Refugee Education: The Crossroads of Globalization

Abstract

In this article, I probe a question at the core of comparative education – how to realize the right to education for all and ensure opportunities to use that education for future participation in society. I do so thorough examination of refugee education from World War II to the present, including analysis of an original dataset of documents (n=214) and semi-structured interviews (n=208). The data illuminate how refugee children are caught between the global promise of universal human rights, the definition of citizenship rights within nation-states, and the realization of these sets of rights in everyday practices. Conceptually, I demonstrate the misalignment between normative aspirations, codes and doctrines, and mechanisms of enforcement within nation-states, which curtail refugees’ abilities to activate their rights to education, to work, and to participate in society.