Lahra Smith – författare

Refugees Without Refuge explores what it means to be a refugee without asylum or protection in the Horn of Africa, from the perspectives of people on the move and the people who help them escape. As anti-immigrant sentiments rise around the world, legal asylum and humanitarian assistance for refugees are disappearing. Only about one percent of people escaping violence and persecution in their home countries are resettled, given citizenship elsewhere, or returned home in peace. Instead, many refugees today escape home by migrating abroad—leaving without passports, visas, or protection from deportation or criminalization. They are refugees without refuge. Through an "ethnofictional" intergenerational migration story told in comic form as well as extensive ethnographic, historical, and policy research, Refugees Without Refuge provides a unique case study of Oromo Ethiopians as they travel eastward—often invisibly on remote trails and at night to avoid detection—through the harsh deserts and mountain ranges of Djibouti and on boats to cross the Red Sea, with dreams of work and a new life in the Middle East. Intertwining evocative artwork, storytelling, and scholarship, Refugees Without Refuge demands we look anew at the courage and creativity of refugees and critically assess the tactics and missions of the international humanitarian organizations and governments who purport to assist and protect them.

Refugees Without Refuge explores what it means to be a refugee without asylum or protection in the Horn of Africa, from the perspectives of people on the move and the people who help them escape. As anti-immigrant sentiments rise around the world, legal asylum and humanitarian assistance for refugees are disappearing. Only about one percent of people escaping violence and persecution in their home countries are resettled, given citizenship elsewhere, or returned home in peace. Instead, many refugees today escape home by migrating abroad—leaving without passports, visas, or protection from deportation or criminalization. They are refugees without refuge. Through an "ethnofictional" intergenerational migration story told in comic form as well as extensive ethnographic, historical, and policy research, Refugees Without Refuge provides a unique case study of Oromo Ethiopians as they travel eastward—often invisibly on remote trails and at night to avoid detection—through the harsh deserts and mountain ranges of Djibouti and on boats to cross the Red Sea, with dreams of work and a new life in the Middle East. Intertwining evocative artwork, storytelling, and scholarship, Refugees Without Refuge demands we look anew at the courage and creativity of refugees and critically assess the tactics and missions of the international humanitarian organizations and governments who purport to assist and protect them.

This book investigates the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa. Centring themes of agency, resource flows, and transnational networks, the book examines the enduring appeal of the Global South as a place of origin, transit, and destination.Popular media, government pronouncements, and much of the global research discourse continue to be oriented towards migration from the Global South to the Global North, despite the fact that the vast majority of migration is South-South. This book moves beyond these mischaracterisations and instead distinctly focuses on the agency of African migrants and the creative strategies they employ while planning their routes within and across the African continent. Case studies explore the flow of resources such as people, money, skills, and knowledge throughout the continent, while also casting a light on the lived experiences of migrants as they negotiate their sometimes precarious and vulnerable positions. Underpinned by intensive empirical studies, this book challenges prevailing narratives and provides a new way of thinking about South-South Migration.Composed by a majority of scholars from the Global South, the book will be crucial reading for researchers, students, and policy makers with a focus on South-South Migration, Migration and Inequalities, Migration and Development, and Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available by KU 2024 under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book investigates the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa. Centring themes of agency, resource flows, and transnational networks, the book examines the enduring appeal of the Global South as a place of origin, transit, and destination.Popular media, government pronouncements, and much of the global research discourse continue to be oriented towards migration from the Global South to the Global North, despite the fact that the vast majority of migration is South-South. This book moves beyond these mischaracterisations and instead distinctly focuses on the agency of African migrants and the creative strategies they employ while planning their routes within and across the African continent. Case studies explore the flow of resources such as people, money, skills, and knowledge throughout the continent, while also casting a light on the lived experiences of migrants as they negotiate their sometimes precarious and vulnerable positions. Underpinned by intensive empirical studies, this book challenges prevailing narratives and provides a new way of thinking about South-South Migration.Composed by a majority of scholars from the Global South, the book will be crucial reading for researchers, students, and policy makers with a focus on South-South Migration, Migration and Inequalities, Migration and Development, and Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available by KU 2024 under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Smith argues that citizenship creation and expansion is a pivotal part of political contestation in Africa today. Citizenship is a powerful analytical tool to approach political life in contemporary Africa because the institutional and structural reforms of the past two decades have been inextricably linked with the battle over the ''right to have rights''. Professor Lahra Smith''s work advances the notion of meaningful citizenship, referring to the ways in which rights are exercised, or the effective practice of citizenship. Using data from Ethiopia and developing a historically informed study of language policy, ethnicity and gender identities, Smith analyzes the contestation over citizenship that engages the state, social movements and individuals in substantive ways. By combining original data on language policy in contemporary Ethiopia with detailed historical study and a focus on ethnicity, citizenship and gender, this work brings a fresh approach to Ethiopian political development and contemporary citizenship concerns across Africa.

Smith argues that citizenship creation and expansion is a pivotal part of political contestation in Africa today. Citizenship is a powerful analytical tool to approach political life in contemporary Africa because the institutional and structural reforms of the past two decades have been inextricably linked with the battle over the ''right to have rights''. Professor Lahra Smith''s work advances the notion of meaningful citizenship, referring to the ways in which rights are exercised, or the effective practice of citizenship. Using data from Ethiopia and developing a historically informed study of language policy, ethnicity and gender identities, Smith analyzes the contestation over citizenship that engages the state, social movements and individuals in substantive ways. By combining original data on language policy in contemporary Ethiopia with detailed historical study and a focus on ethnicity, citizenship and gender, this work brings a fresh approach to Ethiopian political development and contemporary citizenship concerns across Africa.

Smith argues that citizenship creation and expansion is a pivotal part of political contestation in Africa today. Citizenship is a powerful analytical tool to approach political life in contemporary Africa because the institutional and structural reforms of the past two decades have been inextricably linked with the battle over the 'right to have rights'. Professor Lahra Smith's work advances the notion of meaningful citizenship, referring to the ways in which rights are exercised, or the effective practice of citizenship. Using data from Ethiopia and developing a historically informed study of language policy, ethnicity and gender identities, Smith analyzes the contestation over citizenship that engages the state, social movements and individuals in substantive ways. By combining original data on language policy in contemporary Ethiopia with detailed historical study and a focus on ethnicity, citizenship and gender, this work brings a fresh approach to Ethiopian political development and contemporary citizenship concerns across Africa.