Editing Refugee (section)

== Refugee studies ==
{{See also|Economic results of migration}}

With the occurrence of major instances of diaspora and [[forced migration]], the study of their causes and implications has emerged as a legitimate interdisciplinary area of research, and began to rise by mid to late 20th century, after [[World War II]]. Although significant contributions had been made before, the latter half of the 20th century saw the establishment of institutions dedicated to the study of refugees, such as the Association for the Study of the World Refugee Problem, which was closely followed by the founding of the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]]. In particular, the 1981 volume of the ''International Migration Review'' defined refugee studies as "a comprehensive, historical, interdisciplinary and comparative perspective which focuses on the consistencies and patterns in the refugee experience."<ref>Stein, Barry N., and Silvano M. Tomasi. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2545317 "Foreword."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824173257/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2545317 |date=24 August 2019 }} ''The International Migration Review'', vol. 15, no. 1/2, 1981, pp. 5–7. ''JSTOR'', JSTOR.</ref> Following its publishing, the field saw a rapid increase in academic interest and scholarly inquiry, which has continued to the present. Most notably in 1988, the ''[[Journal of Refugee Studies]]'' was established as the field's first major interdisciplinary journal.<ref>Black, Richard. "Fifty years of refugee studies: From theory to policy." ''International Migration Review'' 35.1 (2001): 57–78.</ref>

The emergence of refugee studies as a distinct field of study has been criticized by scholars due to terminological difficulty. Since no universally accepted definition for the term "refugee" exists, the academic respectability of the policy-based definition, as outlined in the [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees|1951 Refugee Convention]], is disputed. Additionally, academics have critiqued the lack of a theoretical basis of refugee studies and dominance of policy-oriented research. In response, scholars have attempted to steer the field toward establishing a theoretical groundwork of refugee studies through "situating studies of particular refugee (and other forced migrant) groups in the theories of cognate areas (and major disciplines), [providing] an opportunity to use the particular circumstances of refugee situations to illuminate these more general theories and thus participate in the development of social science, rather than leading refugee studies into an intellectual cul-de-sac."<ref name="Malkki">{{Cite journal|last=Malkki|first=Liisa H.|date=1995|title=Refugees and Exile: From "Refugee Studies" to the National Order of Things|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|volume=24|issue=1|pages=495–523|doi=10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.002431|s2cid=146314135}}</ref> Thus, the term ''refugee'' in the context of refugee studies can be referred to as "legal or descriptive rubric", encompassing socioeconomic backgrounds, personal histories, psychological analyses, and spiritualities.<ref name="Malkki" />