Refugee Hosts at ‘History of Refugees’ Conference

On the 23rd November 2020 Refugee Hosts' Co-ordinator, Aydan Greatrick and Co. I. Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge took part in the 'History of Refugees' conference hosted by SolidariTee. Diverse motivations shape contemporary responses to refugees, yet the role of history is often overlooked. Aydan Greatrick's and Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge's talk, 'Refugee Hosting Across Time,' sought to…

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.…

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 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…

Despair

This piece, which is a re-posting from The Oxonion Review, continues our focus on literary translation and displacement. It is the second instalment of our Translation, Poetry and Displacement Series: you can read the other instalments by following the link at the bottom of this page.  In this piece, Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, in collaboration with…

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),…

Loss and Everyday Life on the Syrian-Turkish Border

By Charlotte Loris-Rodionoff, University College London In the aftermath of the 2011 Syrian revolution and in the midst of an ongoing war, what does loss mean for Syrians living in Southern Turkey ? How is this loss experienced, and how does it affect Syrians’ everyday lives in Turkey? Those are some of the questions I examined…

The Camp is Time

The Camp is Time by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford I Who writes the camp and what is it that ought to be written in a time where the plurality of lives has traversed the place itself to become its own time. II How will the camp stare at itself in the coming time,…