The Refugee Experience: Defining the Parameters of a Field of Study

Abstract

We are in the midst of major efforts by governments, international agencies, voluntary agencies, universities and foundations to develop a comprehensive, coordinated, permanent and professional refugee assis? tance system. We have a long way to go with-no assurance that all the effort will produce results but the accelerating development of major refugee crises has promoted an appreciation of the need for alterations in the system. Crisis follows crisis so rapidly that there is no lull, no chance for refugee agencies or workers to wrap it up and disappear. Indochi? nese refugee resettlement centers change to more universal titles and assist exiles from Haiti or Cuba. Relief workers rush from Kampuchea to Somalia with a stop in Afhanistan. As the agencies and workers experi? ence the same problems anew, albeit in fresh cultural wrapping, the understanding of the recurring patterned nature of refugee problems grows.