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Beyond ‘Belonging’: How Categorization Shapes the Perception of Afghan Refugees in India

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
CSAMES
Virtual
wifi event
Date
Jan 31, 2023   12:00   1.00 PM
Speaker
Asha Sawhney, PhD student of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Registration
Registration
Contact
Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
E-Mail
csames@illinois.edu
Phone
217-265-5016
Views
31
Originating Calendar
CSAMES events

Afghan refugees living in India have traditionally been studied through a limited lens provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). To measure assimilation into Indian society, the UNHCR bifurcates a religiously diverse population into “ethnic" Afghans (those born Muslim) and "non-ethnic" Afghans (born Sikh or Hindu). In this project, new ethnographic methods are explored to challenge the methodological nationalism of this binary, paving the way for “global assimilation” as a new articulation of Afghan refugee aspirations.

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