Who gets to tell refugees’ stories? More often than not, at least when it comes to research and academia, the answer is: Someone else. Over and over again, articles in top-tier academic journals, books off of the publishing presses, and news publications and broadcasts cite or are by scholars and practitioners from Europe or North America, even though 83 percent of forced migrants are in low- and middle-income countries. In recent years, just 14 percent of articles in the Journal of Refugee Studies, 11 percent of those in Refugee Survey Quarterly, and 11 percent in Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees were by individuals in the Global South, according to analysis from the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN). North America and Europe are similarly home to most authors of articles in Migration Studies and, surely, other journals. We have not analyzed data on authors in the Migration Information Source, but I suspect that the results would be similar. Language barriers, limited knowledge of networks, and other factors inhibit fuller representation. Which is why we at the Source have been heartened to see efforts by several research and media institutions to partner with and mentor early-career scholars who are from the Global South and have a personal history of forcible displacement. Last December, LERRN and Forced Migration Review partnered up to pilot a mentoring program designed to support authors from the Global South, discussed in the new issue of the journal. The Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales also recently teamed up with Lund University’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law to launch the Displaced Scholars Peer Mentoring Program. In the world of journalism, initiatives such as the UK-based Refugee Journalism Project and France’s Maison des Journalistes seek to find opportunities for exiled and forcibly displaced journalists. Hopefully there will be more of these kinds of projects going forward. Researchers from the Global South and particularly those with a history of forced displacement have firsthand experience, cultural understanding, and insightful perspectives that can provide crucial insights on cutting-edge issues. As for the Source, we are always eager to receive pitches from potential authors in the Global South and countries with major refugee populations, or be made aware of their work by others who have come across it. Feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. Best regards,
Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
[email protected] | 
