Meet Dr. Dawn Chatty, An Expert on Refugee and Displaced Persons

Dr. Dawn Chatty, is a social anthropologist, whose ethnographic interests lie in the Middle East. Currently teaching at the University of Oxford, and as the Director of the Refugee Studies Center in the Oxford Department of International Development, Dr. Chatty shares her experiences from on the ground. She helps us understand the daily struggle some of the refugees often face.

Elan: Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

Dawn Chatty: I am a social anthropologist with several decades of experience working with pastoral peoples in the Middle East. I have a track record in engaged scholarship working both as a university teacher, development practitioner, and advocate for indigenous rights. Although my earlier work addressed issues of resilience and adaptation among pastoral peoples (From Camel to Truck, 1986) my more recent work addresses the socio-political pressures on such communities to change and adapt different livelihoods, often unsustainable and debilitating to the core fabric of the social community. My broader research interests include technology and innovation among nomadic pastoral system; global environmental governance and national biodiversity conservation policy, gender and development, health, illness and culture, as well as and coping strategies of youth and their care givers in prolonged conflict and forced migration.

Elan: Are there any trends you see in the various cases you’ve studied in terms of dispossession and forced migration in the Middle East?

DC: Dispossession and forced migration in the Middle East – and elsewhere – generally follows political upheaval, armed conflict and government collapse. What is interesting about the Middle East is that most states are ready to provide refuge for the forced migrants on a local basis. So instead of seeing the growth of formal refugee camps, you have instead local support of forced migrants in schools, mosques and other places where shelter and food can be provided to large numbers. Remember that in 2006, Syria provided shelter to 1 million Lebanese refugees over a period of several months during the period of the Israeli attack on Lebanon. These Lebanese forced migrants were all taken in and sheltered in schools and churches and mosques throughout the country.

Elan: What’s one thing that you’ve learned to appreciate after experiencing their lifestyle?

DC: Forced migrants are generally quite self sufficient. They need help in getting back on their feet economically after having to leave their own country. Forced migrants are active agents who find ways of recovery which can be supported by the international community. But they do not benefit from being turned into passive recipients of aid.

Elan: A lot is happening in the Middle East right now, how are the refugee community’s affected by all of this?

DC: There are a lot of people on the move. In Syria right now a lot of people are fleeing scenes of violence and seeking refugee across the borders in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. But they are waiting to return to their homes as soon as the fighting stops. Having strong social networks and ties across nations is a great help to recovery after being forced to flee one’s country.

Elan: What’s one story that stuck with you studying refugees?

DC: A young Palestinian youth raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon. He didn’t appreciate that he was any different from any of his friends who were Lebanese until he tried to go to university but was prevented from doing so by state authorities. He found way to be smuggled out of the country and came to the UK where he claimed asylum. He was eventually admitted into the UK as a refugee and now he is in University studying to become a human rights lawyer. One day he will go back to Lebanon and fight for the rights of Palestinian refugees in that country.