Sustainability and Social Justice

Refugees in the Arab Middle East: Academic and Policy Perspectives

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The field of Refugee Studies is relatively unfamiliar to Middle East area specialists despite the significance of refugees in the region. The strong policy orientation of much of the work in the field has often shaped the way refugee issues are framed by scholars as well as practitioners. Concerns and discourses about refugee-producing regions in general, and the Arab Middle East in particular, have tended to reflect Western notions of belonging, citizenship, and the state; and in recent years, have been seen through a lens of securitization in the region. This article addresses the development of the field, the subject of displacement and dispossession in the Arab Middle East from a Western perspective, the significant role that Arab cities play as sites for hosting refugees, and the challenges presented by the continued existence of Palestinian refugees.

Publication Title

Digest of Middle East Studies

Publication Date

5-1-2015

Volume

24

Issue

1

First Page

96

Last Page

110

ISSN

1060-4367

DOI

10.1111/dome.12056

Keywords

refugees, immigrants, Middle East, international relations

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