Past event
2024 Sanctuary Lecture In conversation with Author Dr Dina Nayeri and Dr Roxani Krystalli
St Andrews is a University of Sanctuary, committed to making Higher Education accessible for those seeking sanctuary and to helping to foster a culture of welcome throughout the UK. Our Annual Sanctuary Lecture is an opportunity to hear from experts about themes and issues connected to sanctuary. After opening remarks from the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE, this year's Sanctuary Lecture will be given by Dina Nayeri, Reader in the School of English, and will unfold as a conversation with Dr Roxani Krystalli, Lecturer in the School of International Relations.
The discussion will shed light on how a sense of place shapes people's journeys – geographically, professionally and emotionally – and how the experience of seeking refuge has influenced Dina's understanding of the meanings of sanctuary. The conversation will also be an opportunity to reflect on the politics of storytelling about violence, migration and dignity.
Dina Nayeri is the author of two critically acclaimed nonfiction books, Who Gets Believed (2023) and The Ungrateful Refugee (2019), and two previous novels. Her work is published in more than 20 countries and in magazines such as The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Guardian and Granta. Who Gets Believed is currently a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award and she is the recipient of many other awards and honours, including Germany's Geschwister Scholl Prize. Her essays and stories on displacement and home are taught in schools across Europe and the US.
Dr Roxani Krystalli's interdisciplinary research and teaching focus on feminist peace and conflict studies, as well as on the politics of nature and place. She is currently the co-Principal Investigator of a large-scale international research project on the politics and role of love and care in the wake of loss. This work is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation. Roxani's first book, Good Victims: The Political as a Feminist Question (Oxford University Press, 2024), is based on in-depth engagement in Colombia over the course of a decade.
To attend register for the event.