Mobile Networks: Visualizing the Global Refugee Regime

Authors

  • Bennett Gabriel Sherry University of Pittsburgh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwhi.2015.11

Abstract

This article identifies conceptual issues surrounding the visualization of refugee movement in relation to state borders. It argues that social-network-analysis software provides a tool for the creation of visualizations of human movement that are removed from geolocation. Such a method disassociates forced migration from preconceived notions about the importance of geographical proximity and the fixity of state borders. This article provides some brief examples of ways that these methods might be utilized to graph and visualize aspects of the global refugee regime. The global-scale, transnational conceptualization and new visualizations show networks of movement centered on new inter-state communities and highlights the role of non-state actors.

Author Biography

Bennett Gabriel Sherry, University of Pittsburgh

Bennett is a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh in the World History program. He completed his MA in international human rights history at the University of Montana and has experience working in refugee resettlement with refugee communities in Pittsburgh. His dissertation research focuses on the intersections of human rights norms and US-Turkish relations in the formation of a global refugee regime in the twentieth century. 

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Published

2015-08-28

Issue

Section

Articles: Practice in Historical Databases