Discussion of the 2025 book "Exiled Scholars in Western Academia: Refugees or Intellectuals?"

Join sociologist Alfred Babo and theater scholar Burcu Yasemin Şeyben for a discussion of the 2025 book, Exiled Scholars in Western Academia: Refugees or Intellectuals? The volume, which Dr. Babo co-edited with Sayed Hassan Akhlaq, includes first-hand narratives from scholars from around the world working in political sciences, international studies, anthropology, law, philosophy, and the humanities.

The volume, which Dr. Babo co-edited with Sayed Hassan Akhlaq, includes first-hand narratives from scholars from around the world working in political sciences, international studies, anthropology, law, philosophy, and the humanities.

The contributors (including Burcu Şeyben) discuss their own experiences and reflect on the changing nature of knowledge production, transfer, and exchange in a world increasingly affected by forced migration. They also explore how personal life difficulties and/or successes, mixed with emotional distress and cultural adjustments, could be framed into a scholarly analysis of academia in exile.

Alfred Babo is an alumnus of both the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund and Scholars at Risk and sits on the Scholars at Risk Network board. A native of Côte d’Ivoire, he undertook his fellowship at Smith College in 2012-13. He is now an associate professor of sociology & anthropology and the Director of the International Studies Program at Fairfield University. His research focuses on sustainable development, social change and community development, immigration, and post-conflict society.

Burcu Yasemin Şeyben is a scholar, writer, and director whose works advocate for feminist, decolonial, politically engaged, and contemporary writing, analysis, and praxis committed to making the performing arts of the global minorities in the Turkish and American theater visible. Her chapter contribution to Exiled Scholars in Western Academia is titled “Survival of the Weakest.”