CfP: Reconfiguring Refugee Studies from Africa. East African Experiences and Approaches to Refugee Hosting (Panel at VAD 2024; Bayreuth)

CfP: Reconfiguring Refugee Studies from Africa.
East African Experiences and Approaches to Refugee Hosting (Panel at VAD 2024; Bayreuth)

Please share and consider submitting a paper for our panel Reconfiguring Refugee Studies from Africa. East African Experiences and Approaches to Refugee Hosting at the VAD conference in Bayreuth (Germany), 30 September to 2 October 2024.

The VAD2024 Call for Papers will close on Wednesday 31 January 2024.

Short Abstract:
East Africa has a long and variegated history of refugee hosting. The region stands at the forefront of developments in refugee policies, for better or worse. We welcome presentations looking into the past and present of refugee hosting in Eastern Africa and its relation to Refugee Studies.

Long Abstract:
Since the beginning of the 20th century, East African countries have hosted significant numbers of refugees. Already during World War Two, refugees from fascist aggression in Ethiopia and Europe found there a haven. With the post-independence conflicts, Rwandans, Sudanese, Congolese and Burundians fled to neighbouring countries. Later Southern African Freedom fighters flocked to Tanzania. Today, ongoing conflicts in South Sudan, the Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia still force thousands to flee. Some of the world’s largest refugee camps are located in Kenya and Uganda. East Africa (including the Horn and the Great Lakes) is one of the most important refugee-hosting regions in the world.

East African governments have responded differently to refugees. Nyerere’s ‘open door’ policy in Tanzania ended in the 1990s. Kenya’s securitized encampment policy is still in place. Uganda (once also a refugee-sending country) now boasts a long tradition as ‘progressive’ refugee host. Undeniably, the region has been at the forefront of scholarship and policy developments in refugee hosting for decades. If we want to think about the future of refugee hosting and the development of refugee studies as a scholarly field, this region is a productive vantage point.

In this panel, we want to interrogate the history and present of refugee hosting in East Africa. What were the political, economic and social reasons for the different responses to refugee influxes? What traditions, institutions and infrastructures undergird the variegated reactions to people fleeing from conflict? What can we learn from the region’s history for the reconfiguring of Refugee Studies?

All details on the submission process here: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/vad2024/p/13823#

All the best wishes,

David (Ngendo-Tshimba) & Jochen (Lingelbach)