The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: The Importance of Physical Location in Diaspora Mobilisation

The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: The Importance of Physical Location in Diaspora Mobilisation

Dr Susan Banki’s book, The Ecosystem of Exile Politics, tells the story of a little-known refugee situation. It relays the events in Bhutan that led to the exodus of one-sixth of the population, and then recounts the activism by Bhutan’s refugee diaspora that followed. It shows that activism functions like a physical ecosystem, in which hubs of activism in different locations interact to pressure the home country. Proximity to the homeland allowed for powerful oppositional action but rendered the activists quite precarious. Thus proximity, the book shows, was a boon and a bane.

“The Ecosystem of Exile Politics explores the power and precarity of physical proximity in diaspora mobilization. With rigorous fieldwork, beautiful prose, and conceptual sophistication, Banki has written a must-read text for anyone interested in the potential for political resistance by refugees.” – Noelle Bridgen, Marquette University.

Dr Susan Banki is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and the Director of the Master of Social Justice. Susan’s focus is in the Asia-Pacific region, where she has conducted extensive field research in Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Japan on refugee/migrant protection, statelessness and border control.

This seminar will be delivered in a hybrid format, (MS Teams link will be sent after registration (please check spam/junk folders), and the in-person location is Department of Sociology, Room 113, 32 Old Elvet, Durham, DH13HN.