Refugee camps are a ubiquitous, racialised, spatial technique of migration management that identify and segregate groups of people from broader society. Often framed as humanitarian, they endure despite widespread critiques and vary widely. This senior seminar will explore contemporary refugee- migrant camps, with a particular focus on their temporalities.
The introductory class will outline theories of what camps are, and what ethical and methodological challenges arise in studying them, with a focus on critical and feminist geopolitical approaches. Drawing on this foundation, the remaining classes will look at camp temporalities—from long-term, decades-old camps, to very temporary, transit-oriented camps, and finally consider camp closures. Although the seminar will draw on literature from varied sites, there will be a particular emphasis on camps within the Balkan Route, drawn from research within the ERC project TheGAME.
Lesson 1: Introduction: Camp theories, camp methodologies
Lesson 2: That old problem: Protracted displacement
Lesson 3: Camps and routes: Transit (and) camps
Lesson 4: Closing camps
