The Migrant as Human: Making the emotional turn in Middle East migration history
The legal, penal and discursive depiction of people who move across borders as “migrants,” or any of its sub-categories, renders them immediately as “Other.” They are not only regarded as physically and culturally not belonging to a receiving nation/society, but even more so they are located outside the bounds of humanity. How do we then reclaim the humanity of mobile Middle Easterners who have crossed, and continue to cross, boundaries into diasporas? In this talk, I explore the role that emotions have in shaping ME migration history through some brief examples, and how that reshapes the category of “migrant.” I also look to public history and its various tools for ways to transcend the discursive alienation of Middle Eastern immigrants.
Date: 4 March 2025, 11:00
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Massey Room
Speaker: Akram Khater (North Carolina State University)
Organising department: Faculty of History
Part of: Religion and Mobility in Late Ottoman and Modern Middle Eastern History (The ‘Moving Stories’ Seminar)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Alexia Lewis