Keywords on Forced Migration and Refugee Studies

This compilation of key terms used within the fields of refugee studies and forced migration studies was released by the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group with help from Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Asia in 2023. The contributions to this handbook come from recent debates and discussions – spanning several histories of forced and voluntary human migration, displacement and dispossession, climate crises as well as challenges emerging from global pandemics, international government policies, the state of human rights, and the heterogeneity and agency of forced migrants.Despite many developments in migrant and refugee studies, the vocabulary for these discussions has not yet been compiled in a comprehensive manner, which is the gap this publication seeks to fill. Understanding keywords, their contested meanings and the debates surrounding their definitions is crucial as they help us recognize the social relations of power and exploitation. The publication states that studying these concepts will enable readers to understand the unique marginalities that migrants, refugees and people living at the borders occupy.Apart from the scholars of the Calcutta Research Group, this handbook draws from the work of social scientists and researchers from the Institute of Asian Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, University of Delhi, Magdeburg-Stendel University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.The following are extracts from a few of the 84 selected terms from the collection that are especially relevant in present times:Asylum Seeker: An individual who is seeking international protection. […] Not every asylum seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee, but every recognized refugee is initially an asylum seeker. A person becomes an asylum seeker by making a formal application for the right to remain in another country and keeps that status until the application has been concluded. Belonging: The discourse on belonging differentiates two positions. The first, from the purview of the nation-state, where the norms and contours of belonging are instituted from above, necessitates a top-down approach...