Refugee voices in modern global history: reckoning with refugeedom

Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 5pm to 6pm

Peter Gatrell discusses the approach that he and fellow authors adopted in their book, Refugee Voices in Modern Global History: Reckoning with Refugeedom. After briefly highlighting some of their key findings, including a justification for the concept of 'refugeedom', Profesor Gatrell outlines his ongoing research which addresses UNHCR’s engagement with refugees in and beyond Europe in the years 1951 to 1975. This research draws on the extensive confidential individual case files held by UNHCR Records and Archives, Geneva.

Like his contribution to the book, this current project analyses the content and tone of letters that refugees wrote to UNHCR from different parts of the world and the responses they elicited. Professor Gatrell discusses the expectation that the refugees vouchsafe intimate details of their lives as a condition of being 'recognised' by UNHCR and thus eligible for its assistance and protection. But recognition was not a one-way process: refugees reflected on their relationship with its officials and sought to hold them to account.

Gatrell's approach is contextualised; deliberately reflexive; and interdisciplinary, being informed by classic and ongoing scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

Speaker(s): Emeritus Professor Peter Gatrell (University of Manchester)

Series: Refugee Studies Centre Events

Venue: Queen Elizabeth House - Seminar Room 1 - Seminar Room 1 Queen Elizabeth House 4 Mansfield Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX1 3TB United Kingdom

Department: International Development (Department)

Host: Refugee Studies Centre

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