Flight and Refuge: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Migration, Sanctuary, and Belonging

Spring 2017 Grant Recipient

Faculty

Manuela Achilles (German Studies) Spearheaded by the Center for German Studies and in collaboration with fifteen units at UVa, this year-long initiative will bring some of the top scholars in the field of migration and refugee studies to Grounds for a speaker series and concluding conference. The project will focus on three areas where "flight" and "refuge" converge: (1) people and spaces, (2) cultural encounters, (3) institutional responses. Concrete examples to be discussed range from the promises and challenges of sanctuary cities to the redrawing of walls and borders; from the encounter with refugees from afar to the singling out of "strangers" within; from the impact and legitimacy of executive orders to the various forms and articulations of civic responsibility. We will approach these topics from a variety of methodological and disciplinary angles, including political, anthropological, historical, cultural, ethical, religious and philosophical approaches.