English - Free topic E: Refugee Literature

This course takes a point of departure in our book Refugee Talk: Propositions on Ethics and Aesthetics (Pluto Press, 2022) which explores the many cultural responses to the ongoing refugee crisis. We will be reading a selection of refugee literature (non-fiction, novels, short stories and poetry). Although the primary focus is the contemporary moment, we begin with a retrospective look at the precarity of earlier, 20^th century refugee experiences as this will provide a background for understanding the affective nature of being in flight and the significant differences between then and now in the encounter between refugees and host societies. The course will be fashioned around clusters of theoretical, philosophical and critical texts which will be explored in connection with literature by, and about, refugees. In our exploration of the contemporary moment, we will study such issues such as the etymologies of refuge and asylum; the ethics of rescue, charity and solidarity; the language of rights and duties; the predicament of waiting in ‘permanent temporariness’ (Zygmunt Bauman); and the complexities of representing the refugee situation in an ethical environment that expects gratitude.