Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti Eds.Refugee Heritage

“Refugee camps are established with the intention of being demolished. As a paradigmatic representation of political failure, they are meant to have no history and no future; they are meant to be forgotten. The history of refugee camps is constantly being erased and dismissed by states, humanitarian organisations, international agencies, and even by refugee communities themselves, who fear that any acknowledgment of the present condition in the camp may undermine their right of return to their place of origin. In tracing, documenting, revealing, and representing refugee history beyond the narrative of suffering and displacement, this book is an attempt to imagine and practice ‘refugeeness’ beyond humanitarianism.”