Where to Settle the Stateless?
Palestinian Refugees from Lebanon at Germany's Margins
Matrix is located on the 8th floor of Barrows Hall, on the UC Berkeley campus, near Telegraph and Bancroft Avenues, just up the hill from Sather Gate. There are entrances at both ends of the building, but only one of the elevators on the eastern side goes directly to the 8th floor. You can alternatively take the stairs to the 7th floor and walk up the stairs.
The Matrix Research Team focused on "Questioning the Evidence on the Integration of Immigrants in Europe" will meet from noon to 2pm in the small Matrix conference room to discuss a chapter-in-progress by Lucia Volk, Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University. The topic of discussion: "Where to Settle the Stateless? Palestinian Refugees from Lebanon at Germany's Margins."
Lucia Volk obtained her PhD in Middle Eastern Studies with a concentration in Anthropology from Harvard University (2001). She also holds an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (1994) and a BA in International Relations from Stanford (1991). Her PhD dissertation focused on the processes of social and cultural reconstruction after Lebanon's 16-year-long civil war from the point of view of Lebanese returnee migrants.
Subsequent research in Lebanon focused on public sites of memory and their role in legitimizing a particular national narrative that places Muslim and Christian Lebanese sacrifice at the core of commemorative exercises. Her book Memorials and Martyrs in Modern Lebanon appeared in 2010 with Indiana University Press. She has further published on the topic of politics of memory in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Arab Studies Journal, the Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises (BAAL) and Middle Eastern Studies. Moreover, she is the editor and author of The Middle East in the World: An Introduction (Routledge, 2015).
Locally, Prof. Volk conducted research among Yemeni Muslims who live in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood focusing on issues of health and well-being in this marginal community within the larger bay area Arab community. Some of her research findings are published in the Medical Anthropology Quarterly (MAQ). Together with former executive director of the San Francisco Arab Cultural and Community Center, Sally al-Daher, she co-authored a report based on data from the Center's Health Survey, titled Living Healthier Lives in the Diaspora. Currently, Prof. Volk is working on a new book about Arab migrants and refugees in Germany.
Prof. Volk was co-PI of a Department of Education-funded grant to expand the Middle East and Islamic Studies program on campus, and obtained a grant from the Institute for Turkish Studies, Washington, DC, to initiate Turkish Studies at SFSU. She has presented her research at many national and international conferences, workshops, and colloquia.
In 2016, the senate honors committee selected Prof. Volk to receive San Francisco State Unversity's Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
