International Conference | The Refugee-Migrant Distiction: Toward a Global History

The distinction between refugees and migrants is central to current law, policy, and public debate around asylum and migration. While the distinction between refugees and migrants is far from the only factor in shaping migration policies (Thiollet et al., 2024), states' prerogative of granting refugee status serves as an important albeit unreliable carve-out from a generally restrictive mobility regime. Opponents and proponents of permissive immigration rules each tend to emphasize the binary nature of the distinction - and its close corollary, forced versus voluntary migration - to their own ends. The aim of this conference is to more fully elucidate the relational nature of the distinction between refugees and migrants, its function in the wider field of migration, and its genealogy. The conference also aims to expand our understanding of the refugee-migrant distinction's role beyond the West, given the Eurocentric origins of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the field of refugee law (Madokoro, 2016; Ballinger, 2025). The conference will bring together both established and early-career scholars. For questions about the conference, please contact: Nicole Bergman, nwbergman@princeton.edu. This conference is hosted by: PIIRS, Fung Global Fellows Program, and the Gates Cambridge Trust. --- Event Details: https://my.princeton.edu/rsvp?id=1973229