The second University of Leicester Refugee Week starts on 25 February and runs till 3 March.
The purpose of the week is to raise awareness about what it means to be a refugee as well as to raise awareness about how refugees and asylum seekers are living in the United Kingdom and to raise funds for Leicester City of Sanctuary, a local charity that provides practical support to refugees and asylum seekers.
The week builds on the success of the first student-led Refugee Week that was held at the university last year and will see the university host a series of public events around issues relating to refugees and asylum seekers.
Programme Summary
February:
- 25: Panel Discussion/Debate on Gender, Sexuality and the Refugee Experience (speakers will include a practising solicitor; an academic; a social worker; and, a charity worker); Attenborough Lecture Theatre 3, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH; 6.00pm - 8.00pm
- 26: Society Event (Syria: Uprooted! a case study on the Syrian conflict with particular emphasis on how Syrians are being displaced, where they are going and how they are being received); Attenborough Seminar Room 002, University of Leicester; 6.00pm -8.00pm
- 27: An evening with the Zimbabwe Association Choir (feat. Film Screening, Leicester City of Sanctuary presentation, and a Zimbabwe Association Choir performance); University of Leicester, Attenborough Building, Attenborough Seminar Block, 2nd Floor, ATT 208; 4.00pm - 6.00pm
- 28: "Refugee Women’s Experiences in Fiction and Non-Fiction: a reading in two parts” feat. Dr Leah Bassel (University of Leicester, Department of Sociology) and Jonathan Taylor (poet, novelist and De Montfort University creative writing lecturer); University of Leicester, Attenborough Building, Attenborough Lecture Theatre 3; 6.00pm - 8.00pm
- 1: Networking Evening plus Red Leicester Choir; University of Leicester, Attenborough Building, Attenborough Seminar Room 001 ; 6.00pm – 8.00pm
- 2: 'Simple Acts' and fundraising
- 3: 'Simple Acts' and fundraising
Detailed Programme
Monday, February 25, 2013
"Gender, Sexuality and the Refugee Experience": Panel Discussion
Venue: University of Leicester, Attenborough Lecture Theatre 3
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
- What is a refugee?
- What is an asylum seeker?
- How does a person become a refugee or an asylum seeker?
- Does a person's gender and/or sexual orientation have any bearing on whether a person can apply for asylum or not?
- What are some of the things that can be said about the manner in which the UK's immigration and asylum system responds to asylum applications that centre on questions of gender and/or sexual orientation?
- How easy or difficult is it to prove that one is a genuine asylum seeker?
- Does the asylum process have any effect on how individuals, families and/or communities live?
These and other questions will be the subject of the panel discussion that will take place on the first day of the 2nd University of Leicester Refugee Week.
Speaking at the event will be:
- Bushra Ali, Head of Immigration at Thaliwal Bridge Solicitors and recipient of the 2012 Leicestershire Law Society Solicitor of the Year Award as well as recipient of the 2012 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award;
- Vanessa Bettinson, a lecturer at De Montfort University who is currently teaching on "Gender and Sexuality in Relation to Claims for Refugee Protection" in the final year Immigration & Refugee Law module at De Montfort University;
- Cathy Stevenson, a Refugee Services Manager with the British Red Cross in Leicester; and
- Jawaahir Daahir, Managing Director of Somali Development Service; co-editor of Somalia to Europe: Stories from the Somali Diaspora (Leicester Quaker Press, 2010), and a qualified social worker who worked with asylum seekers and refugees and their families for many years.
The panel discussion will be chaired by University of Leicester student, Max Beck who is also president of the Leicester United Nations Society.
The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session in which the panelists will take questions from the audience.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Syria: Uprooted! a presentation on the Syrian Conflict and Refugee Experience
Venue: University of Leicester, Attenborough Seminar Room 002
Time: 6.00pm -8.00pm
- How many people have been displaced as a result of conflict in Syria?
- Which parts of Syria are affected?
- What (if anything) do those who are being displaced have in common?
- Where are they going?
- What are they finding there?
- How are they being received?
- To what extent are things like gender, ethnicity and political and/or religious beliefs and practices playing a role in this displacement, migration, reception and settlement (or lack of)?
These and other questions will be the focus of Syria: Uprooted! a University of Leicester Politics and International Relations Society presentation on the Syrian conflict.
The presentation will pay particular attention to how Syrians are being displaced, where they are going and how they are being received. The presentation will also look at the extent to which factors like gender, ethnicity and political and/or religious beliefs and practices are playing a role in this displacement, migration, reception and settlement (or lack of).
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session in which the University of Leicester Politics and International Relations Society will take questions from the audience on the presentation.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
An evening with the Zimbabwe Association Choir
Venue: University of Leicester, Attenborough Building, Attenborough Seminar Block, 2nd Floor, ATT 208
Time: 4.00pm - 6.00pm
The evening will open with two short films that show some of the realities of life for asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.
This will be followed by a presentation from Pam Inder, who chairs Leicester City of Sanctuary, on the challenges refugees and asylum seekers face in the UK and the role individuals and voluntary sector organisations play in supporting refugees and asylum seekers.
The evening will culminate in a performance by members of the Zimbabwe Association Choir who will share some of their stories, music, song and dance. Many members of the choir are survivors who escaped persecution and violence in Zimbabwe.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Refugee Women's Experiences in Fiction and Non-Fiction: A reading in two parts
Venue: University of Leicester, Attenborough Lecture Theatre 3
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
- What are the causes of forced migration?
- How easy or difficult is it for refugees to find places where they can feel safe?
- If at all they do find such places of safety, is integration really possible or even desirable?
Two writers - one a poet and a novelist and the other a sociologist - will approach these or related questions from different perspectives and in different ways.
Dr Leah Bassel – a Sociology lecturer at the University of Leicester and the author of Refugee Women: Beyond Gender versus Culture (Routledge 2012) – will open the evening by giving a talk on migration and the politics of refugee women's integration.
She will be followed by Jonathan Taylor – a poet, novelist and a creative writing lecturer at De Montfort University – who will give a reading from his novel, Entertaining Strangers (Salt Publishing 2012).
The two presentations will be followed by a Q&A session in which the two writers will take questions from the audience.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Networking Evening: *plus Red Leicester Choir
Venue: University of Leicester, Attenborough Building, Attenborough Seminar Room 001
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
This informal evening will bring together University of Leicester staff and students, members of the Leicester Migration Network, members of the public, refugees, asylum seekers and supporting organisations.
The Networking Evening will be a good opportunity to make connections or to develop and build on links with relevant individuals, groups and organisations.
The evening will culminate in a performance by the Red Leicester Choir which, as choir member, Jan Wild-Grant puts it, sings "songs of struggle, songs of freedom and songs for the fun of it" from all over the world.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
‘Simple Acts' and fundraising
Venue: Various
Time: Various
University of Leicester students are encouraged to continue supporting the UoL Refugee Week fundraising efforts and to do simple acts like learning a few facts about refugees and asylum seekers; writing a letter or an email about refugees and asylum seekers; having a conversation with a refugee or an asylum seeker ...
Sunday, March 3, 2013
'Simple Acts' and fundraising
Venue: Various
Time: Various
University of Leicester students are encouraged to continue supporting the UoL Refugee Week fundraising efforts and to do simple acts like learning a few facts about refugees and asylum seekers; writing a letter or an email about refugees and asylum seekers; having a conversation with a refugee or an asylum seeker ...
*For more information, visit the UoL Refugee Week facebook page or contact event organiser, Iqra Mazhir.
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