Beyond ‘Belonging’: How Categorization Shapes the Perception of Afghan Refugees in India
- Event Type
- Lecture
- Sponsor
- CSAMES
- Virtual
- Join online
- 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
- csames@illinois.edu
- Phone
- 217-265-5016
- Views
- 129
- Originating Calendar
- Middle East 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.