Complicating Narratives with Documentary Photographer Glenna Gordon

In 1942, nine year-old Krishnan Gurumurthy fled to India from Burma with his family. It was just after the Japanese invasion, and they had just missed the final ferries out of Rangoon. So his family travelled by a treacherous land route -- a 1,500 mile journey that took over 42 days. Years later, Krishnan moved from India to the U.K., worked as a radiologist, and had a three kids: Krishnan, Geeta, and Ravi. Today, Ravi interviews his father about his journey from Burma to India and how his experience of displacement shaped the rest of his life. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Glenna Gordon is a documentary photographer and photojournalist. She's been commissioned by the New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets. She’s photographed a range of subjects, from Muslim women writing romance novels in Boko Haram territory in Northern Nigeria to the American women of the alt-right.  She’s also Grant Gordon’s older sister. This week, Grant interviews Glenna about her work in Nigeria, her current project documenting the alt-right, and the danger of a single narrative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The cruel irony of climate change is that it disproportionately impacts those who have contributed least to global warming—the world’s poorest and most marginalized groups. For Mary Robinson—former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, president of the Mary Robinson Foundation–Climate Justice, and the former, first female President of Ireland—rectifying these injustices is an essential part of the international effort to address climate change. This week, Ravi and Mary Robinson discuss the links between climate change-related displacement, human rights, and global equality. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about climate change by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Although cross-border displacement affects local communities, international efforts to address it typically take place at the highest levels. How can affected communities make their voices heard in these intergovernmental negotiations? This week, Ravi and Grant sit down with Walter Kaelin, Envoy of the Chair at the Platform on Disaster Displacement and former Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. Kaelin has been at the forefront of these intergovernmental processes, and he discusses how they've sometimes generated solutions - and sometimes been detached from them. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about climate change by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As climate change causes rapid and large-scale migration, countries already facing environmental challenges become increasingly vulnerable to instability and humanitarian crisis. Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center and former U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security, describes climate change as a threat multiplier. This week she joins Grant and Ravi to discuss how climate change is linked to conflicts happening now, and what it might lead to in the future. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about climate change by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! One last thing: we are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An estimated 26 million people a year were internally displaced by disasters and hazards between 2008 and 2015. These numbers will just get worse as climate change exacerbates the effects of natural disasters, increasing both internal and cross-border displacement. That is why we are releasing a series of episodes this season focusing on climate change. This week we kick off our series with Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales. McAdam explains why people displaced by climate change don’t have refugee status — and how we can use existing legal frameworks to ensure their protection. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about climate change by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! One last thing: we are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Throughout our series on refugee resettlement, we’ve referenced Canada’s system of private sponsorship as an overall success - but how does it actually work? And what can other countries learn from it as they build their own resettlement infrastructures? This week, Grant and Ravi get a close-up view of Canada’s resettlement system with Ahmed Hussen, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship for the Government of Canada. Minister Hussen provides insight into the history of resettlement in Canada and describes how private sponsorship has a political impact on the citizens who support refugees. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about refugee resettlement by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! One last thing: we are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week in our series on refugee resettlement, we take a closer look at the process of resettlement in the U.S. with Dauda Balubwila, a caseworker for the International Rescue Committee in Boise, Idaho. Dauda works with resettled refugees from the moment they arrive in Boise; he meets them at the airport, takes them to their first apartments, and then guides them through their first few months in the U.S. He provides valuable insight about the process of resettlement and its most pressing challenges. Plus, he shares his own story of resettlement in Boise after fleeing his home in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about refugee resettlement by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! One last thing: we are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In January 2019, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar became the first ever Somali-American member of Congress. Rep. Omar was resettled in the U.S. as a teenager, and since then has watched the topic of resettlement become increasingly polarized in U.S. politics. This week, Grant and Ravi interview Rep. Omar about her personal experience resettling in the U.S., and what needs to change in the U.S. system. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about refugee resettlement by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Imagine a world where every refugee who needs to be resettled receives that opportunity. What would it take? Today there are 1.4 million refugees who have no chance of returning to their homes or integrating into their countries of first asylum. For them, resettlement is the only option. But that option is under threat around the world - in 2019, U.S. refugee admissions alone are at a historic low due to a cap set by the Trump administration. In the first episode of a new series on global resettlement, Grant and Ravi talk to Dr. Jeremy Weinstein, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor of Political Science at Stanford. He gives us an overview of the U.S. resettlement model and shares his research on how data and machine learning can reform the system. Displaced is a production by the International Rescue Committee and Vox Media. You can read more about this episode in our show notes. Join our conversation about refugee resettlement by tweeting your thoughts to @grantmgordon and @rgurumurthy. Make sure you include the hashtag #DisplacedPodcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices