Homeland Wanted : Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Refugee Resettlement in the West

This book presents eleven chapters by sixteen established academic authors from five main refugee-receiving Western countries (the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Sweden). The book features a foreword by Stephen Castles, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, an introduction by Val Colic-Peisker, ten fully refereed chapters presenting recent research in refugee studies in a cross-disciplinary way and a riveting personal story of refugeedom by Hariz Halilovich of RMIT University, Melbourne. This book is concerned with refugees who are, paradoxically, often considered lucky'' to be able to experience what refugee agencies see as the least preferred solution'' of resettling in the third countries'' in the West. Those who have been granted permanent asylum try to rebuild their lives in what is for many of them a considerably alien environment, and in the process experience numerous obstacles, from inadequate resettlement policies, high levels of xenophobia in the host population, lack of language proficiency and qualifications recognition and many others analysed in the book. The contributors come from economics, sociology, education, anthropology, political science and cultural studies, and from both quantitative and qualitative research traditions. Each chapter includes a detailed account of research methodology and a reference to the refugee policy (and other relevant policies) of the respective country of resettlement, which makes this volume additionally useful to social scientists (from undergraduates to senior academics), policymakers and refugee helpers.