Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

In the summer of 2017, I traveled to East Africa to research Refugee Settlement Programs in Uganda and interviewed several refugees from two Settlement Programs, Bidi -Bidi and Nakivale. My research in Africa was part of the larger project I intended to do which focuses on the current global humanitarian crisis, mainly the crisis in the Mediterranean Sea and its coastlands. As African refugees are part of the Mediterranean crisis, I decided to begin my research from the continent. In general, the causes of migration are numerous. They include war, civil unrest, bad governance, climate change, and genocide. These conditions create displacement and death, not to mention the psychological and physical consequences they have on the survivors. Besides, the crisis affects the political and economic policies of nations that are hosting the survivors. It has impacts on values and human relations. In my project, in addition to the policies that continue to taint the politics, the human being that has been cyclically victimized by them remains to be the focus of my work. The stories are told from refugee camps where waiting time is indefinite, life is stagnant, the future is unknown, and despair is the present. My study includes stories of the refugees (six-minute video), the influence of the research in Uganda on my studio work, my works from the current Mexico/US border crisis, and the separation of children from their parents, currently on exhibit in New York: “Crossing Boundaries: Material as Message” along with the general narrative.