Special Issue Launch Seminar: Transdisciplinary approaches to refugee law (Journal of Refugee Studies)

Refugee law has historically formed an important part of refugee studies. Yet, in past decades the legal study of refugees has increasingly developed out of sync with refugee studies more generally. Peers from other disciplines have argued that the relevance of refugee law “should be an empirical question not an assumption” (Betts and Collier 2017). Moreover, the dominance of doctrinal methods have been criticised for not paying sufficient attention to how refugee law interacts with broader social and political forces; and thus mask geopolitical interests and oppressive power structures in law. At the same time, international refugee law continues to have profound implications on the lived experience of refugees and forced migrants. Attention to refugee law is, its formation and impact should thus remain an integral part of refugee studies.

 At this seminar, we launch a special issue on “transdisciplinary approaches to refugee law”  forthcoming in the Journal of Refugee Studies. The special issue on the one hand highlights how refugee law is intimately connected to, shapes, and is in turn shaped by, the social, political, psychological, historical and cultural experience of refugees, as well as state policies. On the other hand, it explores how theory and methods from other disciplines can produce insights of how legal procedures and outcomes are shaped by the actors involved in them, different legal cultures and the wider political context. Insights that carry significance not only for academic research but also, increasingly, for scholars engaged in strategic litigation, IOs and NGOs intervening in cases and the day-to-day work of countless refugee advocates. 

At the seminar, short paper presentations will be made from select authors to the special issue, before turning to a broader debate on the role of refugee law scholarship in refugee studies with the co-editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies, Simon Turner

Programme

Time

Friday 14 June 2024 at 13:00-15:00

Place

MOBILE meeting room 6B-2-22, 2nd floor, Southern Campus and online via Zoom

Registration

Please register using this form.

If you participate online, you will receive a Zoom link after you have registered.