Nur etwa 1% aller Flüchtenden im Universitätsalter weltweit haben Zugang zu Hochschulbildung. Das geisteswissenschaftliche Angebot ist noch begrenzter. Das Global History Lab an der Universität Princeton bietet sowohl einen Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) als auch einen Small Private Online Course (SPOC) mit Fokus auf Globalgeschichte und historische Forschung an, die es Flüchtenden und Lernende aus den Aufnahmeländern ermöglichen, zusammen in einem internationalen und digitalen Lernumfeld zu studieren.
Welcome to the H-Net cross-network project “Refugees in African History!”
According to the UNHCR there were 79,5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, among them 26 million registered refugees in 2019 alone. About 30% of the world’s displaced people are being hosted in Africa. Yet, those Africans who make their way to Europe dominate discussions in the global North. “Fortress Europe” is pulling up its bridge and migrants are demonized as a security threat and burden on the welfare state. Public discourse overwhelmingly portrays African (forced) migrants as victims or perpetrators, but rarely paints a more nuanced picture of the reasons and motives of African refuge-seekers and the global and regional interrelated structures that drive processes of refuge seeking. Therefore the historical study of refuge seeking becomes imperative to help us understand long-term trends and a historically grown approach to mobility in Africa and beyond. The topic will stay with us for many years to come.
Why this cross-network project?
The aim of this cross-network is to link members, discussions and resources on H-Africa with those on H-Migration where they concern the history of refuge seeking across Africa and beyond. It is dedicated to a historical perspective on refuge seeking in Africa as well as to and from the African continent. While maintaining a historical focus, we also welcome interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary discussions that contribute to a broader understanding of the history of refuge seeking on the continent. We do not set temporal limits; pre-colonial perspectives are just as welcome as those on recent developments. We also aim at being inclusive, so no matter whether you are an academic, a practitioner or a refugee please browse and contribute.
How can you engage?
This space serves to facilitate the sharing of information concerning research, teaching and discussions on refugees in African history. Are you looking to share a conference call or a call for papers? Would you like to ask colleagues for fieldwork tips? Are you preparing a new course and would like to get inspired by different syllabi? Or would you like to stay in touch with the latest developments in the field by browsing our book review section? We invite you to look at our resources on offer and help us build them further. This cross-network space lives from the contributions of its members as it seeks to foster an international, virtual space for engagement and the exchange of information.
Once you have become a subscriber to the cross-network, you can share an interesting thought, input or file in the Discussions tab by clicking the orange button “Start a Discussion” at the bottom of the home page. Or you can upload a resource by clicking the button “Upload a resource” at the bottom right of the home page. Simply upload your resource and add as the keyword the exact name of the subcategory you'd like to add it to (for example, "Multimedia and Teaching Materials"). In both cases, make sure “Refugees in African History” is selected as your Network. Or you can simply email us your contribution to: africanrefugees@mail.h-net.org
How to navigate the site?
The page consists of several tabs where you can find and contribute to building a pool of helpful resources and tools for the study of refugees in African history:
Home page - On this home page, you can find the most recent discussion contributions to “Refugees in African History” from all around the H-Networks on the topic of refugees in African history, but particularly H-Africa, H-Migration and H-Announcement. Discussion contributions will include things such as calls for papers, fellowships, conference announcements, queries or questions to the community etc.
Discussion tab - In this space, you are welcome to post announcements, ask questions, share information or spark a conversation.
Review tab – The review tab will take you to a selection of reviews that were written on the topic of refugees and Africa.
Resources tab – In this section, you will encounter a collection of resources useful to the study of refugees in African history. These include resources useful for teaching (syllabi, teaching materials, literary or film suggestions etc.), research (notes on methodology, bibliographies, quarterly bulletin of new academic works, conference notes, theses and dissertations in process etc.) and general interest in the topic (links to blogs and other websites of interest).
Links tab - You can find a compilation of all the links shared across the cross-network in this section.
