SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE POLITCS OF REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION

A number of recent protests, like the Occupy movement, have focused on issues surrounding social and economic disparity. These protests have brought into sharp relief a critique of the neoliberal and imperial world order, but equally, a focus on the protests and protesters themselves. Both may be considered disruptive to a normative social order and slotted into categories of questionable accuracy. In the Occupy movement, protestors have often been referred to collectively as ‘‘hippies’, ‘anarchists’, or ‘communists’ in the media.. At the same time, Occupy protests have drawn criticism for their lack of self-reflexivity. Some believe they have failed to consider what articulations of “occupy” might mean for already occupied land in North America especially, as well as for those living under occupation around the world.

With these criticisms in mind–leveled by protestors as well as at protestors—we hope to reflect on similar occurrences within movements (or the lack of movements) concerned with refugee rights. Social movements that concern the wider population often incorporate discourse familiar to refugees, migrants, and those that research and work among them. When they address issues like the desirability and undesirability of persons in a society, or question the institutions, power structures or politics that affect potential disparities, they hit upon issues central to the lives of migrants as well as to researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Therefore, both current and past movements may help us reflect on the economic situation and social status of refugees worldwide with a new lens.

Contributions should attempt to explore and contextualize the potential or limitations of social movements for enhancing refuge rights, whether these movements have clear objectives for change or simply wish to raise consciousness. Submissions may do so by considering a larger context of global injustice and inequality, the international politics of institutions that affect marginalization, and the possibilities for social movements to create alliances between different marginalized groups. They may also wish to look to local examples of activism and unevenly distributed rights, or discuss parallels or differences between contemporary and past movements for refugee rights. Lastly, this call is an opportunity for self-reflection on the theory and practice of social movements for refugee rights.

GENERAL CALL FOR PAPERS GUIDELINES:

With the advent of a group and a publication dedicated to those new to the field, we hope to receive fresh insight, opinion and research on social movements as they connect to and comment upon refugee and forced migration issues. We welcome submissions from students, academics, professionals, frontline practitioners, researchers, scholars and all those interested in refugees, forced migration, and their related social movements. Submitted papers may provide either or both a theoretical and practice-based approach. We encourage not only academic work, but also the work produced by NGOs, civil society groups and engaged individuals (including grey literature, blogs, livejournals, etc). Audio-visual submissions are also welcome.

We hope to receive a wide range of entries including:

Academic Papers
Essays (Personal Narrative, Fieldwork Notes, In-depth blog entries, etc.)
Photography (Research, Personal, in .jpg format?)
Interviews/Debates/Dialogues (between academics, practitioners working with refugees/migrants, refugees and migrants themselves, protesters, or other combinations)
Critiques (Book Reviews, Reviews of Current Research Projects/Policy, etc)
Audiovisual material (photos portfolios, art projects, etc)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAPER SUBMISSION:

We welcome contributions that do not exceed 2500-3000 words. Papers should be submitted electronically by June 1st, 2012 to refugeereview@gmail.com.

Submissions MUST also be accompanied by the following:

1. Name(s) of author(s)

2. Author e-mail address

3. Title of paper

4. A short personal profile (no more than 150 words)

http://newscholarsnetwork.wordpress.com/refugee-review/

The Refugee Review journal is an electronic publication, developed, managed, edited, and peer-reviewed entirely by new scholars, on a voluntary basis. The volunteers are selected from among the NSN membership and approved by the NSN Executive Committee. Given the versatility of an electronic publication, the journal’s aim is to collect and promote diverse contributions, from standard academic articles, research papers and book reviews to photo- and video-documentary, interviews, narratives, and fiction. We believe that accepting quality material that includes but also goes beyond the purely academic will more thoroughly illuminate research findings, collaborative projects and other exciting, engaging work that is being done by those who are new to the field.