About the Project

This project centres on the descriptions of homes that have been lost and found by refugees of the recent Syrian crisis. 

Experiences of urban life are negotiated in particularly complex ways by refugees moving across regions and nations in pursuit of home. In these negotiations, they expand the dimensions of home. How do the mobile dimensions of home constitute programs of making and remaking home, while also underscoring testimonies of migration, displacement and resettlement? 

Incorporating a digital archive, this project situates the contemporary refugee's pursuit as part of a larger 20th century project of post-camp migration and re-settlement. The digital archive will represent different disciplinary approaches, revisiting archived materials while hosting new materials. As this project's main focus, the archive aims to enhance international understanding of the contemporary Syrian refugee crisis while encouraging policy makers to rethink policy reform, within the UK and beyond.

This archive is part of the "Lost and Found: Testimonies of Migration, Resettlement, and Displacement" project funded by the British Academy's "Tackling the UKs International Challenges" grant scheme. It is led by Principal Investigator Dr Yasmine Shamma, Co-Investigators Professor Vicki Squire, and Professor Suzan Ilcan, and Postdoctoral Research Assistant Dr Helen Underhill.

TEAM

YASMINE SHAMMA

Project Lead

YASMINE SHAMMA is the Principle Investigator and Project Lead. She is a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Reading, specialising in 20th-21st century literatures. Her research tends to focus on the poetry of place, and ranges across regions in its focus -from New York City, to refugee camps.

VICKI SQUIRE

Co-Investigator

VICKI SQUIRE is a Professor of International Politics at Warwick University. Her research is focused on on the politics of migration, asylum, and humanitarian protection, while also examining contemporary border struggles and forms of solidarity activism in various global and local contexts.

SUZAN ILCAN

Co-Investigator

SUZAN ILCAN is Professor of Sociology at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her work explores the policies and practices devised to govern migration and shape the lives of migrants. Her current research examines migration policies, bordering practices, and humanitarian aid in the context of the displacement, precarity, and mobility of refugees.

HELEN UNDERHILL

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Helen is the project assistant and website manager. An anthropologist whose research experience centres on creative practices, mobility, and migration; she conducted her doctoral fieldwork in Palestine and Israel.