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1 results

  • Chapter 12 - Refugee Ecologies

  • from Part II - Major Concepts
  • Edited by Angela Naimou, Clemson University, South Carolina
  • Book:
    Diaspora and Literary Studies
    Published online:
    20 July 2023
    Print publication:
    10 August 2023, pp 216-234

  • Summary

    This chapter outlines “refugee ecology” as a concept through which to engage how refugees are depicted in relation to the environment. Focusing on portrayals of water, it compares recent media portrayals of refugees with refugee narratives to understand how maritime entities shape understandings of refugees. While more mainstream accounts often depict waterways as sites of danger from which refugees must be rescued, refugee narratives offer a wider array of aqueous representations. Examining Nam Le’s short story “The Boat” suggests that, for Vietnam War refugees, rivers, seas, and oceans are not simply merciless forces that threaten refugee life. Rather, they are also repositories of the dead, archives of memory, and spiritual forces that reflect intimate human–nonhuman ties and reveal Vietnam’s deep seafaring past. Interpreted through the lens of refugee ecology, “The Boat” reveals how mariner history and knowledge are critical to the survival and emergence of diasporas.