[This article is part of the launch of Jadaliyya's Refugees and Migrants page. To see the introduction of the page and other all other launch articles, click here.]
The current global policy environment surrounding migration and immigration reflects urgent humanitarian needs. At the same time, global responses are being shaped by resurgent exclusionist tendencies that also defined earlier migration policies in the twentieth century. This Teacher/Student Outreach Workshop was held at George Mason University on Saturday, 24 February 2018 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. It featured a session on historical background in the morning, and multiple speakers on issues emerging from twenty-first-century migration in the afternoon. The workshop explored facets of migration in the context of the Middle East and North Africa from a regional and contemporary perspective of twenty-first-century issues, as well as from a historical and policy perspective as it relates to migrants from the region in the United States since the nineteenth century.
The event was co-sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University and the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Center for Global Islamic Studies at GMU, as well as the Arab Studies Institute. It was made possible in part by a Title VI grant from the US Department of Education, with additional funding from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies for education outreach and public events. Co-sponsors at George Mason University include Global Programs, Global Affairs, History, Schar School, Film and Media Studies, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Film and Video Studies, and Cultural Studies.
Opening Presentations
"History of Migration to the United States: Issues and Flows"
Presented by Elizabeth Chacko, George Washington University
"History of Migration in and out of the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th Century"
Presented by Rochelle Davis, Director of CCAS, Georgetown University
Panel I. 21st Century Migration Issues
“Where the Wild Things Are: Youth Using Religion and Women to Protect Christian and National Identity in Central Europe"
Presented by Elzbieta Gozdziak, Georgetown University
“Current Dilemmas in Protection and Humanitarian Action”
Presented by Elizabeth Ferris, Georgetown University
“Policies of Immigration Exclusion"
Presented by Kristin Sekerci and Azza Al-Tiraifi, Georgetown University
Panel II. On the Experience of Migration
“Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Integration, Public Perception, and Challenges Ahead"
Presented by Aysenour Kara, George Mason University
Presentation by Musab al-Balchi, George Mason University
"Living at the Crossroads: Anti-Black Racism, Xenophobia, and the State of Black Immigrants in Trump's America"
Presented by Nana Brantuo, University of Maryland
