Borderless Higher Education for Refugees: Lessons from the Dadaab Refugee Camps

Wenona Giles, PhD, FRSC is Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar in the Anthropology Department and Resident Research Associate at the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Canada, where she has taught and published in the areas of gender, forced migration, globalization, migration, education, nationalism and war. She co-founded and co-coordinated the International Women in Conflict Zones Research Network (1993-2004). She initiated and then co-led the a multi-year project (2013-2019) funded by the Canadian government and the Open Society Foundations that continues to bring degree programs from Kenyan and Canadian universities to refugees in the Dadaab refugee camps of Kenya (www.bher.org).

Lorrie Miller, PhD is Associate Director for IVET - Institute for Veterans Education and Transition in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her work with IVET supports the development of a Veteran friendly Campus in a Canadian context and related academic programs for military related learners as they transition from active service to civilian life through university education. Questions surrounding pedagogies of care drive her academic curiosity. What does and should education look like in challenging times, in fragile contexts, with a cross-section of learners? Her recent position in teacher education at UBC, as a program coordinator in the B.Ed program and post-degree diplomas, involved working closely with the BHER project as a coordinator and student advisor for those visiting UBC students who studied in Dadaab and worked towards completion of their diploma in Secondary Teacher Education. In addition, she is a textile artist and instructor, where slow and Indigenous pedagogies are woven throughout her teaching, art, and writing.