In an area where the ultimate goal is to help people, it is unfortunate that the refugees who are gaining more attention as subjects of research are not gaining much directly from that research. It is also unfortunate that to see some positive effects from the results of that research can take years, possibly decades. The consequence is that refugees feel taken advantage of and used. This is understandable. I would not like to perpetuate this negativity in my own research. Of course I’m trying to make a positive contribution, and I want to do my best to not create harm on my way to doing some positive work. I’ve chosen to do this by volunteering at a refugee organization in downtown Vancouver called Inland Refugee Society of BC.  I’ll be teaching again, which I dearly miss, and I’ll be adding some positivity in this arena.

To give you some background, the following are the first couple of pages of the literature review (a summary of the current studies in the subject) I wrote for my first class. I’ll probably write more about my area of research, so this will build a more complete understanding of this issue. The introduction gives a general view of the current state of refugee situations.

 

Continue reading “I Don’t Expect to Change the World, I’m Going to Help in Whatever Small Way I Can” →