Abstract
Eliza Gettel’s paper on the displacement of the Delians in the second century BCE does an excellent job of examining an ancient case study of displacement through the lens of contemporary conceptions of displacement and asylum. In this paper, I try, as a modern historian of asylum, to reflect on the applicability of modern classifications to a case study over 2000 years old. First, I discuss the compatibility of the ancient with the modern. Subsequently, I engage much more deliberately with the arguments Gettel presents in her paper. Finally, I introduce a contemporary case study involving the displacement of people from the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean that I argue shares some similarities with that of the Delians, with both cases highlighting the often-neglected agency of the displaced.
Highlights
Eliza Gettel’s paper on the displacement of the Delians in the second century BCE does an excellent job of examining an ancient case study of displacement through the lens of contemporary conceptions of displacement and asylum
This Special Issue on the displacement of people from the ancient world to the present encourages authors to go beyond their comfort zones by attempting to “create dialogue across practices, disciplines and temporalities”
In attempting to take up this baton, I try, as a modern historian of asylum, to reflect on the applicability of modern classifications to a case study over 2000 years old
Summary
My research focuses especially on migration history after 1945. My teaching, is much broader, and one course I gave in the past was ambitiously entitled “Seeking Asylum: From the Bible to Boatpeople”. After a couple of years of teaching the course, I felt that it covered too broad a timespan, especially since the emphasis lay on promoting students to use primary sources for their research papers. In the early medieval periods, churches became (often temporary) refuges for those fleeing wrongdoings (Lambert 2017) These were not really sanctuaries for the displaced. Displacement in the ancient world more closely resembles contemporary conceptions because people sometimes fled to other political jurisdictions rather than only defined internal religious sanctuaries.. Displacement in the ancient world more closely resembles contemporary conceptions because people sometimes fled to other political jurisdictions rather than only defined internal religious sanctuaries.3 This meant that asylum could be political as well as religious Displacement in the ancient world more closely resembles contemporary conceptions because people sometimes fled to other political jurisdictions rather than only defined internal religious sanctuaries. This meant that asylum could be political as well as religious (Price 2009, p. 14), as applied to the Delians
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