Looking forward to the opening plenary of #IASFM17 with @vanhear53 presenting his work with Robin Cohen on Imagining Refugia. Really not a fan of this idea but happy to be persuaded otherwise... 
Various ‘solutions’ have been proposed over recent years many of which focus on the idea of creating islands or states in which refugees could live ‘out of sight, out of mind’, presumably #IASFM17
‘Refugia’ is transnational variant of this idea which focuses on ‘where’ question...I’m already feeling uneasy...since when was ‘refugeeness’ a good basis for building communities? Refugees are many things other than their migration experience #IASFM17
I find the idea of ‘Refugians’ pretty abhorrent. Refugees are not, and never have been, a homogeneous category. Refugees come from a wide range of cultural, social and political backgrounds. Idea of a new kind of polity based on...what exactly? #IASFM17
@vanhear53 argues that ‘Refugia’ already effectively exists so idea is not as crazy as it seems. But many of examples provided are links *within* communities not *across* them. And to reduce Sub-Saharan Africa (big place) to the equivalent of ‘Refugia’ is wrong on so many levels
Cant help but think that ‘Refugia’ completely misses the point ... idea of refugee cities and cities of sanctuary is that there are relations *between* refugees and other populations i.e not just refugees living together in one place connected only by their refugeeness #IASFM17
@vanhear53 is now drawing on random examples of refugees being marginalised and excluded whilst being assisted by ‘solidarians’ to justify an alternative approach which bears little or no relationship to solidarity building initiatives it purports to reproduce #IASFM17
I do not consider ‘Refugia’ to be utopian. I consider it to be a dystopian nightmare. Let’s states completely off the hook. Reduces refugees to their experience of displacement alone. Breaks down the very bonds of solidarity that are evident in the examples provided #IASFM17
4 main comments from Giorgia Dona 1. What is proposed is not radical vision of future, simply builds on, and maintains, status quo. 2. No engagement with intersectional inequalities. 3. Name itself reproduces stigma of the refugee label 4. Doesn’t come from grassroots #IASFM17
Important points from Anita Fabos regarding both the gendering of migration processes and the fact that ’grand ideas’ such as Refugia are themselves deeply masculine projects and are being driven largely by white men in the Global North ##IASFM17
We need to do the slow, laborious but critical work of building relationships and better understanding one another says @AnitaFabos this is not just about the big shiny projects but the monotonous every day housekeeping work that is often unrecognised and unrewarded #IASFM
Really important point from Alice Bloch on relationship between ‘Refugia’ and neighbouring states who would be able to let people across borders (or not) to work and all the implications this might hold for relations of inequality and power #IASFM17
Okay so I was openminded at the beginning of this discussion but now I’m just annoyed. I’m happy to have my thinking challenged but the idea of Refugia goes against everything we know that works for refugees and the people they live with and alongside #IASFM17
Refugia is not a movement. Movements come from below, not from Oxford University #IASFM17
