DCII Big Challenge Series: Rawan Arar: The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach In-Person
Please join the DCII and John Goodwin Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs for the next event in our 2025-26 Big Challenge Series on Understanding Migration: A lecture from Dr. Rawan Arar (University of Washington), co-author of the book The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach.
Some people facing violence and persecution flee. Others stay. How do households in danger decide who should go, where to relocate, and whether to keep moving? What are the conditions in countries of origin, transit, and reception that shape people's options? The Refugee System tells the story of how one Syrian family, spread across several countries, tried to survive the civil war and live in dignity. This story forms a backdrop to explore and explain the refugee system. Departing from studies that create silos of knowledge about just one setting or "solution" to displacement, the book's sociological approach describes a global system that shapes refugee movements. Changes in one part of the system reverberate elsewhere. Feedback mechanisms change processes across time and place. Earlier migrations shape later movements. Immobility on one path redirects migration along others. Past policies, laws, population movements, and regional responses all contribute to shape states' responses in the present. Presenting an analysis of refugee structures worldwide, this book offers invaluable insights for students and scholars of international migration and refugee studies across the social sciences, as well as policy makers and those involved in refugee and asylum work.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Raymond Robertson, Helen and Roy Ryu Professor and Chair of Economics and Government at Texas A&M University. Dr. Raymond Robertson is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany, and a senior research fellow at the Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center. He was named a 2018 Presidential Impact Fellow by Texas A&M University. Widely published in the field of labor economics and international economics, Robertson previously chaired the U.S. Department of Labor's National Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and the Center for Global Development's advisory board.
- Date:
- Wednesday, February 11, 2026
- Time:
- 5:30pm - 7:30pm
- Time Zone:
- Central Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Moody Auditorium
Moody Auditorium is located on the first floor of Frances Anne Moody Hall. There will be a reception in the atrium of the auditorium starting at 5:30 with the lecture beginning at 6:00 in the auditorium. Appetizers will be served.
There is a visitor lot immediately next to Frances Anne Moody Hall, off Airline Drive, that visitors may use for a fee. Free parking passes to one of SMU's parking lots near the building will also be made available—those who request a pass at the time of registration will receive the pass via email a few days before the event. If you have any questions about parking passes, please email the DCII at dcinterdisciplinaryinstitute@smu.edu.
For more information about the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, please visit our website.
Any person who requires a reasonable accommodation on the basis of a disability in order to participate in this program should contact the DCII at dcinterdisciplinaryinstitute@smu.edu at least one week prior to the event to arrange for accommodation.
Speakers express their own views and not necessarily the views of the DCII or SMU.