Refugees and Cultures of Resilience (NeMLA)
NA
Organization: Northeast Modern Language Association
Event: NeMLA
Resilience is the ability of human mind and/or body to respond to adverse circumstances, tragedy, trauma, or any other intimidation to emotional and/or physical integrity and its impacts. It is an individual’s retort to any encroachment on one’s self, and establish self- legitimacy in a hostile environment. But is this power of resilience displayed with homogeneity or heterogeneity among and/or across culturally diverse and rich groups? As a context and culture specific response, resilience is demonstrated in negotiation with factors, such as spatial, socio-cultural and political. Hence, it’s study is problematized when it is read as a homogeneous response to adversity by individuals from varied backgrounds. Against the backdrop of current situation, it is instigating to explore refugee identities and their resilience to cultures of adversity.
According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, refugee problem shares global space with its “impact on peace, security and stability”, raising the need for “a new order and effective addressing of this problem of displacement”. Structured around words like problem crisis, ‘complex emergencies’, challenge and control, the refugee problem insists on an incisive inquiry into representations and narratives of refugee identities in the international context. This panel invites submissions focusing on the narrativization of refugee crisis and their resilient practices, arming them to fight against the onslaught of words like homeless, other and helpless that define a refugee in and across cultures. Submissions may focus, but are not limited to:
Refugees and Resilience to “Refugeeness”
Displacement, Resilience and the Refugee Saga
Human or “Humanitarian” Identities: Refugees and Forms of Resilience
Refugee-Resilience Patterns in Literature/Films
Dr Sucharita Sharma