新澳彩开奖结果

Geography Professor Daniel Monk Awarded CFR Fellowship

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Portrait of Daniel Monk
Daniel Monk, George R. and Myra T. Cooley Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies and Professor of Geography

In February, the Council on Foreign Relations awarded geography professor and George R. and Myra T. Cooley Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies Daniel Monk an (TIRS). Funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the program places senior scholars in government or intergovernmental agencies involved in policy-setting agendas. The goal is to give academics valuable experience that they can bring back to their classrooms and use to inform research. 

Monk鈥檚 research on global humanitarian issues and refugee policies led him to apply for the fellowship, with the hope that his experience will provide a meaningful link between the academy and policymaking agencies. Beginning this summer, he will serve a full year in one of a number of agencies actively involved in making global refugee shelter policy. 

Monk co-authored The Global Shelter Imaginary: IKEA Humanitarianism and Rightless Relief (University of Minnesota Press, 2021) with University of Michigan Professor Andrew Herscher. The book, which earned an honorable mention in the 2023 International Studies Association鈥檚 International Political Sociology book awards, explores practices that aspire to help refugees 鈥 such as using quick-to-assemble metal shelters instead of tents in camps for displaced people 鈥 yet sidestep the underlying problems they face. 鈥淎lmost since World War I, architects have suggested they could fix the problem with the mass production of houses or units, or providing a better type of camp,鈥 Monk says. Recently, the decades-old argument has gained traction. 鈥淎ll of a sudden we saw the idea take off within the framework of global humanitarianism 鈥 at a moment when we鈥檙e starting to see the biggest displacement of humans since World War II.鈥

While the architectural innovations are well-intentioned, Monk sees them as problematic because they allow governments to avoid addressing underlying political issues. Most world states signed on to the U.N.鈥檚 1951 Refugee Convention and still claim to be committed to its terms. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e also attempting ways to externalize border controls, making sure people who would seek asylum are never in a position to make a claim,鈥 he says. One way in which states do that is through category fetishism, or making people jump through many hoops to qualify for seeking asylum. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a terrible form of hazing that asylum seekers are subjected to all the time.鈥 

Rich countries, in particular, are functionally reneging while purporting to continue their commitments under international agreements. Often, they make arrangements with poorer countries that agree to function as holding centers for displaced people 鈥 a way to guarantee that they have no rights. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e creating is masses of humans who are kept in suspended animation,鈥 says Monk. 鈥淯nder the Refugee Convention, displaced people should receive one of three possible options: return to their home country because the state is no longer persecuting them, settle where they鈥檝e landed if the state will agree, or be settled in a third country through the work of the U.N. and other actors. That鈥檚 the goal, but the reality is we have people living under conditions of permanent impermanence 鈥 and that鈥檚 where the question of shelter assumes a problematic moral and political position.鈥

By participating in TIRS, Monk hopes to gain understanding about how policymakers navigate this difficult terrain. 鈥淚 recognize that they鈥檙e professionals who are involved in something quite challenging, and I want to come with humility to learn how things are managed on a day-to-day basis,鈥 he says. 鈥淢ore broadly, I鈥檓 seeking to understand how people who are caught between a rock and a hard place are managing that almost impossible situation 鈥 and how the rest of us might help, if it鈥檚 possible to frame the problem in ways (for diplomatic reasons) they can鈥檛.鈥

Monk hopes his experience in the fellowship will inform the new book he鈥檚 currently writing, The Humanitarian Aesthetic, which has also received support through a major award from the 新澳彩开奖结果 Research Council. He鈥檚 excited, as well, to link 新澳彩开奖结果 students with policymakers involved in current refugee policy and create new, practical research opportunities within his courses. 

Ultimately, he is thankful for this unique opportunity. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that common for academic researchers to be invited to enter policymaking situations, or for the policymaking establishment to be able to incorporate academic viewpoints. There鈥檚 an alchemy there that鈥檚 remarkable, and I鈥檓 very grateful that I鈥檝e been given the chance to participate in it.鈥

 

鈥 Jessica Leigh Brown