Refugees: Perspectives on the Experience of Forced Migration – Alastair Ager (Ed.)

The growth of the world’s refugee population has been a major phenomenon of the late-20th century. This volume brings together senior authors from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to analyze key forces shaping the contemporary experience of forced migration. It considers global, social and personal dimensions of displacement, demonstrating their close interrelationship in forging the experience of refuge. Recurrent themes include the importance of valuing the resources, capacities and meanings indigenous to refugee communities, and the intimate linkage of the personal and political in the lives of refugees. In addition to providing depeer insight into the challenges and tensions of the refugee experience, the book seeks to provide a foundation for more informed debate on refugee assistance and asylum policies and practice.

Refugees will be of interest to a broad readership, including social scientists working in the fields of migration, identity, ethnicity and political science: workers with humanitarian assistance agencies; and clinicians, social workers and community workers involved with refugees. With analysis spanning the origins of forced migration, refugee adjustment strategies and the role of international and local institutions in response to displacement, the volume may also serve as a valuable resource for readers new to the field of refugee studies.