Paradoxes of protection: Refugees in a world of unequal sovereignties

Profile: Rawan Arar, assistant professor, Law, Societies & Justice Department, University of Washington

Abstract

This talk will examine the ways that refugee reception practices are globally co-constituted. Refugee hosting in the Global South is incentivized by Northern states as a means of immigration deterrence. Rights-oriented regimes in Northern states and the reputational benefits they present are predicated upon outsourcing illiberal practices to Southern states. This externalization is not a faceless process. It comes at the expense of citizens’ rights and refugees’ prospect for full legal incorporation. Humanitarianism is a stopgap measure that provides lifesaving relief, but ultimately, cannot take the place of rights. And yet, despite an array of fair critiques that can be wielded at Southern hosts and their governing practices, these countries provide more people with the right to live than states that have been celebrated for upholding the mantle of human rights.

Short bio

My research lies at the intersection of political sociology and international immigration, with a particular focus on refugees and forced displacement. I engage with interdisciplinary debates on citizenship, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration law and policy, and the politics of belonging. My first book, co-authored with David Scott FitzGerald, The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach, was published by Polity Press in 2023. I also co-edited the special issue Refugee Resettlement as an Institution for Ethnic and Racial Studies, which was subsequently published as a book by Routledge in 2026.

Over the past sixteen years, my primary fieldwork has been conducted in Jordan, one of the world's largest refugee-hosting countries. There, I have spent extensive time interviewing refugees, volunteering with humanitarian organizations, and examining the social and political dynamics of displacement. My research has also taken me to Gaza, where I worked as a consultant for the United Nations; to national archives in Australia; and to Northern Ireland, where I was a visiting scholar at the Irish School of Ecumenics. After earning my Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington, where I continue to investigate the institutions, policies, and lived experiences that shape forced displacement.

Attendance

This is a hybrid seminar, you are welcome to connect via Zoom or join us at MIM seminar room, floor 9, Niagara. To attend on campus, please gather by the reception area at 13.05. If you have any questions, send an email to mim@mau.se.

Zoom link will be available closer to the seminar date.

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