Green-Mercado, Mayte. "Reframing the refugee narrative." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/reframing-the-refugee-narrative. [Date accessed].
Reframing the refugee narrative
Conceptualizing refugee narratives across history
The contemporary rhetoric around refugees and asylum seekers is one of vitriol and villainization. These narratives have social and political consequences, influencing elections and legislation around the globe. But how did we get to these assumptions and tropes that continue to scapegoat people affected by mass displacement? By understanding the construction of the concept “refugee,” students can trace a lineage of racialization and oppression back to the medieval Mediterranean. Green-Mercado asks her students to complicate the political script of migration and displacement by reading and playing narratives outside of the tropes handed down through time.
Further learning
Recommended
Language and race in The Man in the Moone
The Man in the Moone by Francis Godwin provides a genealogy of premodern anti-Asian sentiment. The collision of language and race, and the allegorical comparison of the Chinese to the Lunarians results in the alienation of Asian culture and language.
Citizenships ancient and modern
This course, developed by Dan-el Padilla Peralta, maps a history of citizenship as a concept and an institution from the ancient Mediterranean world to the 21st century.
This course, developed by Dan-el Padilla Peralta, maps a history of citizenship as concept and institution from the ancient Mediterranean world to the 21st century.
