: Newsletter…
Spring Newsletter
Our Spring newsletter is now available to view online. Please follow the link below for information on the project, including blog highlights, updates and information on how you can get involved: 2017 01 Spring If you have any questions, or would like to get involved in the project, please get in touch by visiting our…
Abdulrazak Gurnah In Conversation
On 20 February, UCL's Institute of Advanced Studies hosted renowned novelist and critic Prof. Abdulrazak Gurnah to explore the roles of narration and storytelling in the context of migration and displacement (a key theme for our Refugee Hosts project). Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novels – including Memories of Departure (1987), Pilgrims Way (1988), Dottie (1990), Paradise (1994), Admiring Silence (1996),…
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