The Ecosystem of Exile Politics: The importance of physical location in diaspora mobilization

Her book, The Ecosystem of Exile Politics (Cornell University Press, 2024), tells the story of a little-known refugee situation. 

It relays the events in Bhutan that led to the exodus of one-sixth of the population, and then recounts the activism by Bhutan’s refugee diaspora that followed. 

It shows that activism functions like a physical ecosystem, in which hubs of activism in different locations interact to pressure the home country. Proximity to the homeland allowed for powerful oppositional action, but rendered the activists quite precarious. Thus proximity, the book shows, was a boon and a bane.

About the speaker

Susan Banki is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and the Director of the Master of Social Justice. She studies the political, institutional and social contexts that explain the roots of and solutions to human rights violations and social justice abuses. In particular, she is interested in the ways that questions of sovereignty, transnationalism and citizenship/membership have shaped our responses to conflict and injustice, particularly examining institutions such as the international refugee regime, diasporas and the humanitarian system. 

Susan's focus is in the Asia-Pacific region, where she has conducted extensive field research in Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Japan on refugee/migrant protection, statelessness and border control. Her current projects include: the work of diasporas in responding to acute crises at home; humanitarian responses to complex displacement contexts; and the role of creative arts in transnational activism.