Sara Cosemans Email & Phone Number

Ph.D. in History, specialized in migration and refugee policy and experiences in the late 20th century. My dissertation 'The Internationalization of the Refugee Problem' analyzes the resettlement of the three major groups from the Global South - the Ugandan Asians, refugees from Chile, and refugees from Indochina - during the 1970s. The idea grew out my two MA theses. In the first one, written at KU Leuven, I explored the migration of Sikhs from Punjab to the Hesbaye region in Belgium. I discovered that the first Siksh in Belgium did not come from Punjab but from Uganda. Curious about this development, I wrote a second thesis at Columbia University and the LSE about the international dispersal of Ugandan Asians, which led to the discovery that the practices of dispersal, developed for the Ugandan Asians, were later applied to other groups from the Global South until 1979, when their migration became increasingly restricted.I became a migration historian through my experience in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, where I spend a year as an exchange student. Living between the borders of Honduras and Belize, migrants were a daily sight. It was there and then that I realized what the world looked like for people in the South, who were not allowed to travel around freely as I was. This life-changing experience has translated in my professional work, but also in my engagement as a volunteer. I have extensive experience as a local leader and board member of AFS Intercultural Programs and have taken up leadership roles at my university, particularly with regard to organizing the junior researchers and assistants and enhancing the diversity team.Travelling and exploring remains my passion. Books and my garden can induce similar feelings of wonder.

Listed skills include Dutch, French, English, History, and 13 others.