Refugee Cities Working Group member and author of Creating Local Democracy in Iran: State Building and the Politics of Decentralization (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022), Kian Tajbakhsh recently publish an article in The Atlantic, titled “Iran Is Not a ‘Normal’ Country.” You can find the article here.
Refugee Cities Member Organized Nov. Conference Aimed at Reframing Migrant "Crisis" in NYC
Refugee Cities working group member Hiba Bou Akar organized a conference, alongside Hugo Sarmiento, titled “The Migrant ‘Crisis’ in NYC: Immigration, Asylum, and The Right to the City.” Hosted by GSAPP, the conference was split into two panels: “Urban History of Immigrant ‘Crises’ in NYC,” “Formal and Informal Systems of Support and Care,” and “Housing Question and the Right to Shelter.”
For more on this conference, read the full Columbia Spectator story here.
Refugee Cities WG member Kian Tajbakhsh in Discussion with Gillian Triggs at "Mobilizing Action Toward the Global Compact on Refugees"
Refugee Cities working group member and Senior Advisor for the Committee on Forced Migration, Kian Tajbakhsh, participated in a discussion with Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner for protection with UNHCR ( United Nations refugee agency), on November 13. Titled “Mobilizing Action Toward the Global Compact on Refugees,” the event addressed topics such as new developments in global displacement & refugee protection, multi-stakeholder partnerships & innovative solutions, the Global Compact, and more.
Read more about this past event here.
Refugee Cities Member Speaks During Nacera Belaza's US Debut of "L'Onde"
Refugee Cities working group member, A. George Bajalia, joined Wesleyan University Director for the Arts Joshua Lubin-Levy in discussion following famed French-Algerian dancer and choreographer Nacera Belaza’s debut performance of “L’Onde” in the United States.
Read more about the event here.
Refugee Cities WG Member Achilles Kallergis Participated as a Speaker at Penn State's “(Dis)Place: From Tent Camps to the Future of Urbanism – The Architecture of Migration"
Refugee Cities working group member, Achilles Kallergis, participated in a research symposium, titled “(Dis)Place: From tent camps to the future of urbanism – The architecture of migration” on Nov. 13-14 The symposium was hosted by The College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Penn State.
Read more about the event here.
Refugee Cities Member Mae Ngai Publishes "The Painful Afterlife of a Cruel Policy" in The Atlantic
Refugee Cities working group member, professor of history, and Lung Family Professor of Asian American studies at Columbia, Mae Ngai, published a new piece in The Atlantic on September 26th, 2023.
In this publication, Professor Ngai tells the narrative of Fae Myenne Ng and her latest historical memoir Orphan Bachelors. Recounting the author's family experiences in San Francisco's Chinatown, the story provides a heartfelt portrayal of the challenges and dynamics faced during the close of the era of Chinese Exclusion.
Read the publication here.
Call for Papers/ Participants Refugee CitiesSymposium on the Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement [deadline extended]
Call for Papers/ Participants
Refugee Cities
Symposium on the Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement
Columbia University, New York, NY
April 27-28, 2023
The Refugee Cities Working Group at the Center for the Study of Social Difference, Columbia
University, welcomes proposals for presentations at our forthcoming, interdisciplinary public
symposium, “Refugee Cities: Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement.”
The Refugee Cities Working Group’s concerns lie at the intersection of urban studies on the one
hand and, on the other, the humanistic and social justice-oriented study of the mass movement
of people fleeing violence, war and forced removal. This symposium will focus on the impact
of refugees on cities and urban processes, both in the present moment and as a historical
phenomenon. We welcome proposals from public intellectuals, artists and activists as well as
PhD candidates and faculty members at all stages in their career and from any discipline,
examining any place and time.
A keynote lecture will take place on the evening of Thursday, April 27, with all other
presentations to be scheduled throughout the day on Friday, April 28. All events will take place
at the Heyman Center/ SOF, Columbia University, New York.
Please submit a brief description of your proposed presentation (maximum of 350 words) along
with a short CV (maximum of 2 pages) as one, single pdf file to refugeecitiesCSSD@gmail.com.
The deadline for sending your proposal is March 13, 2023, (deadline extended from March 6, 2023).
For further information about the Refugee Cities Working Group, please visit our page here
For further information contact refugeecitiesCSSD@gmail.com.
This symposium and the Refugee Cities Working Group have been possible with support from
the Center for the Study of Social Difference, as well as the Society of Fellows and Heyman
Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
Call for Papers/Participants - Refugee Cities Symposium on the Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement
Check out the Refugee Cities Call for Papers/Paticipants for the Symposium on the Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement at Columbia University, New York, NY, April 27-28, 2023