On Alt for Norge

After some 165 years, I finally made it back home! I spent Sunday driving around Skien, Norway looking for the farms where my Norwegian ancestors lived before relocating to southeastern Wisconsin in the 1850s (see: Langesund, Hoppestad, Foss, Gjerpen parish, Kamperhaug, Thorsholt, and Siljan parish). Sadly, I’ve been living in Norway too long to participate on Alt for Norge…

On who lives, who dies, who tells your story

This will be an unproductive week, y’all. Why? Hamilton‘s available. (!!!!!!!) Via Alexandra Petri at The Washington Post, I don’t think many people have noticed what makes it so zeitgeisty. The reason “Hamilton” is making such a big splash is not just because it is terrific (it is) — diverse, lyrically brilliant, dense, emotional, erudite, cool. […]

On fluctuating quotas

[this post will be continually updated] Many reports show that states are upping their quotas for resettling (Syrian) refugees: USA: 10,000 70,000 85,000 / 100,000 Canada: up to 50,000 by the end of 2016; 25,000 in 2015 (*just not single men – but maybe them, too. here’s how.) 10,000 / 4 years + Quebec: 3,650 + private sponsorship. 01.03.2016: Canada says […]

On star talk

Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts Edward Snowden on Star Talk (part 1). Worth a listen if, for nothing else, Tyson and Snowden on UDHR (part 1 @40:00). 26.09.15 update: part 2 of their conversation.

On art, freedom of expression, and embassies in the Netherlands

Letty Reimerink over at CityLab reports on Manon van Hoeckel’s “In Limbo Embassy” — No visas, asylum requests or official papers get processed at the trailer, known as the “In Limbo Embassy.” There is, however, a certain kind of diplomacy as migrant “ambassadors” shake hands with people passing by and invite them inside for conversation. Manon van […]

On vulnerability

Emily Cousens in the Independent asks the question “Are Syrian men not innocent and vulnerable too?” — If our humanitarian sympathies are only summoned in response to children and families, then we risk dehumanising Arab men. This only helps to reinforce a history of Western misrepresentation, in which Arab men are viewed as dangerous, uncivilized, […]

On helping from the ivory tower

There’s been quite the buzz in academic blogs recently about what people — especially those who study migration in its many forms — can (or should) do to help the current refugee crisis: How to speak out as an academic community? Help needed! On doing ‘something’… as academics Want to Help the Refugees? Teach Migration […]

On European resettlement resources

on Researching Forced Migration / Forced Migration Open Access ECRE – European Council on Refugees and Exiles – on Resettlement European Resettlement Network Asylum Corner IOM Missing Migrants project Migrant Crisis project hosted at the European University Institute and Migration Policy Centre Know Reset project hosted at the European University Institute: “KNOW RESET has resulted in […]

On public debate

I am blown away following the coverage of the 2015 Norwegian local elections — in honor of today being election day, instances of public debates featuring the refugee crisis on NRK follows: 15.09.15, Valgkamen har ikke angått oss 12.07.15, Valgstafetten: Kulturkommunen Vågan 11.09.15. Solberg måtte trekke flyktningtall 11.09.15, Siste ord er sagt: Her er partiledernes […]

On global refugee policy

Posted originally via the Global Refugee Policy Network, Jeff Crisp and Phil Orchard briefly talk about the existence of global refugee policy and its potential importance —