Category: Mentor

RPP 9: Mentor Meeting

This mentor meeting occurred on the 27th of November for approximately half an hour. I updated Professor Carruth on my progress so far and how I was still torn between small-n case study research and discourse analysis for my final narrative paper. Although I was thinking then that I would most likely propose to do interpretivist research for the final paper and her advice was geared towards that, this advice is still relevant for further reading and exploration of the topic area even though I have decided to do a case study for my final paper.

Professor Carruth gave me the names of two researchers in refugees studies looking at the construction of refugees and asylum seekers particularly in Greece and southern Europe. Cabot’s article on the parallels between asylum rights and citizen’s rights is of interest to me and my research since many of her points raise further questions for my own research and some extrapolations can be drawn between Greece and Sweden.[1] Additionally, she told me that I should look at Sweden’s actual asylum processing system and how refugees must construct themselves in order to be seen as “good” and “worthy” of asylum.

Professor Carruth also suggested that I look at how imagery is used to visualize and show refugees, specifically in media stories, since this can be a very helpful form of data. In particular, when I read media stories to make sure they actually match the country they are covering, e.g. the people in the photographs are from the right region/country that the article talks about.  Media stories have a tendency to reuse images from past stories about refugees.

I have several books[2] on the subject to read over winter break as I continue thinking about my topic and planning ahead for next year and 306.  I am very grateful to have Professor Carruth as my mentor and I look forward to using her, her knowledge, and her alternative viewpoints as a source next year as I continue my research in 306.

[1] https://www.academia.edu/30029030/The_European_Refugee_Crisis_and_the_Crisis_of_Citizenship_in_Greece

[2] The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s by Sadko N. Ogata and Making Refugee: Somali Bantu Refugees and Lewiston, Maine by Catherine Besteman

Mentor Meeting

My first meeting with my mentor, Professor Lauren Carruth, occurred on the fifth of September for about fifteen minutes. We discussed my background knowledge on the subject, which regarding legal knowledge, is very little. We talked some of the guiding questions I should be thinking about and researching as I move forward in my research. Such as who are the types of people receiving asylum in different nations? From where do they come? What is the path refugees take to get from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, etc. to get to Sweden, Germany, and other places in Europe? Who automatically receives asylum? How do different people “game” the system? What are the different legal designations for all different categories of people leaving their homes? What are different protections given to people in the different categories? What is the international law and literature surrounding refugees and asylum-seekers? Also, from this meeting, I learned that the percent of refugee resettlement that happens is minuscule compared to the overall numbers of refugees. This realization led me to think that I should probably broaden my scope quite a bit to look at refugee “adjustment” programs and find a better term for what I meant to say which was programs that attempt to help refugees get acclimated to their new environment where they may be for an extended period.

We discussed what my next moves should be going forward and one of them was trying to answer the above questions and others surrounding refugees that we had addressed in more depth. I am also going to been looking at the scholarship surrounding the issue at large and some of my current more specific questions and dilemmas. I will start looking at the process for resettlement and the other protocols the United Nations Human Rights Council oversees and implements. I am looking at the different global organizations tasked with carrying out international law regarding refugees.