Dawn Chatty, professor emerita of anthropology, donates book collection to Birzeit University library

Dr. Dawn Chatty, professor emerita of anthropology and forced migration who previously held directorship of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, has recently donated a collection of books on refugee and migration studies to Birzeit University’s development studies library, located in the Said Khoury Building for Development Studies. 

The books, delivered through the UNRWA, revolve around migration, forced migration, immigration, migrants and refugees in international law, and humanitarian aid for refugees displaced by wars or disaster. 

The collection also includes Chatty’s recent book on the history of migration and displacement in the Levant area, “Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State.” In this monograph, Chatty discusses the waves of refugees flowing into Syria and the Levant since the middle of the 19th century, beginning with the Circassians and Chechnyan in the 1850s and ending with Iraqi refugees following the 2003 invasion of their country. 

The development studies library, one of Birzeit University’s four libraries, specializes in fields related to development, public and community health, international studies, and democracy and human rights. It contains more than 34,000 volumes in Arabic and English and provides students, academics, and researchers with access to 14 periodicals covering a wide variety of topics and subjects related to the library’s focus areas.