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…

The Multiple Faces of Representation

The Multiple Faces of Representation By Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Odile Ammann, University of Fribourg  The face of the Other – under all the particular forms of expression where the Other, already in a character’s skin, plays a role – is just as much pure expression, an extradition without defense or cover,…

Yousif M. Qasmiyeh’s Poetry to be Exhibited at Jenny Holzer’s ‘On War’ Light Projection Show, Blenheim Palace

SOFTER: Jenny Holzer at Blenheim Palace (28 September – 31 December 2017) The poetry of Refugee Hosts' Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh will feature in a forthcoming exhibition by American artist Jenny Holzer. Yousif's work, which you can read more of here, will be projected across the facade of Blenheim Palace as part of a…

Refugees are Dialectical Beings: Part Two

Refugees are Dialectical Beings: Part Two  by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, University of Oxford and Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence   To the ones who are en route, the ones whose stomachs are compasses and whose compasses are manifestos of nothing… Refugees are dialectical beings I The aridity of a camp presupposes the aridity of life.…

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…

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…

Yousif M. Qasmiyeh’s ‘If this is my face, so be it’ in Exhibition: 2017 Capital of Culture and Mass MOCA

In March, Refugee Hosts' Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh's poem "If this is my face, so be it" (published in Modern Poetry in Translation in 2016) was exhibited as part of Jenny Holzer's major light projection show in Aarhus, Denmark. The art installation was part of the Aarhus' 2017 Capital of Culture celebrations, and…

In arrival, feet flutter like dying birds

As part of the Tunisian Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh's poem 'In arrival, feet flutter like dying birds' has been published on The Absence of Paths exhibition platform. Yousif is Refugee Hosts' Writer in Residence, and you can read (and listen to) more of his poetry here and here, and read his…

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…