Critical Approaches to Internal Displacement

The post-Cold War period has seen the rapid emergence of the internally displaced person as an object of international humanitarian concern. Transformations in state sovereignty and the nature of warfare, a shifting global order and the construction of a new humanitarian architecture have all served to make the internal displacement of the early 21st century.

To date however, much of the research on internal displacement has been policy focused, and there is a significant lack of research that proceeds from a critical perspective. This workshop seeks to address this gap by bringing together analysts who examine internal displacement by using tools derived from critical theory, social theory, critical geography, anthropology, political economy and critical legal studies. The aim of the workshop is twofold: 1) to show the value that a critical perspective can bring to the examination of internal displacement, and 2) to investigate what it means to be ‘critical’ in doing such research.