Refugees: Questions of inclusion and exclusion

4th Annual Forced Migration Post-graduate Student Conference

University of East London – 18-19 March 2006



Call for papers



The global importance of the refugee phenomenon has been reflected in

recent years in the growing number of academics conducting research

into forced migration. Many postgraduate students are at the cutting

edge of such research, undertaking important studies from within a wide

variety of academic fields – such as refugee studies, development

studies, law, geography, anthropology, sociology and international

relations.



The 4th annual Forced Migration Student Conference will bring together

students working in a range of disciplines to discuss issues related to

their own research and the current political climate as it affects

refugees. Following the success of previous conferences (Oxford 2003,

Warwick 2004 and Oxford Brookes 2005) this event, hosted by the Refugee

Research Centre at the University of East London, is organised by

postgraduates for postgraduates and aims to provide a relaxed and

supportive environment in which students can meet, present and share

their research experiences.



The theme of this year’s conference is Refugees: Questions of inclusion

and exclusion, reflecting the often paradoxical nature of refugee

policy and its implications for refugees themselves.



This conference hopes to explore how best to develop inclusive forced

migration policy, while also looking at current research into ongoing

exclusionary practices. Debates in refugee studies have long recognised

the inadequacy of legal definitions of the refugee, which exclude, for

example, environmental refugees, IDPs and those displaced by war.

Similarly national policies which aim to promote the settlement of

refugees often exclude the most vulnerable, and there has been a marked

increase in the use of detention and deportation in host nations in the

West. Meanwhile, refugee camps, which were only ever designed for

temporary sanctuary, are effectively being implemented for the

long-term but continue to separate refugees from their host societies.



We particularly welcome abstracts on the following themes:

• The inclusions and exclusions of refugee law

• Trends in immigration and asylum policy

• Racism and refugees

• The 1951 Geneva Convention

• Internally displaced people

• Environmental refugees

• Gender and sexuality

• War and mass displacement

• Deportation and detention

• Representation – refugees and the media

• Refugee-centred research

• Community based-research

• Psycho-social aspects of refugee settlement

• The policy and practice of refugee integration

• Refugee camps

• Diaspora and transnational social movements

• Refugees and smuggling/trafficking

• Refugees as Others

• Refugee children and inclusion/exclusion in schools

• Defending refugees (campaigns and similar inclusionary measures)

• The politics and ethics of researching refugees



We are also especially keen to welcome papers by post-graduate

researchers who have a refugee background themselves.



All post-graduate students (Masters/MPhil/PhD) studying any aspect of

forced migration are invited to submit:

1. Abstracts for papers (no more than 250 words).

2. We also welcome proposals for panels which require individual

abstracts for each paper, plus a panel abstract explaining the

rationale of the proposed grouping (no more than 250 words for each

individual abstract, plus 250 words for the panel description).

3. For the first time, FMSC2006 is also inviting abstracts (of no more

than 250 words) for work-in-progress presentations, which will take

place in less formal workshops.



Please use the relevant form attached to state clearly whether you are

submitting an abstract for a paper, a panel or a work-in-progress

presentation. All submissions should also include a personal profile of

no more than 100 words. Send all abstracts and proposals with your

contact details to [log in to unmask] by Friday 17th December 2005.



For any further enquiries, email us at [log in to unmask]



Please pass this call on to all potentially interested students!







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