Benoît Mayer PhD candidate, National University of Singapore 14 ...

Benoît Mayer
PhD candidate, National University of Singapore
14 October 2012
McGill University, Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law
Participant report:
Tenth Winter Course on Forced Migration
Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group on Forced Migration
30 September – 14 October 2012
I participated to the Tenth Winter Course on Forced Migration organized by the Mahanirban
Calcutta Research Group on Forced Migration (MCRG) from 30 September to 14 October
2012, in cooperation with UNHCR, the government of Finland and the British High
Commissioner. My participation was funded by the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in
Public International Law.
Organization
The course was prepared by a distance-learning segment in August. Each participant was
asked to prepare a paper of approximately 5,000 words under the supervision of a researcher
of the MCRG. Two virtual meetings were organized to supervise this preliminary work. The
papers had to fit one of the five course modules:
- Refugee flows in South Asia: New structures and strategies of protection
- Gendered nature of forced migration
- Environmental crisis, conflict, resource and internal displacement
- Statelessness in South Asia
- Media and Forced migration
The second segment was conducted in 15 days (with no day off) in Calcutta. It included
presentations by MCRG members and guest lecturers, taught mostly Indian academics, also
some foreign researchers and several practitioners. In addition, each participant was requested
to present his/her paper. Lastly, the course included a fieldwork in North Bengal to visit a
Tibetan refugee camp in Darjeeling or the Lepcha village in Kalimpong.
Course participants
The course participants included 19 persons. 15 participants came from South Asia (India, but
also Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka) and four international participants (two Latin Americans
and two Asian-based Europeans). About half of the participants were working for
international agencies (including local offices of the UNHCR or the IOM, NGOs and think
tanks). The other half was composed of PhD students (mostly political sciences and
international relations, two lawyers, two sociologists). The last few days were organized
along with a workshop on media and forced migration, with the participation of a group of
journalists.
Conditions
Western participants should be aware of the comparatively difficult environment in which the
course is organized. Limited access to internet (not always functioning at the hotel, no

network at the course venue), constant traffic jams everywhere, and conflicts between Indian
spices and Western stomachs are only some of the most colorful examples of the difficulties
of living – not to speak about studying – in a developing country. However, the excellent
organization of the course did mitigate most of these difficulties. The participants were all
hosted in a comfortable hotel situated a few hundred meters from the course venue (two
participants per room), yet hot water was not always available. Hygienic and not (so) spicy
food was provided for all meals and very few personal expenses were necessary. The course
is intensive and does not include any day off.
General comments
Not all lectures or participants’ presentations were of great interest (certain being unclear or
little informative), but a few were genuinely eye-opening and did entirely justify the whole
course. Generally, as a Western-educated student, I did appreciate to be exposed to very
different perspectives on forced migration studies. These differences of perspective included
not only a specific geographical emphasis (South Asia is certainly a relevant region to study
forced migration), but also a constant use of what Western academia usually calls ‘critical’
theories – in particular post-colonial theories. Chimni’s work on refugee protection was a
constant reference in every normative debate and it could be a good introduction for Western
participants to the course. I also appreciated to meet researchers with extensive empirical
knowledge of regional forced displacement issues.
Overall, the human factor was a significant upside of the course, although I sometimes
regretted that there were not more participants this year. The course provided a unique
opportunity to meet local people (lecturers as well as participants), including excellent
researchers, with whom it is generally very difficult to get in touch. The sentiment I had at the
end of the course was that of two parallel worlds, with excellent Indian researchers not being
included in the universe of ‘international’ (i.e. mostly Western) peer-reviewed literature.
More than anything else, the MCRG’s intensive course was a rabbit hole opening the way to
the wonderland of the South Asian / Third World research on forced migration.
For further information, I can be contacted by email at bmayer@nus.edu.sg or
benoit.mayer@mail.mcgill.ca .