Local Community Experiences of Displacement from Syria: Views from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey
In this seminar, part of the Yale PRFDHR Spring 2021 Virtual Seminar Series, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh traced the different ways that residents of Baddawi refugee camp in North Lebanon have been affected by COVID-19 since March 2020, and how they have been responding to protect themselves and other conflict-affected people in the midst of the pandemic.…
On Monday, 4th February, Refugee Hosts' writer-in-residence, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, will facilitate a translation workshop focusing on contemporary Arabic poetry produced by Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian refugees as part of the Refugee Hosts' creative writing workshops convened by Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge and Yousif in Lebanon (Baddawi Camp and Hamra) and Jordan (Jerash and Al-Zarqa) in 2018. Held as part of the Oxford Comparative Criticism Translation (OCCT) Discussion Group…
Displaced communities - whether long-time residents of camps and urban areas, or newly arrived refugees - are also often hosts, offering support to fellow refugees through community-led initiatives, or simple acts of everyday hospitality. This 'refugee-refugee humanitarianism' disrupts mainstream humanitarian narratives, which typically frame displaced peoples as passive recipients of aid. In order to challenge…
For displacement-affected communities, ideas of return rest on a set of hopes and identities that are frustrated by geopolitical realities. In this piece, Helen Adams explores how long-term coping strategies are inhibited by frequently-obstructed relationships to place amongst refugee communities affected by the Syrian crisis in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. These communities are left to…
My Mother’s Heels Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts ‘I live in Baddawi Camp.’ This is what I used to tell foreigners every single time they came to my primary school. At times I used to run after them and repeat these words without waiting for their questions. I have always thought…
Introductory reflection by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Refugee Hosts PI and UCL Through the Localisation of Aid agenda, the international community has committed to support 'locally-based' actors who play a key role in responding to people affected by conflict and displacement. Indeed, as we have been exploring in our Localisation of Aid blog series, nationally- and locally-based…
By Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Refugee Hosts PI and UCL In the run up to the Lebanese elections on 6 May 2018, national and international media and human rights organisations have denounced the appearance of anti-Syrian banners across Beirut. Reading “The day will come when we tell the Syrians: gather your things and everything you stole, and…
Refugee Hosts' Writer in Residence, the Palestinian poet and translator Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, is interviewed by The Beacon's Adam Mazarelo. They discuss issues surrounding identity, the politics of space and architecture and narratives as they relate to refugees and refugee camps, and, in particular, their relation to Yousif's home camp of Baddawi in North Lebanon. You…
Refugee-led humanitarian initiatives by ‘established’ Palestinian refugees in response to the arrival of ‘new’ displaced Syrians to Shatila camp raise key questions about the limitations of the humanitarian system and representations of refugees as passive victims, argues Hind Sharif, echoing and building on work published as part of Refugee Hosts. This piece, which was originally…
This article by Stefano Fogliata examines the intertwined trajectories of Palestinian refugees fleeing from the Syrian conflict who have found shelter in the recently rehabilitated Nahr el-Bared camp in North Lebanon. Investigating such a phenomenon, and experiences of diverse encounters between new and established refugee communities, is key to our Refugee Hosts project in light of the growing prevalence of overlapping displacements in…
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