Younes Saramifar is a cultural anthropologist who focuses on violence, displacement, ecological break down and political embodiment. He has obtained his first doctorate in Delhi School of Economics with looking at the armed resistance movements in the Middle East. recently, he finished his second doctorate in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he  explored politics of memory and armed nonstate combatants. Currently, he is working as an assistant professor in the department of Anthropology and affiliated fellow of the Refugee Academy. He has started a new project ‘securitization of nature and the role of nonstate eco-activists in Iran and Afghanistan’ which is funded by Greda Henkel Foundation (Germany). 

‘My personal ambition within the Refugee Academy is to develop further research line titled ‘biography of ordinary man’ to understand  the relationship between political participation, integration and displacement.’

What is your scientific background and expertise?

I am a cultural anthropologist with focus on violence, displacement and political embodiment.

What role do you have within the Refugee Academy, and what keeps you busy in this role?

I am the research fellow of VICI grant and supervise some of junior fellows of the academy.

What do you feel is the most important about/central to the Refugee Academy, and why?

I feel the collaborative knowledge production with outside actors is most important.

What is your personal ambition within the Refugee Academy, and how would you connect this to your work and/or life outside the Refugee Academy? 

My personal ambition within the Refugee Academy is to develop further research line on understanding the relationship between political participation, integration and displacement.