Refugee-Refugee Solidarity in Death and Dying

Exhibited as part of the 2017 Venice Biennale, Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (Refugee Hosts' PI) and Yousif M. Qasmiyeh (Refugee Hosts' Writer in Residence) were commissioned to co-author this photo-essay for the Tunisian Pavillion's exhibition space, The Absence of Paths. You can see the original publication on The Absence of Paths here, and read Yousif's poem, 'In arrival, feet flutter…

CfP: Hospitality and Hostility Towards Migrants: Global Perspectives

We are pleased to share this call for papers on behalf of Dr. Mette Berg (UCL) and Dr. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (PI of Refugee Hosts), who are the editors of the new journal, Migration and Society. This new interdisciplinary journal is committed to critical research that situates migration in a wider societal, historical and geographical context, and for…

Migration and Society: Announcing New Journal

We are pleased to announce that Migration and Society - a new interdisciplinary journal committed to critical research that situates migration in a wider societal, historical and geographical context - has just been launched by Dr. Mette Berg (UCL) and Refugee Hosts' PI, Dr. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh. For the journal's inaugural issue in 2018, the key theme will be 'Hospitality…

Join us for a ‘Refugee Livelihoods’ Twitter Chat with the ODI’s Humanitarian Policy Group

On 14 June 2016, from 2-3pm, Refugee Hosts' PI Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, will be responding to a round of questions on Twitter as part of the ODI's ‘Livelihoods in displacement: from refugee perspectives to aid agency response’ project. The conversation, which will take place on Twitter between researchers from ODI's HPG, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and 2-3 other discussants,…

Gender, Religion and Humanitarian Responses to Refugees

Major international agencies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have moved towards partnering with faith-based actors to support displaced persons. Despite this, concerns – and suspicions – remain about the nature and impact of faith-based responses to displacement, often stemming from negative assumptions about the relationship between religion and gender. These assumptions…

Space of Refuge Symposium Report

On Wednesday 15 March 2017, Samar Maqusi, Prof. Murray Fraser (both of UCL-Bartlett School of Architecture) and Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (UCL-Geography and Refugee Hosts PI) convened a symposium on Space of Refuge. The symposium drew heavily on Maqusi's PhD research in Jordan and Lebanon, enabling a conversation around the roles that space and scale play in determining the opportunities and…

‘Travelling Fear’ in Global Context: Exploring Everyday Dynamics of In/Security and Im/Mobility

By Aydan Greatrick and Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, University College London This piece puts Trump’s recent “Muslim Ban” (and the exceptional responses to it) in context by focusing on the everyday dynamics of in/security and im/mobility that have long framed the lives of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, including refugees from Syria.…

The Roles of Performance and Creative Writing Workshops in Refugee-Related Research

By Aydan Greatrick and Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, University College London On the 6 February 2017, Tom Bailey - the 2017 Leverhulme Artist in Residence at UCL Geography’s Migration Research Unit, and founder of the Mechanical Animal Corporation – organised and led a “Refugee Theatre Workshop” at UCL. The workshop drew on his experiences working in ‘the…

Space of Refuge: Installation and Symposium

Between 10th - 15th  March, the P21 Gallery in Somers Town, London will be hosting a spatial installation, Space of Refuge, which has emerged out of extensive fieldwork by Samar Maqusi, a PhD student at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), who has also contributed to the Refugee Hosts blog (see here and here). Samar's research in Lebanon and Jordan investigates…

Q&A with Yousif M. Qasmiyeh

In this piece, which is a re-posting from the Asymptote blog, Theophilus Kwek interviews the Refugee Hosts writer in residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh about his work, and the themes of displacement, exile and belonging that inform his poetry and writing. Read Yousif's poetry for the Refugee Hosts project here.  Q&A with Yousif M. Qasmiyeh  By…