Occasionally issues of journals where one might not normally think to look produce thematic issues of interest. Availability online makes them much more discoverable. A case in point:
Special Issue "Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present"
A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).
Special Issue "Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present"
A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).
Special Issue Editors
Phone: 44 (0)1392 264200Interests: human mobility and the constructions of place (2017); history through material remains; Lucania (2007); agency of the displaced; hospitality, asylum, refugeehood; ancient history and archaeology of pre-Imperial Italy; public and common space and architecture; inter-disciplinarity and inter-practice methodologies; ancient youthSpecial Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Important and urgent studies on the subject of migration have increased substantially over the last decade in response to what has been termed the ‘migration crisis’. The issue is seemingly timeless, yet, the long term historical perspective shows just how ambivalent the category of migration is. What does it mean for human mobility to become a problem—a crisis? Usually the subject is addressed from either the perspective of the host or the home community, focusing on the impact of arrival or departure. Between these two points are those who are displaced, often for periods that last more than a generation—the current UN average duration of displacement is 25 years. For this reason we have chosen to focus on the critical issue of displacement. It is here broadly construed as both the involuntary movement of peoples from a place of belonging, whether due to forms of conflict, famine, persecution, or environmental disasters, and also the suspension of movement that leaves people existing without place. The more focused heuristic lens of displacement allows for cross-historical perspectives which do not risk conflating ‘migration’ with ‘refuge’ or ‘asylum’. It also allows for a discourse of place, space and territory—the shifting entities in relation to human belonging, statehood, mobility and control. It confronts the visibility and potency of displaced agency.
For this Special Issue, we therefore welcome contributions which seek to provoke a discourse within and beyond the field of Humanities, including the disciplines of Classics and Ancient History. Our intention is to create a dynamic collection using a dialogical platform with experts in the field, while ensuring a robust scholarly discourse. Hence, we have commissioned pieces of work from practitioners as catalysts, for each contributor to reflect on and engage with in preparing the paper. A scholar who uses a different approach will then be asked to respond to a paper. Through the stimulus by catalysts and respondents, the intention is to create dialogue across practices, disciplines and temporalities: from catalyst—to paper—to response. In so doing, we hope that it provokes future work—hence manifestos—not only in the historical and literary fields, but wider research and practice concerned with migration and refugeehood.
We particularly invite paper contributions which, at a theoretical and/or methodological level, aim to: remap the priorities for current research agendas; open up disciplines and critically analyse their approaches; address the socio-political responsibilities that we have as scholars and practitioners; provide an alternative site of discourse for contemporary concerns; and lastly, stimulate future interdisciplinary work and collaborations beyond the academy.
We invite submissions that treat the following thematic areas:
Volatile ConceptsTangible Creations
- How exceptional is the nature of mobility/displacement in the contemporary age?
- When does mobility, or immobility, become part of the repertoire of virtue—a positive attribute?
- Permanent transience and de-placement—still a ‘state of exception’?
Critical Approaches
- Spaces of suspension: the city, the camp, detention centres and sanctuaries.
- Materialities of displacement: objects, bodies, settlements, and traces.
- The power, agency, innovation of those who are displaced.
- Between hospitality and asylum—suppliant and guest.
Prof. Dr. Elena Isayev
- Opportunities and dangers of comparative history in the context of displacement.
- From representation to challenge: narratives of displacement in images and words.
- Re-humanising the demography of displacement: people beyond numbers.
- Responsibilities as scholars, and educators of the decision makers of the future.
Mr. Evan JewellGuest Editors
Research
Dalmatians and Dacians—Forms of Belonging and Displacement in the Roman EmpireHumanities2019, 8(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8010001Received: 22 June 2018 / Revised: 21 November 2018 / Accepted: 21 November 2018 / Published: 24 December 2018PDF Full-text (758 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractInspired by the catalyst papers, this essay traces the impact of displacement on existing and emerging identities of groups and individuals which were relocated to ‘frontier’ areas in the aftermath of conflict and conquest by Rome during the reign of emperor Trajan. The[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
The Agency of the Displaced? Roman Expansion, Environmental Forces, and the Occupation of Marginal Landscapes in Ancient ItalyHumanities2018, 7(4), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040116Received: 1 February 2018 / Revised: 4 September 2018 / Accepted: 16 October 2018 / Published: 12 November 2018PDF Full-text (2061 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractThis article approaches the agency of displaced people through material evidence from the distant past. It seeks to construct a narrative of displacement where the key players include human as well as non-human agents—namely, the environment into which people move, and the socio-political[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Recognizing the Delians Displaced after 167/6 BCEHumanities2018, 7(4), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040091Received: 13 August 2018 / Revised: 28 August 2018 / Accepted: 7 September 2018 / Published: 20 September 2018PDF Full-text (618 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractIn 167/6 BCE, the Roman senate granted a request from Athens to control the island of Delos. Subsequently, the Delians inhabiting the island were mandated to leave and an Athenian community was installed. Polybius, who records these events, tells us that the Delians[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
It’s in the Water: Byzantine Borderlands and the Village WarHumanities2018, 7(3), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7030086Received: 6 August 2018 / Accepted: 14 August 2018 / Published: 27 August 2018PDF Full-text (275 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractThis essay examines Byzantine military manuals created between the sixth to the tenth centuries for what they can reveal about Byzantine imperial attitudes toward the landscapes of war and those who inhabit them. Of foremost concern in these sources is the maintenance of[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)
