Flight and Refuge: The European Crisis in Global Perspective

The Center for German Studies, together with fifteen units at UVa, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the German Embassy in Washington, DC, is organizing an interdisciplinary conference on the global root causes and implications of the current refugee crisis in Europe. Following the principal premise that the crisis of refugees and for refugees is also a crisis of Europe, the symposium will explore three distinct angles: The European Crisis—The Crisis of Europe, focusing on the impact of refugee and migration on the countries of the European Union; Global Perspectives, discussing the sources of the refugee crisis and offering comparative perspectives; and Consequences and Solutions, a discussion with experts of migration law and policy-making. Each of these areas will be addressed in a roundtable format with short position papers followed by discussion. The panels will be framed by lectures introducing the topic and concluding reflections by the Berlin writer Esther Dischereit. An opening panel with local refugees in the Charlottesville community will allow our audiences to hear first-hand stories of the refugee experience.