Refugee Studies

Refugee studies is a focused study of refugees and forced migration, which increasingly must centre displaced people’s own voices, experiences, and strategies alongside legal and policy analysis. We recognise that traditional refugee studies—conceived mainly around a narrow legal definition of the refugee and top-down policy perspectives—fail to account for protracted displacement, diverse forms of forced migration, and the agency of displaced communities. The field has broadened to include forced migration studies and critical refugee studies, drawing on the humanities, social sciences, and law to address displacement, settlement, integration, and family and community dynamics. We upgrade refugee studies by prioritising participatory and community-based approaches that treat refugees as knowledge producers, not only research subjects. We teach students and practitioners to work alongside displaced communities to document experiences, challenge harmful narratives, and inform advocacy and programming.