Resisting the Dehumanization of Refugees

Refugees face distinct challenges and are often subject to dehumanization by politicians, media, and the public. In this context, Resisting the Dehumanization of Refugees provides urgent insights and policy relevant perspectives to improve refugees' social well-being and integration. Taking a transdisciplinary approach, scholars from the social sciences, arts, and humanities, alongside practitioners and refugees, explore what it means to experience dehumanization. They consider how refugees' experiences of dehumanization inform both epistemological and practical approaches to humanizing (or re-humanizing) refugees before, during, and after resettlement. By addressing these important issues, contributors marshall rich and multidimensional responses that draw upon our shared humanity and reveal new possibilities for change.
Yasmeen Abu-Laban is a professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Michael Frishkopf is a professor of Ethnomusicology and the director of the Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology at the University of Alberta, and adjunct professor, Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies, University for Development Studies, Ghana. Reza Hasmath is a professor in political science at the University of Alberta. Anna Kirova is a professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta.

With contributions by Jeffrey M. Ayres, Abigail B. Bakan, Jalal Barzanji, Pallabi Bhattacharyya, Fariborz Birjandian, Chiedza Chikawa-Araga, Jim Gurnett, Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Louise Harrington, Benjamin Ho, Jwamer Jalal, Solomon Kay-Reid, Nariya Khasanova, Thomas Mapfumo, Labe Songose, Dana Waissi, and Lori Wilkinson. Reckoning with the experiences of refugees can inform epistemological and practical approaches to humanizing migrant populations before, during, and after their resettlement. Contributors explore what it means to experience dehumanization, offering urgent insights and policy-relevant perspectives to improve refugees' social well-being and integration.
Acknowledgements

Introduction

Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Michael Frishkopf, Reza Hasmath, and Anna Kirova

1. Theoretical Perspectives on Dehumanization and Resisting It

Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Michael Frishkopf, Reza Hasmath, and Anna Kirova

Part I: The Role of Immigration Policies and the Media in the Dehumanization of Refugees

2. Dehumanizing or Humanizing Refugees? A Comparative Assessment of Canada, the United States, and Australia

Yasmeen Abu-Laban

3. Migrant and Refugee Precarity as a Double Movement: A Case Study of Dehumanization and Humanization in the Canada-US Borderlands

Jeffrey M. Ayres

4. Resisting Dehumanization Through Resettlement Based on Full Refugee Experiences

Fariborz Birjandian

5. Conflating Migration, Terrorism, and Islam: Mediations of Syrian Refugees in Canadian Print Media Following the 2015 Paris Attacks

Nariya Khasanova

Part II: The Role of Educational Institutions and Programs in the (De)humanization of Refugees

6. A New School and New Life: Understanding the Experiences of Yazidi Families with Children

Pallabi Bhattacharyya, Labe Songose, and Lori Wilkinson

7. "Where Are You From?": A Personal Perspective on the Struggles of Youth Living Between Two Cultures

Jwamer Jalal

8. Precarious Inclusion: Refugees in Higher Education in Germany

Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez

9. (Not) Meeting the Needs of Refugee Students: Toward a Framework for the Humanization of Education

Anna Kirova

Part III: Countering Dehumanization: State Apologies and New Approaches

10. When the State Says "Sorry": Jewish Refugees to Canada and the Politics of Apology

Abigail B. Bakan

11. State Apologies and the Rehumanization of Refugee, Indigenous, and Ethnic Minority Groups

Reza Hasmath, Benjamin Ho, and Solomon Kay-Reid

12. Home, Hope, and a Human Approach to Displacement

Jim Gurnett

Part IV: Enacting (Re