Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh presents at IMISCOE 2021 Spring Conference

On Tuesday 23rd March 2021 Southern Responses to Displacement PI, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, participated in the IMISCOE 2021 Spring Conference, ‘Messaging Migration and Mobility.’ Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh’s presentation examined dominant mainstream humanitarian narratives and representations of refugees. These narratives, traditionally representing refugees as either passive victims in need of aid or, more recently, as the ‘super-refugee’ who has overcome great challenges to become a successful and contributing member of society, can be seen as an important counterpoint to more hostile narratives depicting threatening waves of migrants and refugees. However, these representations of refugees are problematic and are permeated by hierarchical processes of inclusion and exclusion: only certain faces, bodies, identities, voices, stories, words, are seen, heard, read, and empathized with, while others remain – or are purposefully rendered – invisible and on the margins.

Disrupting these narratives, and drawing on research conducted for the Southern Responses to Displacement project, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh also examined ways of representing the diverse roles played by both refugees and local hosting communities in responding to the everyday challenges of displacement. This includes Palestinian refugees in Baddawi camp in North Lebanon acting in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to protect themselves and other conflict-affected people. You can read more about this here.

For further readings by Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and other authors who have contributed to our blog exploring similar themes and topics, please see the recommended reading below.

Berg, M. and Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2018) Hospitality and Hostility towards Migrants: Global Perspectives—An Introduction

Carpi, E. (2019) Syrian Faith Leaders in Displacement: Neglected Aid Providers?

Delioglu, F. (2019) The ‘Al Shami Kitchen Project’ – Solidarity amongst Syrian Refugee Women in Izmit, Turkey

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2020) Refugee-led local responses in the time of COVID-19: Preliminary reflections from North Lebanon

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2020) Introduction: Recentering the South in Studies of Migration (Abridged version)

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2020) ‘Recentering the South in Studies of Migration,’ Introduction to the Special Issue, Migration and Society, 3(1): 1-18.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2020) Shifting the Gaze: Palestinian and Syrian refugees sharing and contesting space in Lebanon, in Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (ed) Refuge in a Moving World: Refugee and migrant journeys across disciplines, London: UCL Press.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2018) Southern Responses to Displacement: Background and Introduction to our mini blog series.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2018) Refugee-Refugee Humanitarianism

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2017) ‘Representations of Displacement: Introducing the Series,’ Refugee Hosts, 1 Sep. 2017.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2017) ‘Invisible (at) Night: Space, Time and Photography in a Refugee Camp,’ Refugee Hosts, 1 Sep. 2017.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2016) ‘Representations of Displacement in the Middle East,’ Public Culture, 28(3): 457-473, doi:10.1215/08992363-3511586.