Seeking Refuge beyond Europe. New perspectives on European Refugees, Migrants and Exiles in the Middle East and North Africa, 19th-20th centuries

This special issue of Diasporas. Circulations, Migrations, Histoire explores the arrival, transit, and settlement of refugees from Europe, their interaction with civil societies and state institutions, and the evolution of various refugee regimes in the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the 19th and 20th centuries. The role of the imperial, national, and colonial governments will be of particular interest in order to understand the different political factors at stake for the interactions between refugees and the local societies. The issue seeks to contribute to and facilitate the discussion between different fields of research, such as the historiography on expatriate communities, humanitarian organizations, forced migration in MENA, and (post)colonial history. Integrating the experiences of displacement from Europe into the larger question of the transformation of refugee/migration policies in MENA and beyond, the issue’s ambition is to offers new insights into European and Middle Eastern history.