Anne is an alumna of the Department of International History’s PhD programme and the LSE-Columbia Double Degree. As such, this is an opportunity to celebrate the success of and LSE graduate and to hear more about a truly significant piece of scholarship that has very clear contemporary significance.
Dr. Anne Irfan’s new book explores the interactions between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and Palestinian communities, espeically in refugee camps where UNRWA became a quasi-state. In her monograph, which is a groundbreaking international history of Palestinian refugee politics, Irfan demonstrates how refugees used the international system (and international norms) to demand (and exert) political rights from the ground up. In doing so, Refuge and Resistance reveals how refugee groups can become significant global actors.