Legal-Bureaucratic Human Categorization in the Postwar Period. From “Displaced Persons to “Refugee” (B05)

• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442261292

The project examines the significance of legal-bureaucratic human categorization for the production and establishment of generic person categories with regard to the specific case of the history of the “refugee.” It is posited that between 1944 and 1951, in conjunction with agency stemming from humans in transit, international actors expanded upon and ultimately left behind the situative category of “displaced person.” The project combines a multi-perspective approach with an analysis of local, international, and state practices of distinguishing between humans beyond the nation state, and, thus, further develops a socio-cultural approach for the research of the historical interplay of mobility and belonging.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1482: Studies in Human Categorization
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Project Head: Dr. Anne Friedrichs