Critical Refugee Studies
Critical Refugee Studies examines how Asian American refugees are racialized, gendered, and sexualized, challenging the UNHCR's victim narrative and U.S. humanitarian positioning.
Summary
What you’ll be able to do
Define and utilize the framework of critical refugee studies to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the refugee that considers the larger conditions and violence of colonization, imperialism, and displacement.
Identify how the racialization of the Asian refugees has intersected with the racialization of Asian Americans and shaped the larger landscape of the Asian American experience.
Compare the displacement of Asian refugees in the United States to other displaced communities of color to highlight the larger patterns of displacement, imperialism, and colonialism.
Collaborate with peers in reflecting on the importance of refugee epistemologies and how this knowledge can reshape how we understand refugees in our increasingly diverse society.
Source: UW Guide
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the class
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugee "as someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence." This definition represents the refugee as a victim, whose statelessness compels the need for resettlement within the nation-state. In the context of Asian America, this narrow construct of the refugee has overlapped with how Asians/Asian Americans have been racialized, gendered, and sexualized in the United States. Consider how newly arrive Asian refugee groups and their experiences have challenged their perceived victimization to challenge how the United States has positioned itself as a benevolent, humanitarian force.
difficulty & workload
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Topics
- UNHCR definitions of refugees and critiques of the victim construct.
- Racialization, gendering, and sexualization of Asians/Asian Americans in the U.S.
- Colonization, imperialism, and displacement as structural conditions.
- Refugee epistemologies and knowledge production.
Skills
- Apply critical refugee studies frameworks to analyze refugee experiences within contexts of colonization, imperialism, and displacement.
- Analyze intersections between the racialization of Asian refugees and Asian Americans.
- Compare displacement patterns among Asian refugees and other communities of color.
- Collaborate with peers to reflect on refugee epistemologies and their societal implications.
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
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