Description

With an unprecedented 65.5 million people forcibly displaced around the world, forced migration has today become an increasingly permanent reality. An estimated 80% of displaced individuals are currently hosted within the Global South, where many countries are not signatories of any refugee convention. Within this context, refugees are subjected to harsher conditions of marginalization and increased socioeconomic inequality, and often portrayed as helpless and aid dependent. In response to such realities, this series of two panels explores the role of refugee communities in the production of urban spaces, with a focus on cities of the Global South.

Part one of this series will focus on the urban component in experiences of displacement by highlighting the agency (and lack thereof) afforded to refugees within these spaces. Presenters will discuss different forms of refugee struggle and contestation that manifest themselves in cities of the global south through case studies from Bangladesh, Lebanon, South Africa, and Uganda.