The 2016-17 colloquium and accompanying library guide explored the genocides that create refugee populations, as well as the challenges facing refugee populations as they seek to find asylum in countries and communities that are often resistant to accepting them. Click here to watch the events.

The 2016-17 KHC-NEH colloquium, Fleeing Genocide: Displacement, Exile and the Refugee, moved students beyond abstract compassion, into an investigation of the reality of genocide and the trauma of displacement. Such an approach helped to bridge events of war and genocide from far-flung spaces to the local and familiar, provide an affective complement to the issues presented in the lectures, and encourage students to respond to the concept of abstract compassion and the call for global inclusivity. 

The colloquium was organized by the 2016-17 KHC-NEH Faculty Fellows, Dr. Aliza Atik, Associate Professor of English; Dr. Kathleen Alves, Associate Professor of English; and Dr. Mirna Lekic, Associate Professor of Music at Queensborough Community College-CUNY.