Processes of Refuge Seeking in 20th-Century Africa and Beyond - Einzelansicht

Please follow the "comment" link above for more information on comments, course readings, course requirements and grading.

This course examines processes of refuge seeking, bringing refugee studies and history into conversation. Drawing on case studies mainly from twentieth-century Africa, we ask what a refugee is and whether we can speak of a common refugee experience. We explore whether historians can and should distinguish between refugees, forced migrants and exiles. To do so, we draw on literature from a variety of disciplines including history, anthropology, political science and law. The selected case studies cover East, West, South and North African and European contexts.

The course is designed to introduce students to the nascent and vibrant research field of the historical study of refugees and forced migrants on the African continent. Students will have gained a grasp of the field and its most important research questions and challenges by the end of the course. The course is organized thematically: it starts by discussing why studying processes of refuge seeking in historical perspective is important. It provides key readings that orient students in the debates about refugee vs. forced migration studies before delving into case studies dedicated to a range of issues concerning the lived experiences of forced migrants in camps, in political exile, their relations with host populations, and with the sending and receiving states. Other topics concern the political and legal management and perception of refugees by states and international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Organization for African Unity (OAU). Finally, the course considers recent refugee movements to Europe in historic perspective.

Some of the questions that motivate this course are: Who is a refugee, forced migrant, exile, and how do definitions and perceptions change during the twentieth century? What are refugee experiences like and how do they vary over time and in different geographic areas? What role does colonialism, the decolonization process and the cold war play with regard to creating, classifying and managing refugee flows in Africa and beyond? How does forced migration bring Africa into global history? And how can we look at the recent refugee crisis historically?

NB: This course will take place online until further notice. When you sign up on PULS you will receive a message with the details of how to access the Moodle course. Please allow some time to pass. If you experience any difficulties please email Hannah Schulze hannahschulze@uni-potsdam.de.

Shadle, Brett L. "Refugees and Migration in African History." In A Companion to African History, edited by William Worger Charles Ambler, Nwando Achebe: 2018 Wiley-Blackwell

Malkki, Liisa. "Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization." Cultural Anthropology 11, no. 3 (1996): 377-404.

Marfleet, Philip. "Explorations in a Foreign Land: States, Refugees, and the Problem of History." Refugee Survey Quarterly 32, no. 2 (2013): 14-24.

Rosenthal, Jill. "From ‘Migrants’ to ‘Refugees’: Identity, Aid, and Decolonization in Ngara District, Tanzania." Journal of African History 56 (2015): 261-79.

Glasman, Joël. „Seeing Like a Refugee Agency: A Short History of UNHCR Classifications in Central Africa (1961-2015)." Journal of Refugee Studies 30, no. 2 (2017): 337–62.

All students must read the course readings, submit discussion forum contributions, make an input presentation, write a summary email and write a final paper.