The refugee and migrant crisis: human tragedies as an extension of colonialism

ABSTRACT

This article links the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis to colonialism and the nature of the decolonisation process. It argues that the legacies of colonialism produced the conditions and the tensions in postcolonial states that led to the origins of the refugees and forced migrants. In exploring the refugee crisis and why individuals embark on hazardous journeys to Europe and other destinations, this study analyses the narratives of 15 survivors collected from media accounts of the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis. It also examines the crisis from the historical accounts and theoretical perspectives of colonialism and forced migration, drawing from the scholarship of Dirks, Thomas, Cohn and Mueller who predominantly focus on the colonial past, but also recognise the present implications that colonialism continues to exert for colonised people. The article concludes that the outcome of the colonial experience persisting in many postcolonial settings has contributed to the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

KEYWORDS:

• Legacies of colonialism
• postcolonial states
• refugees and migrant crisis
• forced migration
• refugee disasters

Notes

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference, ‘Addressing inequalities, mobility and dislocation: Insights from international and domestic research and practice’, at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 12-13 June 2017.