Rethinking refugees as actors
Refugees are commonly portrayed in the media as helpless victims, and rarely given a direct voice in humanitarian practice and academic scholarship. Yet refugees make decisions and enact agency every day in a wide array of situations. Some of the questions addressed here include: What existing and potential roles can refugees play in their own protection and assistance? How do refugees enact power and agency in everyday situations of displacement? How can refugees become involved in assistance and recognised as actors rather than simply beneficiaries of humanitarian aid?
Robin Vandevoordt
Early Career Fellow in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, RSC
Robin Vandevoordt is working on a research project on ‘Civil humanitarianism and the politics of refugee solidarity’. His previous research at the University of Antwerp examined the conditions of solidarity by looking at Belgian and European responses to the Syrian refugee crisis.
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Ulrike Krause
Junior Professor for Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, University of Osnabrück
Ulrike Krause is Junior Professor for Forced Migration and Refugee Studies at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) and the Institute for Social Science, University of Osnabrück. She is PI of the project Global Refugee Protection and Local Refugee Engagement funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
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Alex Tasker
RSC Visiting Research Fellow, Hilary term 2019
Alex is a dual-trained development anthropologist and veterinary surgeon who researches networks of knowledge creation between development organisations and marginalised communities. Alex’s PhD explored innovation and adaptation amongst the camel-owning Gabra pastoralists of Northern Kenya, and he is currently developing a postdoctoral study to examine creativity between refugee and host communities in Kakuma Camp, Kenya.
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Felix Bender
Ph.D. Candidate in Political Theory, Central European University
Felix Bender is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Theory at Central European University (CEU). His research focuses on the rights of refugees from a normative perspective. He is also interested in current refugee movements and has worked on refugees and access to asylum in the case of Hungary after 2015.
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Anne Irfan
Departmental Lecturer in Forced Migration, Refugee Studies Centre, Department of International Development, University of Oxford
Dr Anne Irfan is a historian of Middle East migration, specialising in UNRWA and Palestinian refugee experiences.
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Matthew Gibney
Director, Refugee Studies Centre
Matthew J Gibney is RSC Director, Elizabeth Colson Professor of Politics and Forced Migration, and Official Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. He specialises in the political and ethical issues raised by refugees, citizenship, and migration control.
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Tom Western
Early Career Fellow in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
Dr Tom Western is an ethnomusicologist researching the relations between sound, borders, displacements and citizenships. His current research centres on Athens, Greece.
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Delina Abadi
Research Consultant, 'Responses to Crisis Migration in Uganda and Ethiopia', Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford
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Patrick Chandiga Justine
Co-founder and Executive Director, Community Empowerment for Creative Innovation (CECI)
Patrick Chandiga Justine is a South Sudanese refugee living in Northern Uganda. He is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Creative Innovation (CECI), a youth founded refugee-led organization whose primary focus is community peacebuilding, livelihood, girl child education, and environmental conservation.
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