Slavery, lived realities, and the decolonisation of forced migration histories: An interview with Dr Portia Owusu

Abstract

Abstract Academic institutions in the global North have historically claimed leadership in the production of high-quality scholarship. As such, it is their work that often informs pedagogical materials in secondary and tertiary education worldwide. This dominance has serious cultural impacts. At the very least, it positions Western academics as ‘custodians’ of knowledge with the ability to influence what is taught and how it is taught. Within this framework, learning is politicised, and the teaching of subjects such as history, becomes a space of contention. These issues touch on the aim of the Southern Responses to Displacement from Syria (SRD) project, financed by the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 715582) and led by Professor Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh in the Migration Research Unit at University College London. In particular, it aligns with the project’s goal to explore a multi-directional approach to knowledge production and to centralise the experience of displaced peoples and actors from the global South in scholarship. The Research Associate Dr Estella Carpi discussed slavery as an ignored form of forced migration with Dr Portia Owusu, Assistant Professor of English Literature at Texas A&M. The SRD team’s conversation with Dr Owusu, indeed, endeavours to rethink mainstream forced migration studies and rather engages with neglected—and, at times, silenced—epistemologies of forced migration.