Blogs tab - This section welcomes blog posts that will be published within the cross-network community. They are open to comments and replies and can constitute the beginning of fruitful exchanges of ideas.
And last but not least, who is behind this?
We are a group of volunteers consisting of Keren Weitzberg, editor at H-Africa, Jochen Lingelbach, editor at H-Migration, and six advisory board members: Christian Williams, Alfred Tembo, Magnus Treiber, Jill Rosenthal, George Njung, and Aderito Machava. Together we are representing seven different countries in Africa, Europe and North America. This page grew out of an explorative workshop, organized by Marcia C. Schenck, “Rethinking Refuge: Processes of Refuge Seeking in Africa and Beyond” at the Forum for Transnational Studies in Berlin in June 2019. Marcia C. Schenck is the project coordinator for the cross-network “Refugees in African History” and Johanna Wetzel is an editor for the cross-network page.
Image by Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, 2019
The research network on African Migration, Mobility, and Displacement, AMMODI: https://ammodi.com is a Collaborative Research Group (CRG) under the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS):https://href.li/?http://www.aegis-eu.org,
In 1942, an unnamed Greek man swam the seven kilometers from the island of Chios to the Turkish coast. According to historian Philip Argenti, he started his journey at the promontory of Haghia Heléne, putting his clothes in a watertight tin that also served him as a lifebuoy. He wasn’t alone in escaping the islands during the German occupation, though he is believed to be the only one who swam.........
This series looks at how people have migrated, sought refuge, and settled, in and out of Africa. Who gets to be called a refugee, and why? We investigate historical and present-day examples from all over the continent. Essays are from the participants of the Rethinking Refuge Workshop. Edited by historian Madina Thiam.
Pagination
Recent from H-Africa
Readers might be interested in this new book from Indiana University Press (January 2023).
Toyin Falola and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso. African Refugees. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2023. xli + 590 pp.
Description
African Refugees is a comprehensive overview of the context, causes, and consequences of refugee lives, discussing issues, policies, and solutions for African refugees around the world. It covers overarching topics such as human rights, policy frameworks, refugee protection, and durable solutions, as well as less-studied topics such as refugee youths, refugee camps, LGBTQ
Dear Colleagues:
We are pleased to announce our new book, African Refugees, just released (January 2023) by Indiana University Press. The book details are below and available at the IUP website and on Amazon.
By Toyin Falola and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso. African Refugees. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2023. xli + 590 pp.
Description
African Refugees is a comprehensive overview of the context, causes, and consequences of refugee lives, discussing issues, policies, and solutions for African refugees around the world. It covers overarching topics such as human rights, policy frameworks
Since the early 1990s, political, social and economic instability in East Africa,1 including long-running conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Burundi, has produced high rates of displacement. Movement within and from the region has led to substantial refugee populations being housed in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as a large diaspora of East Africans scattered across the globe.
Among those leaving their countries of origin are a significant number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons. Many are fleeing state-sanctioned violence, including
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, signed at Geneva on 28 July 1951, defined who is eligible for and what constitutes asylum for refugees under international law. Its universal expansion in 1967 remains the cornerstone for today’s global refugee regime, which has shaped the legal definition of the refugee and rights to asylum for over fifty years. Well before
Announcement:
Online Lecture Series
Poverty, Violence and Migration in the Red Sea Region
Wednesdays 5:30pm to 6:30pm Berlin Time (CET)
Starting 13 October 2021
This lecture series will showcase new research into the historical causes and contemporary dynamics of structural poverty, political violence, and large-scale migration in the Red Sea Region. The invited speakers each recognize the continuing importance of longstanding intra-regional connections, and their lectures will shed light on the ways that the coping strategies currently pursued at individual, household, community, and state
Pagination
Recent from H-Migration
Dear Colleagues
Soon we will be hosting the second event in our very own seminar series on "African Displacement" on 27 May 4.00-5.00 PM (CEST/GMT+2 German/Zimbabwe time). This time our guest speaker will be Dr Joyce Takaindisa (independent researcher, previously at University of the Witwatersrand) who will present her work on "Forced transnationalism of Zimbabwean migrant domestic workers in Botswana: An alternative view of transnational motherhood".
