There it is: the camp that is yet to be born

There it is: the camp that is yet to be born by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, Oxford University and Refugee Hosts There it is: the camp that is yet to be born. The camp’s existence will always be on a par with time in the superfluity of tenses. I do not know how the archive can…

Flesh when mutilated called God

Flesh when mutilated called God By Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Time is God’s journey to his shadow. An incomplete sentence is the place. In the non-occurrence of birth, aborting the camp becomes the only possibility. Might the dialects be the place that will be? The hole is…

A daily rhythm inside which time can grow…

This piece continues a series of poetic responses to photographs taken by Refugee Hosts PI Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh during a field-trip to Baddawi refugee camp and the neighbourhood of Jebel al-Baddawi in North Lebanon, and to a range of neighbourhoods in Beirut in March-April 2018. Written by Refugee Hosts Writer-in-Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and/or PI Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh,…

Erasure

This is the first in a series of poetic responses to photographs taken by Refugee Hosts PI Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh during a field-trip to Baddawi refugee camp and the neighbourhood of Jebel al-Baddawi in North Lebanon, and to a range of neighbourhoods in Beirut in March-April 2018. Written by Refugee Hosts Writer-in-Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and/or PI Dr…

Name

Name by Frances Timberlake, Refugee Women's Centre The name lands on the pavement slapped down like spilt water A person a body a name tumbling from this young boy's mouth like spilt water Like a splash from the Black Sea waters the man drowned in four months ago as the young boy sat watching with the…

The Camp is the Reject of the Reject Par Excellence

The Camp is the Reject of the Reject Par Excellence by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence   I It bears multiple meanings, depending on how it is said. For my mother, however, the meaning was clear enough to be taken from my father’s mouth to God’s and vice…

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…

Refugees are Dialectical Beings: Part One

Refugees are Dialectical Beings: Part One by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence    The camp is a passing human, a book, a manuscript, an archive... Bury it; smother it with its own dust, so it might return as a holy text devoid of intentions.  Writing the camp-archive I…

Call for Submissions: Write for our Representations of Displacement Series

Call for Submissions: Representations of Displacement  We invite individuals or groups to submit pieces, including art, photographs, creative writing and academic research findings, for inclusion in our upcoming series on Representations of Displacement, which will run from September 1 to November 30. About the Series:  This series draws on Refugee Hosts’ aim of disrupting mainstream…

A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger

A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger By Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford Listen here (read by Y. M. Qasmiyeh):  I The moon is the birthmark of the refugee. His birth equates to the mauling of his entire body. Nothing is anomalous about the wound. While waiting, we bite our nails and flesh. Once I…