From: Shohini Ghosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] Workshop on Forced Migration: Academy of Third World Studies 18th to 22nd September 2006
(Organised in Collaboration with the Calcutta Research Group) 1. The Programme The workshop will be a 5-day residential workshop to be jointly organised by the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and the Calcutta Research Group (CRG), Kolkata. The programme is intended for young students, researchers, other academics and activists working in the field of forced migration. The curriculum will deal with themes of forced migration, nationalism, ethnicity, partition, partition-refugees, national regimes and the international regime of protection, political issues relating to regional trends in migration in South Asia, internal displacement, the gendered nature of forced migration, international humanitarian law and other protection framework, resource politics, environmental degradation and forced migration. The workshop will give special emphasis to the experiences of forced displacement, creative writings on refugee life, nature of internal displacement, critical legal analysis, analysis of notions of vulnerability, care risk, protection, and settlement, attention on gender concerns as an internal part of the course, and emphasis on issues of human rights and humanitarian law and action for the victims of displacement. The workshop intends to serve multiple objectives - study, training, capacity building, and pooling of available resources in displacement studies. 2. Objectives The programme will serve these objectives: To train and equip young students, academics, and researchers with key concepts of forced migration, internal displacement, legal regimes of rights protection and human rights especially to those of refugees and internally displaced persons. To provide a comprehensive knowledge of national and international legal regimes in order to empower rights activists and IDP communities in the struggle for protection of social and political rights. To sensitise participants who are or would be engaged in rights protection, or humanitarian work about the special needs of women, Dalits, indigenous communities, specially challenged people, and other marginalised groups in society during crisis situations such as ethnic conflicts, internal displacement, Tsunami, floods, or those due to development displacement etc. To enhance understanding of the complex relationship between the forces of nationalism, identity politics, racism, and xenophobia with forced migration, its dynamics and special impact on women, and other marginalised communities. To facilitate critical engagement with the key concepts of rights, justice, peace, vulnerability, marginality, and development available in national and international humanitarian law, context and discourse. To use the methodology of participatory and decentralised educational processes in a dialogic �educational space� to facilitate the process of building bridges between agencies involved in rights protection and humanitarian relief and the IDPs and refugees by preparing a mid level actors/professionals who will smoothen this process. 3. The Course Syllabus The following modules will form the basis of the course syllabus: � Nationalisms, ethnicities, partitions, and partition-refugees � Gendered nature of forced migration, victim-hood, and gender-justice � International Humanitarian Law and regime of protection, sovereignty and the principle of responsibility, and political issues relating to regional trends in migration in South Asia � Resource politics, environmental degradation, and forced migration � Internal displacement � causes, linkages, and responses In course activities besides writing assignments, there will be workshop assignments, group discussions, creative sessions, and face-to-face sessions with resource persons experienced in related areas. The course will include visual studies. Frontline thinkers and activists in the field of human rights and humanitarian activities will form the faculty of the course. 4. Programme Methodology The programme would consist of interactive lectures, face-to-face discussion with resource persons drawn from a variety of fields and experiences, panel discussions, workshops, case study discussions, policy discussions, films on displacement issues etc. The programme would use certain principles to develop participatory and critical approaches to learning, teaching and training aimed at developing a sense of critical engagement with the processes and systems, which govern society, its development and inter-personal relations. These principles would also be used to create a dialogic, interactive and participatory �educational space� owned collectively by the participants of the programme. The significant characteristics of the educational space for dialogue would be its horizontal structure, informal nature, exposure to non-mainstream perspectives, critical engagement with both mainstream and non-mainstream perspectives and a creative environment for learning and training. The tools for learning, teaching and training during the programme are: � A programme reader including key texts on each modules � Presentations by resource persons � Face to face discussion with human rights activists, professionals etc. � Selected case studies � Films on human rights issues, alternatives, strategies and important campaigns � Creative writings on related themes 5. Faculty Besides the faculty members of the Jamia Millia Islamia and the members of the CRG, the faculty will be drawn from people with recognised backgrounds in refugee studies, studies on internal displacement, university teaching and research, humanitarian work in NGOs, legal studies, UN functionaries, particularly UNHCR and ICRC functionaries; public policy analysis, journalism, and concerned human rights activism and humanitarian work. Attention is to be paid to diversity of background and region to bring out diversity in experiences. Special attention will be given to the requirements of the syllabus; the faculty will be involved in developing on a permanent scale a syllabus, a set of reading material, evaluation, and follow-up activities. The resource persons will also be involved in harmonising the syllabus of this course with the requirements of the participants, and similar syllabi in various universities, workshops, and courses. 6. Participants The participants in the programme would be drawn from backgrounds of humanities and social sciences, law, social and humanitarian work, and human rights work. The effort will be to have at least fifty percent women participants in the programme. Participants should be proficient in the language of discussion. Interested participants will need to send their curriculum vitae with a 500-1000 word write-up on reasons for applying to the programme and its relevance to her/his work, ideas, or life. The programme would be residential and participants will have to make their own arrangements for travel to the venue. At the successful completion of the programme participants will be awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia and the CRG. The workshop will have 20 participants. 7. The Selection Criteria and Procedures � Participants with a keen interest in the issue of socio-economic rights and associated with some civil or community organisations working in the field of rights protection or humanitarian relief. � Preference will be given to young participants preferably below 35 years of age. � Preference to be given to women participants. � Participants to secure references from two people having experiences in the themes of the course. Selection of participants will be made by a selection committee comprising of members from the Academy of Third World Studies, CRG and other academics or human rights activists and legal experts in the field. 8. Assignments Based on the module structure and their previous understanding participants would be required to prepare a case study of rights violation or protection of IDPs, or prepare a rights manifesto, policy document, empowering strategies or something which they think would be beneficial for the discussion during the programme. The exercise would help participants in developing their ability to research (observe, report, pinpoint) - all related to the social and physical geography of the community. It will help them train in setting goals or objectives, plot steps towards achieving the objectives and finally evaluate their progress towards that objective. Anivar Aravind http://movingrepublic.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