Registration is easy and (of course) free:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/forced-transnationalism-of-zimbabwean-migrant-domestic-workers-in
This international workshop will bring together established and emerging scholars to chart the intersection between refugee history and Cold War history. The most well-known connection between these two fields is the figure of the political refugee fleeing from the socialist East to the democratic West. As recent research in both areas has highlighted, however
Seminars on African Displacement
by Africa Research Group, German Network for Forced Migration Studies
This series of occasional seminars and talks focuses on exploring displacement, migration and mobility on the African continent.
Our first virtual seminar will be given by Yolanda Weima (Center for Refugee Studies, York University, Canada) on 25 March at 16:00 CET.
Refuge after return: Multiple displacements and diverse trajectories of Burundian refugees in Tanzania
The refugee label applied to refugees in camps implies a simple spatial and temporal trajectory: a past (one-way, one-time, cross
We are pleased to announce a new Partnership Seminar Series with the Institute of Historical Research, London, on Doing refugee history. Across a year and a half of seminars, this online series aims to create a new network of historians working on forced migration through time and space.
We are currently seeking papers for spring/summer 2021, around the theme of Refugee times: seeking refuge in and beyond the 20th century.
Most refugee history is focused on the period since the modern legal category of ‘refugee’ emerged, initially in response to population displacement in Europe and the Middle
Around the Commons
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce our new book, African Refugees, just released (January 2023) by Indiana University Press. The book details are below and available at the IUP website and on Amazon.
Toyin Falola and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso. African Refugees. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2023. xli + 590 pp.
Description
African Refugees is a comprehensive overview of the context, causes, and consequences of refugee lives, discussing issues, policies, and solutions for African refugees around the world. It covers overarching topics such as human rights, policy frameworks, refugee
Here you find the Bulletin of Recent Publications on the Topic of : Refugees in African History. Have fun discovering new publications.
Note: The editors of this Bulletin welcome suggestions of recent publications to be included, including your own ones. Please send in a full citation format to: africanrefugees@mail.h-net.org
Many greetings
Hendrik Geiling
Africa Today's Special Issue on Rethinging Refuge is out and open access! Congratulations to all contributors and the editors!
"This special issue, 'Rethinking Refuge,' therefore dives into the history of refuge seeking by Africans on the continent and beyond and, interestingly, of Europeans in Africa, precisely to offer counternarratives to the single-story mediatized depictions of African refugees to which we have become accustomed.
Table of Contents:
We're excited for all the contributers to this fabulous new edited volume: Navigating Socialist Encounters: Moorings and (Dis)Entanglements between Africa and East Germany during the Cold War is full of migration history to, from and within the African continent. You can access it freely via: https://degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110623543/html
Dear Refugees in African History subscribers, below a project announcement for statelesshistories.org
Announcing Stateless Histories
From editors Jennifer Dueck and Laura Robson
We are delighted to announce the release of a new digital humanities project: StatelessHistories.org
Stateless Histories is a collection of digital resources – essays, podcasts, documents, and short videos – exploring the manifestations, meanings, and experiences of statelessness in the modern era with particular emphasis on the non-European world.
From national politics to diasporic organizations to international legal
Dear Refugees in African History Community, please see below an announcement shared by the IASFM about a list of Forced Migration Studies Networks that they are working on. To see the most updated version, please follow the link below:
Dear IASFM members and forced migration studies community
We are pleased to inform you about a recently added resource to our website: a List of Forced Migration Studies Networks Worldwide.
You can also find the information and the downloadable list by following the path “About > Publications > Networking Resources” on the http://iasfm.org/ website.
Research on