The BSIA in collaboration with Wilfrid Laurier University and the International Migration Research Center (IMRC) is hosting this half-day workshop. This workshop will explore challenges and opportunities for migrant, refugee, and indigenous communities. It is a follow up to Up/Rooted: Refugees, Resettlement, Community, an international conference held at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
In early spring 2017, the highly successful international conference Up/Rooted was organized with the support and input of several community partners. Attended by hundreds of members of the community over three days, it was a pivotal event in drawing attention to, and providing insights into refugee issues in contemporary and historical contexts in the Waterloo region and the world beyond. This follow up workshop is a smaller scale event to allow for in depth conversational exchange and focused discussion. It is exploratory, in nature, and participants are not expected to present formal academic papers. The event will provide a platform for discussions from diverse sets of experiences and perspective angles in order to learn from each other.
Possible topics could include:
• health and well-being
• access to employment and housing
• food security
• aging and family dynamics
• family separation and reunification
• social isolation
• rethinking families across transnational contexts
• intergenerational trauma
• survivor guilt
• gendering transnational subjects
• LGBTQ identities in transnational contexts
• mental health needs
• wisdom traditions
The workshop will bring together approximately 20 representatives from community-based organizations, grassroots groups, artists, frontline workers, researchers, policy makers, political leaders, community members and students in focused discussions to consider the following broad questions in light of the specific topics mentioned above:
• What are the core issues at the intersection of gender, sexuality and refugee experiences?
• What are the best practices from the viewpoints of community based organizations, service providers, and those who access services?
• What policy recommendations could be made to municipal, provincial and federal governments?
• How would you change the narrative and what other kinds of stories are there that need to be told?
The workshop is co-organized by Dr. Carol Duncan and Dr. Jenna Hennebry. The workshop is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
You can register for the workshop by contacting Rosemary Kimani-Dupuis, email: rkimani-dupuis@balsillieschool.ca
