The Esteem Lectures series was introduced by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow in the University of Kent’s 50th anniversary year to celebrate the achievements and diversity of the University’s academic staff. After a successful first series, which included a lecture from the School of English Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah, the lectures will continue in the 2015/16 academic year with an opening lecture from Professor David Herd (Head of the School of English).
David’s lecture, entitled Countering the Silence of Indefinite Detention: Walking with Refugee Tales, will take place on Tuesday 10 November 2015 at 18.00 in Darwin Conference Suite. All are warmly welcome. For further details, please contact the Events Team on 01227 824347 or email events@kent.ac.uk.
Abstract
In June 2015 the Refugee Tales project staged a walk in solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers and immigration detainees. Following the route of the old Pilgrims’ Way, the principal aim of the walk was to counter the silence surrounding indefinite immigration detention and in the process to call for the practice to be stopped. Arguing that a policy such as indefinite detention is only sustainable when its human consequences are kept from view, the project set out to communicate the stories of people who have experienced the asylum system in the UK. The lecture will reflect on the lessons learned by Refugee Tales. It will consider the implications of communicating stories of refugee journeys in a culturally charged landscape such as southern England, and it will ask why, as the debate around refugees and asylum seekers appears to be shifting, the practice of indefinite detention is so rarely raised.