Resilience is the ability of the human mind and/or body to respond to adverse circumstances, tragedy, trauma, or any other intimidation to emotional and/or physical integrity and its impacts. It is an individual’s retort to any encroachment on one’s self, and establish self- legitimacy in a hostile environment. But is this power of resilience displayed with homogeneity or heterogeneity among and/or across culturally diverse and rich groups? As a context and culture-specific response, resilience is demonstrated in negotiation with factors, such as spatial, sociocultural, and political. Hence, its study is problematized when it is read as a homogeneous response to adversity by individuals from varied backgrounds. Against the backdrop of the current situation, it is instigating to explore refugee identities and their resilience to cultures of adversity.

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the refugee problem shares global space with its “impact on peace, security, and stability”, raising the need for “a new order and effective addressing of this problem of displacement”. Structured around words like problem crisis, ‘complex emergencies’, challenge and control, the refugee problem insists on an incisive inquiry into representations and narratives of refugee identities in the international context. This panel invites submissions focusing on the narrativization of refugee crisis and their resilient practices, arming them to fight against the onslaught of words like homeless, other, and helpless that define a refugee in and across cultures. Submissions may focus, but are not limited to:

Refugees and Resilience to “Refugees”

Displacement, Resilience, and the Refugee Saga

Human or “Humanitarian” Identities: Refugees and Forms of Resilience

Refugee-Resilience Patterns in Literature/Films