“In the wake of Syrian mass displacement, much literature has focused on analysing refugee hosting in key regional refugee-hosting states such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, or further afield focusing on EU member states or traditional resettlement countries such as Canada and the USA. Less emphasis has been placed on “unusual”, unlikely places or what Gustaffson (2019) frames as “unexpected havens”[1] to which Syrian refugees have fled.”

Against this background, this call for papers seeks contributions that shed light on unusual places of refuge. Abstracts should be submitted by 30 August 2022.

Organised by Tamirace Fakhoury (University of Aalborg), Sarah Tobin and Kjersti G. Berg (Chr. Michelsen Institute), this special issue aims to “shed light on under- researched and under-theorised refugee itineraries, destinations, choices, and aspirations.” The organisers seek to account for and desilence knowledge on what they frame as “non-iconic” places of refuge, defined both as unexpected, “off the radar” or less attractive destinations for refuge.

Contributions are encouraged to explore some of the following questions:

• What drives displaced individuals to go to unusual or unexpected places of refuge, those that seem at first glance “off the beaten track” or less desirable/attractive in terms of refugee hosting?
• What makes these places of refuge unexpected? How can we understand their “unexpectedness”? According to what and whose framework are they unusual or unexpected?
• How do these unexpected trajectories and destinations of refuge put into question traditional analytical frameworks that explain onward migration and the search for durable solutions?
• How do we debunk the traditional argument or the literature bias that refugees either flee to neighboring countries or aspire to reach affluent nations in the Global North?

This special issue aims to make important theoretical, empirical and policy contributions. See here for more details about the call.

Timeline:

• Submission of abstracts:  30 August 2022
• Communication to the authors regarding accepted abstracts: 30 September 2022
• First drafts: 15 January 2023
• Authors’ workshop: February 2023
• Submission of second drafts: 1 May 2023

Contact:

Tamirace Fakhoury: talfa@dps.aau.dk

Sarah Tobin: sarah.tobin@cmi.no

Kjersti G. Berg: kjersti.berg@cmi.no