Refugees Worldwide
Refugees Worldwide
A project by the Peter-Weiss-Foundation for Art and Politics e.V.
Because of international conflicts and persecution, the number of people affected by expulsion is, tragically, at an all-time high. A drastic increase during the last year [2015] has raised the global amount of people seeking asylum to 65 million. Twelve months earlier the number stood at 59.5 million people.
In Summer 2016, the project “Refugees Worldwide” was founded as part of the International Literature Festival Berlin. “Refugees Worldwide” seeks to collect and convey experiences, impressions and information about different refugee situations, both in a European and non-European context. The central aim of the project is to transform public discourse about migration from a Eurocentric-leaning perspective to a more global perspective. In order to achieve this, 14 authors travelled to crisis points in particular countries to understand more deeply the situation facing refugees and displaced peoples there; following this period of research, the authors wrote up their research into literary travelogues. The project had its first public appearance in Autumn 2016 in the form of an event and discussion during the International Literature Festival Berlin (ilb). Additionally, the travelogues have been published in nationwide and international newspapers as well as in an anthology in German and English.
The project has been funded by the Fondation Jan Michalski and the German Federal Foreign Office.
The German anthology of all the literary reportages was published
by Verlag Klaus Wagenbach in August 2017.
The English anthology of the literary reportages was published
by Ragpicker Press in September 2017.
Travelogues about the following countries have been commissioned as part of the ‘Refugees Worldwide’ Project: Brazil, El Salvador, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Morocco, Nigeria, Syria, South Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine and USA.
Photographs from the following countries were taken as the authors were undertaking their research: Brazil, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Nigeria, Turkey, Ukraine and USA.
Click on each of the participating countries in order to find out more about its individual refugee situation.
