Refugees
...what is true of all exile is not that home and love of home are lost, but that loss is inherent in the very existence of both.
Edward Said (2000)
Were the occupants of the house above rendered homeless? Probably not for there are many reasons our homes may be destroyed, some positive, some less so. Maybe the destruction was part of a
plan,
People move for fundamentally very different reasons.
or a necessary improvement, or the outgrowing of a nest, or even the expunging of a rejected past. However, sometimes there is no flexibility; no choice. The occupants must flee. Flee from diktat, from ethnic disharmony, from persecution - flee as refugees. Although not as a refugee, Edward Said left Palestine for America, and there reflected on exile. He saw how our
home,
On the place that home has for most of us...
and our love of home, can be used to help us understand
loss
One side of change that is central to so much of life.
better. It must never be a forced lesson - refugees have no choice - but those, lucky enough to have homes, thereby have shelter, and a place to learn in comfort. Turned out, comfortless, we must
face
The link between the face, facing events, and ethics.
others, and further, as refugees we must trust those others; how could any human being abuse such trust?
Edward Said’s Reflections on Exile was first published by Harvard University Press, then in the UK by Granta in 2001, from where the quote on page 185 is taken.
The building was photographed in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1971.
Above, hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 22nd November 2025
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