Events › On the Edge: Emerging Scholars - What Can Refugee Literature Teach us About our World?

The world is witnessing a global surge in refugees as one of the primary challenges in the contemporary age. This crisis has been made worse by the hard-hitting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic such as restricting access to asylum, healthcare, and other sources of aid. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of forcibly displaced people surpassed 110 million at the end of June 2023 as a result of war, violence, and persecution. Climate change is also exacerbating the global refugee crisis. Over the past decades, not only has the phenomenon of refugeeism continued to spread rampantly but the refugee’s life has been framed by a set of economic, political, environmental, and governmental practices. In this context, accounts of refugees’ experiences along with other narratives about refugee crises are important testimonies that reveal a new configuration of today’s world. Some of these narratives, whether by or about refugees, appear in the works of Kim Stanley Robinson (2020), Behrouz Boochani (2018), John Lanchester (2012), and Rawi Hage (2008). These narratives address the global refugee crises in different contextual frameworks, ranging from refugee camps and climatic conditions to multicultural and metropolitan cities.

Shahab Nadimi is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Transnational and Comparative Literature program at the University of Alberta. He received his MA in English Literature from the University of Kurdistan and his major research interests lie at the intersection of World Literature, Refugee Studies, Biopolitics, and Trauma. He is currently undertaking his Ph.D. dissertation on refugee literary studies from a global lens. He has already published and presented several papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. He also was among Vanier CGS final nominees for a national competition in Ottawa and has won multiple awards including Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES), Andrew Stewart Memorial.

On the Edge: Emerging Scholars is a speaker series featuring cutting edge research presented by emerging scholars and researchers from Edmonton's academic community. Presented in partnership with the University of Alberta's Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.

Note: This is an online program offered via Zoom.