Call For Papers: RefugeSpecial Issue: Environmentally Induced Displacement (29.2)

Call For Papers: Special Issue: Environmentally Induced Displacement (29.2)

REFUGE vol. 29(2)

Special Issue: Environmentally Induced Displacement

Guest Editors:  Pablo S. Bose and Elizabeth Lunstrum

This special issue will explore the phenomenon of environmentally induced displacement (EID).  From climate change to extractive industries, from ‘natural’ disasters to increased urbanization, from conservation to mega-projects, landscapes and peoples’ place on them are being transformed at an unprecedented scale across the globe.  We suggest that these as well as many other processes provoke specific forms of environmentally induced displacement and forced migration, confronting communities with the loss of their land and other vital resources.  Many of the most affected groups are often vulnerable to begin with, lacking secure rights and access to resources and to formal recourse once these are jeopardized.  This special issue explores the phenomenon of EID through both conceptual as well as empirical work.  We invite submissions that address a range of questions such as: What constitutes environmental displacement?  What practices and discourses help to organize and rationalize these processes?  What are the demographic impacts of environmental displacement?  How have various local and international actors responded to environmentally induced displacement?  What are some of the definitional debates regarding ‘environmental refugees’ and their place within the international protection system?

Successful submissions may come from a wide range of conceptual backgrounds concerned with environmentally induced displacement. A variety of research interests will be explored with the objective of providing theoretical and practical insights on matters such as adaptation and internal coping strategies, livelihoods and sustainable development, prevention prospects, disaster risk management, regional concerns, cross-border legal implications, humanitarian responses, state action and inaction, and environmentally induced versus other forms of displacement (e.g. conflict, developmental, etc).

Contributions may be submitted either in English or French and will be published in the language of submission. They should generally not exceed 7500 words, or 30 double-spaced pages, and must be typed and submitted in electronic form. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review process by independent experts. Shorter papers, including commentaries and book reviews, are also welcome. REFUGE adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style for social science papers and to the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation for papers in the legal discipline (see style  guide for details). Papers must be prepared with full citation endnotes rather than with a bibliography. Papers should include an abstract of approximately 100-150 words, highlighting the central arguments and/or findings of the paper. Papers should also include 1-2 sentences indicating institutional affiliation. Comme indiqué ci-dessus, nous publions également des articles en français. Le format doit être conforme aux normes exigées pour les articles rédigés en anglais.

 

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2013

For further information, please contact: the Editor of Refuge, c/o Centre for Refugee Studies, York Research Tower, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto (Ontario), Canada M3J 1P3

refuge@yorku.ca     http://www.yorku.ca/refuge

ISSN: 1920-7336

 

Call for papers: Refuge Issue on Technology’s Role in the Refugee Experience

CALL FOR PAPERS

REFUGE vol. 29(1) Summer 2012

Special Issue: Technology’s Role in the Refugee Experience Guest Editor: Linda Leung

The aims of this proposed special edition are to: examine the role of technology in the lives of asylum seekers and refugees, explore how the fields of refugee studies and technology studies intersect in the study of technology use by refugees, present a range of responses to this cross-disciplinary topic from different voices and sectors.

The questions to which the edition seeks to respond include: How does technology assist refugees in sustaining connections with their family members and communities? How are technologies used in countries of origin, during forced migration and settlement? What benefits do people enjoy from these technologies and how do they cope with the limitations of those technologies? How are relationships of power surrounding these technologies negotiated? What, if any, virtual communities are created around these technologies?

Submissions are invited that encompass a diversity of technologies, ranging from high fidelity to low tech, and which are not necessarily limited to IT and the Internet use. Of particular interest are submissions that can articulate the politics and innovation of how a technology is appropriated, with grounded, critical approaches to issues of availability, access and affordability of the technologies concerned.

The issue will also include papers that are not related to the featured special theme. Contributions may be submitted either in English or French and will be published in the language of submission. They should generally not exceed 7500 words, or 30 double-spaced pages, and must be typed and submitted in electronic form. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review process by independent experts. Shorter papers, including commentaries and book reviews, are also welcome. REFUGE adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style for social science papers and to the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation for papers in the legal discipline (see style sheet for details). Papers must be prepared with full citation endnotes rather than with a bibliography. Papers should include an abstract of approximately 100-150 words, highlighting the central arguments and/or findings of the paper. Papers should also include 1-2 sentences indicating institutional affiliation. Comme indiqué ci-dessus, nous publions également des articles en français. Le format doit être conforme aux normes exigées pour les articles rédigés en anglais.

Submission Deadline: **August 31, 2012**

For further information, please contact: Prof. Michael Barutciski, Editor-in-Chief REFUGE c/o Centre for Refugee Studies, York Research Tower, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto (Ontario), Canada M3J 1P3 refuge@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/refuge

Call for Papers: Special 60th Anniversary Issue: “Is the 1951 Convention Outdated?”

Details from the Forced Migration Discussion List.

Call for Papers:   Special 60th Anniversary Issue: “Is the 1951 Convention Outdated?”

Many commentators who criticise the alleged widespread abuse of the refugee protection system point to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention as the source of the problem. Its supposed generosity constrains government actions and allegedly prevents the adoption of measures that would make the system more effective and efficient. If we consider developments in global modes of transportation and border controls, it becomes apparent that conditions have changed considerably since governments adopted this historic treaty following the Second World War. It is therefore not surprising that the Refugee Convention’s relevance has been questioned in recent years. Yet a closer look at the Convention reveals that it does not include anything relating to status determination procedures which constitute the most burdensome aspect of protection in many rich countries. It does not even guarantee a right to asylum for persecuted people who are granted refugee status. Have national procedures become inefficient because of the Convention or do other factors explain this situation?

The common response from advocates and academics suggests that any opening of discussions on the Refugee Convention will result in diminishing standards which will leave refugees with even less protection. Aside from legitimate fears about a general lack of solidarity and generosity, what specific forms of protection offered in the Convention risk being abandoned? Is there any fundamental right in this refugee treaty that would be threatened or that is not already covered in other areas of international law? Recent cases suggest courts have relied to a large extent on other human rights treaties to provide actual legal protection. What particular reasons lead advocates to prefer the status quo with regards to the Refugee Convention?

For its special issue on the 60th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, REFUGE invites submissions that explore the debate surrounding the relevance of this historic treaty. In particular, we are interested in papers that recognise the diverging assessments in order to propose approaches that might address current and future problems in a more effective manner.

Submission Deadline: **March 30, 2012**

For more information, visit the Refuge web site at http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/index.