2016 Winner: African Asylum Seekers and Ethnic Nationalism in Israel

Project Information
African Asylum Seekers and Ethnic Nationalism in Israel
Humanities
HIS 194W: Social Movements in the Modern Middle East
Over 45,000 African asylum seekers presently live in the state of Israel. Despite their claims as refugees, the state of Israel labels and treats African asylum seekers as illegal infiltrators that pose a threat to the Jewish nation. Using the theories of Sammy Smooha and Oren Yiftachel, this paper explores questions of citizenship and ethnicity. This paper examines how the ethno-national character of the state of Israel hinders the recognition or integration of African asylum seekers and results in a range of poor to dehumanizing conditions including racial discrimination, acts of violence, indefinite imprisonment, and refoulement.
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Students
  • Hana Faye Rothstein (Kresge)
Mentors