Citizenship as Barrier and Opportunity for Ancient Greek and Modern RefugeesHumanities2018, 7(3), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7030072Received: 24 May 2018 / Accepted: 21 June 2018 / Published: 19 July 2018PDF Full-text (3135 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractSome dominant traditions in Refugee Studies have stressed the barrier which state citizenship presents to the displaced. Some have condemned citizenship altogether as a mechanism and ideology for excluding the weak (G. Agamben). Others have seen citizenship as an acute problem for displaced[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)
Sharing Histories: Teaching and Learning from Displaced Youth in GreeceHumanities2018, 7(2), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7020053Received: 18 April 2018 / Revised: 13 May 2018 / Accepted: 21 May 2018 / Published: 25 May 2018PDF Full-text (1243 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractThis paper reflects upon my experiences teaching and learning from displaced youth in Greece over a period of eight months in 2017. Following a brief examination of the current challenges in accessing formal education, I examine non-formal education initiatives, summarizing my work with[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Learning from Past Displacements?1 The History of Migrations between Historical Specificity, Presentism and Fractured ContinuitiesHumanities2018, 7(2), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7020036Received: 5 March 2018 / Revised: 23 March 2018 / Accepted: 10 April 2018 / Published: 13 April 2018PDF Full-text (263 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractn/a Full article(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)
Reading Derrida in Tehran: Between an Open Door and an Empty SofrehHumanities2018, 7(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7010021Received: 1 February 2018 / Revised: 23 February 2018 / Accepted: 26 February 2018 / Published: 2 March 2018PDF Full-text (633 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractWe can only begin to grasp hospitality as we enact it and yet, in the moment of enactment, hospitality eludes us. In this paper I look at the enactment of hospitality in the relationship between Iranian citizen-hosts and Afghan refugee-guests in the Islamic[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)Other
A Narrative of Resistance: A Brief History of the Dandara Community, BrazilHumanities2017, 6(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030070Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 18 August 2017 / Published: 5 September 2017PDF Full-text (2273 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractThis paper presents a brief report on the history of the Dandara Occupation, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Through a general panorama of the strategies and resistance of the residents and movements involved; this paper shows the importance of the occupied[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Private Citizenship: Real Estate Practice in PalestineHumanities2017, 6(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030068Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 15 August 2017 / Published: 31 August 2017PDF Full-text (988 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractWhat is the function of the new towns and real estate developments in Palestine?[...] Full article(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)
Refugee Heritage. Part III Justification for InscriptionHumanities2017, 6(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030066Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 3 August 2017 / Published: 29 August 2017Cited by 1 | PDF Full-text (2085 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractIn order to inscribe a site in the World Heritage list, the property should have outstanding universal values, defined as “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
On the Slab, Our Architecture under ConstructionHumanities2017, 6(3), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030062Received: 19 July 2017 / Accepted: 7 August 2017 / Published: 17 August 2017PDF Full-text (780 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractThe 1950s and 60s was marked by the developmentalism, industrialization, and modernization of peripheral capitalism of Brazil and by the demographic explosion and unprecedented urban expansion in the country. Throughout these decades, São Paulo became the political, cultural, and economic epicenter of Brazil,[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Uncovering Culture and Identity in Refugee CampsHumanities2017, 6(3), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030061Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 7 August 2017 / Published: 16 August 2017Cited by 2 | PDF Full-text (1608 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractRefugee camps, especially in their emergency phases, are places where everything seems to be similar, repetitive, and modular. This impression is not only due to the unified shelter unit that is usually distributed by UNHCR1 (traditionally a tent, and recently caravans, prefabs, and[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
‘Space of Refuge’: Negotiating Space with Refugees Inside the Palestinian CampHumanities2017, 6(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030060Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 20 July 2017 / Published: 16 August 2017Cited by 1 | PDF Full-text (4405 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstract‘Space of Refuge’ is a spatial installation directly addressing issues of inhabitation within Palestinian refugee camps in different host countries. It does so by illustrating the various modes of spatial production and subsequent evolution of Palestinian refugee camps, with particular focus upon unofficial[...] Read more.(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Collaborations on the EdgeHumanities2017, 6(3), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030059Received: 7 July 2017 / Revised: 27 July 2017 / Accepted: 27 July 2017 / Published: 7 August 2017PDF Full-text (2630 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractSince 2005 I have been working with mobile communities in the cities of Berlin, Germany and Johannesburg, South Africa.[...] Full article(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
Quantum Notes on Classic PlacesHumanities2017, 6(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/h6030054Received: 7 July 2017 / Accepted: 21 July 2017 / Published: 31 July 2017PDF Full-text (2168 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-textAbstractI would like to sing about an unstable, yet constant force that stresses and pushes imagination. It makes cultural and social transformations a process to experience in person. [...] Full article(This article belongs to the Special Issue Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present)►Figures
