Feminist Theory in Refugee Law
Feminist theory in refugee law rose to prominence in the 1990s. However, Dauvergne recently noted that “the past three decades of feminist work in refugee law advocacy stand as a cautionary tale” because “what began with a huge burst of energy and creativity in the final decade of the twentieth century has stalled spectacularly”. It is time for change.
This is the reason that, in 2020, the Refugee Law Initiative Working Group on Feminist Theory and Displacement was formed. It seeks to rekindle feminist engagement not only with refugee law narrowly understood, but also with legal displacement research more broadly. Based on the conviction that they have great reformatory potential, this group engages in regular discussions about the relevance of feminist approaches to legal displacement research, extending beyond refugee law to consider the legal protection of other forcibly displaced persons. This blog series, which will be released throughout 2023, will highlight some of these discussions
Refugee law between resistance and compliance: a reparative reading of a classic feminist struggle
Blog post by Irene Manganini. This post is part of the blog series on feminist theory in refugee law. “I know now that a studied evasiveness has its own limitations, its own ways of inhibiting certain forms of happiness and pleasure. The pleasure of abiding. The...
Feminist methodology in researching with refugees as a government officer: positionality, reflexivity, and life story method
Blog post by Jae Hyun Park, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. This post is part of the blog series on feminist theory in refugee law. Research involving refugee participants inherently has implications of power. Researchers are mostly based in...
Revisiting CEDAW Committee’s decision in A.S. v Denmark: Legalization of Homophobia in Uganda and the Need for a Rights-Based Assessment of Asylum Application
Blog post by Rohit Dalai, National Law School of India University, Bangalore Introduction On 26 May 2023, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 (AHA), which criminalizes same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults and...
How protecting your daughter can lead you to being denied international protection in Belgium: On Rape Mythology, Delayed Disclosure, and Asylum
Blog post by Lore Roels, a PhD researcher (FWO fellow, 2021-2025) at the Migration Law Research Group (Faculty of Law and Criminology) and the International Centre for Reproductive Health (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) at Ghent University (Belgium). This...
To see or not to see – queer theory and the conceptualisation of the Convention grounds in refugee law
Blog post by Janna Wessels, Assistant Professor, Amsterdam Centre for Migration & Refugee Law (ACMRL), VU University Amsterdam. This blog post is part of the blog series on feminist theory in legal displacement research. When one types “feminist theory book” into...
Feminism as Method: How do we do Gender in International Refugee Law?
Blog post by Associate Professor Kate Ogg, Australian National University This blog piece was written on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. Sovereignty has never been ceded. I pay my respects to the elders of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, and all...
Rekindling feminist approaches to legal displacement research: Introducing the 2023 blog series of the RLI Working Group on Feminist Theory and Displacement
Blog post by Natasha Yacoub, Chair of Feminist Theory and Displacement Working Group, RLI, University of London, Janna Wessels, Assistant Professor, Amsterdam Centre for Migration & Refugee Law (ACMRL), VU University Amsterdam, and Rosa da Costa, independent...