Expressions of Displacement: Refugeetude and Subjectivity

The purpose of this exhibit is to explore the concept of refugeetude through an analysis of Vietnamese and Greco-Roman artifacts that illustrate how refugees experience and contest displacement across time and space. The Vietnamese artifacts are housed with the Refugee Material Culture Initiative (RMCI). Vinh Nguyen notes that the experience of "refugeeness"' is difficult to "jettison from the self", highlighting the enduring experience of displacement over time (2019, 110). These artifacts illustrate how refugeetude complicates the narratives embedded in international law which suggest a temporary displacement and obscure the ongoing relationship between the individual and their experience of forced migration. In addition to analyzing artifacts that reflect these themes across time and space, this exhibit uses art by Vietnamese refugees which depicts their personal relationship with displacement. As Nguyen notes, refugeetude is "thinking, feeling, and acting" in a way that contests the limiting frameworks imposed through institutions (2019, 123). Overall, this exhibit explores the experiences of Vietnamese refugees through selected artifacts, as well as connections across time and space through Greco-Roman artifacts. However, it also incorporates expressions of displacement that highlight the ways that refugees reorient their experiences and build their own narratives.