Exploring refugee-led approaches to displacement justice
In the philosophical literature on displacement justice, refugees are often spoken about but rarely spoken with. Refugees, of course, discuss displacement justice with their own communities in response to their personal experiences and expertise. But politicians, policy-makers, and philosophers alike do not often have experience of displacement and fail to include those who do. Because of this, philosophers lack the resources to develop a comprehensive account of what justice for refugees requires. The LEAD project aims to critically develop a refugee-led approach to displacement justice. In recent years, literature in refugee studies and the ethics of displacement has begun to reflect on refugee agency. This work highlights how displaced people respond to their difficult circumstances and emphasises the importance of choice and autonomy. This “agential turn”, which is present throughout social and political philosophy more widely, aims to centre the perspectives of marginalised groups. However, such work stops short of including displaced people in the project of theory building itself. This research project therefore asks: what would a refugee-led approach to theorising about displacement justice look like?