A new research paper on the conceptual history of central categories of migration policies in the 20th century by the NGHM @ UOS working group has just been published online first in the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies.
In their article Displaced Person(s): The Production of a Powerful Political Category, Sebastian Huhn and Christoph Rass examine the emergence and development of the category “displaced persons” in the historical context of the 1940s. The authors show that this term was primarily conceived as a political and bureaucratic tool to exercise control over migration, rather than as a neutral description of social realities.

Abstract
Recent migration research suggests using “displaced persons” as a broader, more inclusive term than “refugees”, affording us an opportunity to recall the historical genesis and transformation of the concept of “displaced persons”. The concept emerged in the 1940s in the context of the control of forced migration. This article traces the evolution of the term “displaced person”, arguing it was created as a “category of action” for bureaucratic and political purposes, rather than to describe social realities. Understanding this historical context reveals more broadly how such categories have always been tools for political control, underscoring the need for reflexivity in migration studies.

Dr. Sebastian Huhn is a researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück, where he is currently leading the project International Refugee Policy and the Negotiation of Protection, Care and Participation after the Second World War, using the ‘Old People’s Home’ for DPs and Refugees in Varel as a case study. He is also an associate member of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1604
(Production of Migration).

Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass heads the working group on Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research @ UOS and is a member of IMIS board. Within the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1604 (Production of Migration), Christoph Rass is PI of the project A3 “You are guest worker children!” Science, School and the Production of Figures of Migration and the transfer project Reflexive Migration Research in the Museum. Potentials and Perspectives of Virtual Realities.
OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
TEAM NGHM (10. Oktober 2024). Out Now | Displaced person(s): the production of a powerful political category @ Ethnic and Racial Studies 2024. NGHM@UOS. Abgerufen am 24. März 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/12g9l