Refugee Studies

[Natalia Paszkiewicz]

Refugees and the End of Empire Conference

29th - 30th June 2007

De Montfort University, Leicester

One of the most negative legacies of the twentieth century was the development of the refugee, a person who emerged during the inter-War years, as nationalism, fascism and communism gripped the European continent. While scholars have recognized the importance of war and the arrival of intolerant regimes in the construction and expulsion of refugees, little attention has focused upon the consequences of imperial collapse. All of the major Empires (broadly interpreted) which ended during the twentieth century, led to successor states which developed new forms of exclusivist national ideologies which identified, and often expelled, sectors of their populations, which did not possess the right ethnic credentials. The purpose of the conference is to examine the relationship between imperial collapse, the emergence of successor nationalism, the exclusion of ethnic groups with the wrong credentials, and the refugee experience.

Key Themes

· Imperial Collapse and Refugee Movements in North Africa

· Population 'Exchange' and Displacement at the end of the Ottoman Empire

· Indian Partition and its Aftermath for South Asian Populations

· The Long-Term Legacy of Empire and its Collapse in Britain and Australia

· Refugee Movements in Central Europe

· Population Displacement in the Far East

Who Should Attend

The conference will be of interest to anyone researching in the area of migration or imperial history and to those working with refugees.

Speakers Include

· Linda Briskman (Curtin University)

· Dawn Chatty (University of Oxford)

· Lynette A. Jackson (University of Illinois Chicago)

· Mark Levene (Southampton University)

· John Rex (Warwick University)

· Ian Talbot (Southampton University)

About the Conference Leaders
Panikos Panayi, Professor of European History, is one of the leading authorities on the history of migration, racism and ethnic minorities, especially in Britain and Germany. He has published fourteen books including, most recently, Life and Death in a German Town: Osnabrück from the Weimar Republic to World War Two and Beyond (London, 2007).

Dr Pippa Virdee, Research Fellow in South Asian History, has published on the partition of the Punjab and its consequences for the population displacement in 1947 as well as South Asian migration to Coventry.

For more information, a conference programme and to book a place please visit www.dmu.ac.uk/empire.

If you have any queries you please contact the conference organiser Margaret Barton on 0116 250 6213 or dmccc@dmu.ac.uk.