The title of her lecture was: ‘Improving responses: distinctiveness, partnership and professionalism’.

Dr Ferris was speaking at the Refugee Studies Centre‘s workshop on ‘Faith-based Humanitarianism: The Response of Faith-based Communities and Faith-based Organisations in the Context of Forced Migration’. The lecture took place in Oxford at The Vaults, University Church of St Marys, on Tuesday 22 September 2010.

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On 23rd July 2010 Dennis McNamara, gave the endnote lecture at the Refugee Studies Centre’s International Summer School in Forced Migration.

McNamara, who has several decades of humanitarian experience mainly with UNHCR and OCHA in Asia and Africa, spoke on the subject of protection.

Dennis McNamara is currently Humanitarian Adviser at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, in Geneva.

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Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Member, The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. Her latest books are “Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global” “Assemblages” (Princeton University Press 2008) and “A Sociology of Globalization” (Norton 2007). She has recently completed a five-year project for UNESCO on sustainable human settlement, the results of which have been published as one of the volumes of the “Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems” (Oxford: EOLSS Publishers).

The lecture will be entitled “The complexity of Powerlessness: What makes human rights law perform?” Saskia Sassen will speak about the limits of power and the complexities of powerlessness – the direct or mediated resistances that the powerless can deploy knowingly or not.

Immigration and human rights help to explore these more abstract issues – especially in powerful countries vis-à-vis undocumented workers, who are among the most vulnerable subjects in those same countries. And yet, under certain conditions, the powerless can make history, even if they do not gain power in this process. She will discuss two institutional domains where powerlessness can become complex and the powerless have made history.

The lecture will take place at the Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre, St Catherine’s College, Manor Road, Oxford (0X1 3UJ). The event will start at 5pm and will be followed by a drinks reception.

For more information or to reserve a seat, please contact Wouter te Kloeze: wouter.tekloeze@qeh.ox.ac.uk, +44(0)1865 281726

• The complexity of Powerlessness: What makes human rights law perform?

Dr Rowan Williams will speak at UCL’s (University College London) Bloomsbury Theatres in London on the topic of: ‘Enriching the Arguments: the Refugee Contribution to British Life’. His talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

This event is organized by UCL, in partnership with the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA). To attend, please RSVP by 5 May. RSVP is essential and places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Programme:
18:15 Registration, UCL Bloomsbury Theatre
19:00 Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
20:00 Reception
21.00 Close

Venue:
UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH

• Enriching the Arguments: the Refugee Contribution to British Life

The course was devised by RSC staff member Dr Alice Edwards, in close cooperation with the Statelessness Unit of UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva. The international legal framework will be led by Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill.

This short course will be facilitated by some of the leading experts on this issue, including:

• Dr Alice Edwards, Lecturer in International Refugee and Human Rights Law, University of Oxford
• Dr Matthew Gibney, Reader in Politics and Forced Migration, University of Oxford
• Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford
• Gábor Gyulai, Refugee Programme Coordinator, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest
• Bronwen Manby, Senior Programme Adviser – Africa, Open Society Justice Initiative
• Mark Manly, Head, Statelessness Unit, UNHCR Geneva
• Abbas Shiblak, Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford; working for several years on the issue of statelessness, in particular in the Middle East.

Personal and professional interest and commitment are the key criteria for participation.

Apply online, or visit the Refugee Studies Centre website for more information.

Applications are invited for this year’s International Summer School in Forced Migration, to be held at Wadham College, Oxford. Apply by 1 March (bursary applicants), 1 May (self-/employer-funded applicants).

Now in its 21st year, the course offers an intensive, interdisciplinary and participative approach to the study of forced migration. It aims to enable people working with refugees and other forced migrants to reflect critically on the forces and institutions that dominate the world of the displaced.

• International Summer School in Forced Migration

This podcast was recorded at the Refugee Studies Centre’s Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture which was on Wednesday 18th November 2009 at the Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford. The Harrell-Bond Lecture is held annually in honour of Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond, founding former director of the Centre and of the academic field of refugee studies or forced migration studies. Jan Egeland, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and currently director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs gave the 2009 lecture on the subject of political deals and durable solutions for the displaced.

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Some “reflections” (PDF file) on the key themes that emerged from the conference have been developed by Simon Addison, Senior Research Officer & Policy Programme Manager at the Refugee Studies Centre.

We invite you to share your thoughts and reflections on what were for you the most relevant and innovative themes and issues presented and discussed. We would also welcome receiving your suggestions and recommendations on how to move the protection debate forward at a research, policy and practical level. Please add your thoughts, suggestions and recommendations to this page.

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• Reflections on an International Conference (PDF file)

We are pleased to inform you that it is now possible to register in order to attend the conference on Deportation and Development of Citizenship on 11-12 December at the University of Oxford (map).

The aim of this conference is to encourage interdisciplinary and comparative scholarship on deportation, broadly conceived as the lawful expulsion power of states, both as an immigration control and as a social control mechanism. The conference will serve as a vehicle for bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, including politics, sociology, history, international relations, law, criminology and anthropology, interested in the study of deportation.

Confirmed guest speakers include Prof. Daniel Kanstroom, Prof. Antje Ellermann, Prof. Annemarie Sammartino, Prof. Catherine Dauvergne, Prof. Deirdre Moloney and Dr. Darshan Vigneswaran.

The programme of the conference (PDF file) is available and you can register online.

If you have any questions, please e-mail emanuela.paoletti@qeh.ox.ac.uk

• Conference
• Conference programme (provisional) (PDF file)

The film ‘Silk Road to Guantanamo: The Story of Adel Hakimjan‘ is now available to view online. Silk Road to Guantanamo shows the plight of ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate Adel Hakimjan, a Chinese Uighur, who was abused, persecuted, traded, and falsely imprisoned. There will be a screening of the film at the Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, Christ Church College, University of Oxford, on Tuesday, 17th November 7.30pm-9.30pm. After the screening there will be a Q & A with the film’s director S L James and Enver Tohti, chairman of the UK Uyghur Association.

• Silk Road to Guantanamo: The Story of Adel Hakimjan
• Screening in Oxford
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