Alexandra Greene holds a Master of Arts in Gender Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Communication and Media Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature and Philosophy. For her MA thesis, she drew upon ethnographic fieldwork completed at a refugee camp in Greece, in order to explore the affective, digital practices of refugee women waiting to travel onwards. Her research interests include gender, media, migration, agency, emotionality, social justice, solidarity, and research-creation. In January 2019, she started her PhD in Sociology at VU Amsterdam under the supervision of prof. dr. Halleh Ghorashi as part of the Refugee Academy’s project on Engaged Scholarship. Her research explores the cooperation between academia and society in the United States in promoting the social inclusion of refugees.
‘As someone who believes that academia can and should play a role in social justice, I believe it is not only productive but ethically imperative to treat research as an opportunity to build linkages between academic communities and communities that exist outside of the academy, particularly communities most heavily impacted by systemic inequalities.’
What is your scientific background and expertise?
My research is grounded in intersectional feminist practices, arts-based community activism, and a humanities education. I hold a Master of Arts in Gender Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Communication and Media Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature and Philosophy. For my MA thesis, I drew upon ethnographic fieldwork completed at a refugee camp in Greece, in order to explore the affective, digital practices of refugee women waiting to travel onwards. Over the years, I have developed research interests and expertise in gender, media, migration, agency, emotionality, social justice, and research-creation. In January 2019, I started my PhD in Sociology at VU Amsterdam under the supervision of prof. dr. Halleh Ghorashi. My research explores the cooperation between academia and society in the United States in promoting the social inclusion of refugees.
What role do you have within the Refugee Academy, and what keeps you busy in this role?
My PhD research is embedded within a larger NWO Vici-funded project that explores critically engaged scholarship and narratives of change in three contexts (the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States). This project, and my research, are aligned with several aims of the Refugee Academy, namely, the promotion of community, participation, and social inclusion. As a PhD researcher, I complete literature reviews, conduct qualitative research, and analyse data relevant to the Refugee Academy’s key themes.
What do you feel is the most important about/central to the Refugee Academy, and why?
The Refugee Academy offers a framework for connecting various societal stakeholders, so that they may share knowledge, experiences, and practices, build one another’s capacity, and reflect together on concrete ways to promote refugee inclusion. Throughout this exchange, the experiences of refugees are placed at the centre. There is an emphasis on reflexivity, in order that participants may reflect critically on power, social positioning, and context, and the ways in which discourses of exclusion become normalised, internalised, and reproduced. By working collaboratively, and placing refugees, and their narratives, at the centre of this exchange, the aim of the Refugee Academy is to challenge and transform structures of exclusion, and promote, work toward, and bring about actual refugee inclusion.
What is your personal ambition within the Refugee Academy, and how would you connect this to your work and/or life outside the Refugee Academy?
Within the Refugee Academy, I wish to scrutinise, and reflect on, the position of academia in civil society. I wish to explore how academic institutions and researchers can become (more) accountable to, and act as better allies to, refugees and movements for social change. As someone who believes that academia can and should play a role in social justice, I believe it is not only productive but ethically imperative to treat research as an opportunity to build linkages between academic communities and communities that exist outside of the academy, particularly communities most heavily impacted by systemic inequalities. This is what doing social justice work requires.