Title: Lost and found?: a digital archive of testimonies of migration, displacement, and resettlement
Abstract: This project centres on the homes that have been lost and found by refugees of the recent Syrian crisis. Experiences of urban life are negotiated in particularly complex ways by refugees moving across regions and nations in pursuit of home. In these movements, they expand the dimensions of home. How do these mobile dimensions constitute programs of making and re-making home, while also underscoring testimonies of migration, displacement and resettlement? Incorporating a digital archive, an international conference, and a resulting edited collection of essays, this research will situate the contemporary refugee’s pursuit as part of a larger 20th century project of post-camp migration and re-settlement. The digital archive will represent different disciplinary approaches, revisiting archived materials while hosting new materials. As this project’s main focus, the archive will enhance international understanding of the contemporary Syrian refugee crisis while encouraging policy makers to rethink policy reform, within the UK and beyond.