Dr. Karen Jacobsen
Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
December 6, 2023
1:00- 2:00pm
The New York City Bar Association
42 West 44th Street
New York City
Also available on Zoom
EVENT SPONSOR
Maryann Sudo, OTR Board of Governors
ABOUT THE TOPIC
Climate change, the lack of food, no resources to grow food, poverty, terror, fear, violence are impelling people to search for freedom, safety, and better lives. Currently 281 million people, 3.6% of the world’s population, are on the move. Even though this number does not seem so large, many countries are reeling under the impact and trying to decide how to respond, how to accommodate and assimilate without causing undue disruption. Stretched resources, communities at breaking points are stressing political fissures and threatening fragile order. Riots in Paris, anger at the U.S. border states, outspoken resistance in Germany, Greece, and Italy speak to the difficulty of the situation. What are the most current and effective efforts at addressing global migration? Are they lasting or temporary band-aids? Would a greater understanding of the refugees lead to better solutions?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Karen Jacobsen is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She directs the Refugees in Towns Project at the Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security. Professor Jacobsen’s current research explores urban displacement and global migration, with a focus on the livelihoods and financial resilience of migrants and refugees, and on climate- and environment-related mobility. Professor Jacobsen received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her books include A View from Below: Conducting Research in Conflict Zones (with Mazurana and Gale, Cambridge UP 2013 ), and The Economic Life of Refugees (Lynne Rienner, 2005), which is widely used in courses on forced migration.