Green-Mercado, Mayte. "Reframing the refugee narrative." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/reframing-the-refugee-narrative. [Date accessed].
Reframing the refugee narrative
Conceptualizing refugee narratives across history
The contemporary rhetoric around refugees and asylum seekers is one of vitriol and villainization. These narratives have social and political consequences, influencing elections and legislation around the globe. But how did we get to these assumptions and tropes that continue to scapegoat people affected by mass displacement? By understanding the construction of the concept “refugee,” students can trace a lineage of racialization and oppression back to the medieval Mediterranean. Green-Mercado asks her students to complicate the political script of migration and displacement by reading and playing narratives outside of the tropes handed down through time.
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Ham and the rationale for colonization
The Hamitic myth was used as a justification for the colonial endeavors of European countries in the late medieval period. This rhetoric traveled to the Americas and became a theological reasoning for the institution of American chattel slavery.
