Katarzyna Grabska

Senior Researcher

Katarzyna Grabska
Additional position(s):
Visiting Professor, Institute of Ethnology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Email: katgra@prio.org
CV: Download CV

Research Interests

Themes

  • gender, generation, youth
  • displacement, refugees, return of dispalced populations
  • access to rights for refugees in urban settings
  • art and activism in the context of war and conflict
  • participatory, arts-based research methods
  • co-creation of knowledge
  • feminist and decolonial methodologies

Recent Research Projects

Geographical Expertise

  • Egypt
  • Sudan
  • South Sudan
  • Horn of Africa: Eritre and Ethiopia
  • Europe: Switzerland

Background

Katarzyna is a social  anthropologist, her research focuses on gender, generation, youth, displacement, refugees, return of dispalced populations, impact of war on gender and generational relations, and identities, access to rights for refugees in urban settings, art and activism in the context of war and conflict. Katarzyna has researched since 2002 on displacement and forced migration issues in Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Jordan, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam. She works with visual media, art-based research, feminist methodologies, and participatory methodologies. Since 2002, she has been carrying out a longitudinal study of gender relation transformations among Nuer from South Sudan in Egypt, Kenya, South Sudan and in Sudan, Khartoum.

She collaborates often with artists in her research, and engages with art-based research to understand issues of belonging, displacement, mobilities and identities. She also is a film-maker.

Education

2005 – 2010   DPhil Development Studies/Migration/Anthropology at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK       PhD Thesis: In-Flux: (Re)negotiations of Gender, Identity and 'Home' in Post-War Southern Sudan

1997 – 1999   M.A. in International Relations, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, , Bologna, Italy/Washington, DC

1994 – 1997   B.Sc.(Econ) International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

Voluntary Activities

Board member of the Khartoum American School – 2014-2016, Khartoum Sudan

Board member and founder of the Barbara Harrell-Bond Foundation – since July 2017

Board member of Association des Mediatrices Interculturelles (AMIC), Geneva, Switzerland – since June 2018

Films

(2018) Barbara Harrell-Bond: a life not ordinary, documentary: producer, researcher and writer; with Enrico Falzetti.

(2016) 2 Girls, documentary, researcher and producer. Received 10 first prizes – see below; screened worldwide.

(2015) "Time to look at girls: Migrants in Bangladesh and Ethiopia", documentary, researcher and producer.

(2005) "The Art of Flight', fabularised documentary about Sudanese refugees in Cairo, researcher and associate producer, Nomads Productions, June.

(2001) "Frankfuhrter Bahnhof" – documentary about homeless people, research and production assistant, ZDF Television, November.

(1999) The Crash" documentary about the international financial crisis, research assistant and production intern, Washington Media Associates, June.

Art Installations

(2019) January-March. "120 cows: violence against women" (120 vaches: des violences faites aux femmes) - St. Font, Lyon, France. Coproduction of the exhibition in collaboration with artists, researchers, refugee women and civil societxy associations.

Languages

  • Polish (native), English (fluent), French, German (fluent),
  • Russian, Italian (good knowledge),
  • Arabic: Sudanese and Egyptian Colloquial and Nuer (basic working knowledge)

Media appearances

  • Between the Lines Podcast: S02 Ep 10: Forced Displacement: Why Rights Matter – Lyla Mehta and Katarzyna Grabska. Listen by clicking here.


Events

PRIO started tracking events online in 2007. This listing is not complete. Past events may be mentioned in our news archive.

Recent Publications

Grabska, Katarzyna (2022) In Whose Voice? And for Whom? Collaborative Filming and Narratives of Forced Migration, in Grabska, Katarzyna; & Christina Clark-Kazak, eds, Documenting Displacement: Questioning Methodological Boundaries in Forced Migration Research. Toronto: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Marina de Regt (2022) Girls on the Move: Changing Dynamics of Migration in the Horn of Africa, in Bach, Jean-Nicolas; & Jan Záhořík, eds, The Horn of Africa as an Innovative Political Space: State of Play and Lessons from a Globalised Region.. London: Routledge.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Christina Clark-Kazak (2022) Introduction: Documenting Displacement beyond Methodological and Ethical Boundaries, in Grabska, Katarzyna; & Christina Clark-Kazak, eds, Documenting Displacement: Questioning Methodological Boundaries in Forced Migration Research. Toronto: McGill-Queen's University Press (3–23).
Huijsmans, Roy & Katarzyna Grabska (2022) Introduction: Transgressing and Reworking Social Boundaries Through Dance and Music, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 1–13.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Azza Ahmed Abdel Aziz (2022) “Kandakas and Meheiras”: The Emergence of Creative Citizenship and Belonging Through Women’s Music in Sudan, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 32–49.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Roy Huijsmans (2022) Dance as Liberating and as Limiting, as Connecting, Creating and Crossing Boundaries: Interview with Prumsodun Ok, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 85–93.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Cindy Horst (2022) Art, violent conflict and displacement, Conflict and Society 8(1): 172–191.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2022) Visual Storytelling about Genocide, Displacement, and Exile: Encounters with Rithy Panh, Conflict and Society 8(1): 192–211.

All Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Huijsmans, Roy & Katarzyna Grabska (2022) Introduction: Transgressing and Reworking Social Boundaries Through Dance and Music, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 1–13.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Azza Ahmed Abdel Aziz (2022) “Kandakas and Meheiras”: The Emergence of Creative Citizenship and Belonging Through Women’s Music in Sudan, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 32–49.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Roy Huijsmans (2022) Dance as Liberating and as Limiting, as Connecting, Creating and Crossing Boundaries: Interview with Prumsodun Ok, Music & Arts in Action 8(1): 85–93.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Cindy Horst (2022) Art, violent conflict and displacement, Conflict and Society 8(1): 172–191.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2022) Visual Storytelling about Genocide, Displacement, and Exile: Encounters with Rithy Panh, Conflict and Society 8(1): 192–211.
Franck, Alice & Katarzyna Grabska (2020) Exposition 120 vaches [The art installation 120 cows: co-production of knowledge about the experiences of women refugees], Cahiers d’Études africaines 240: 1023–1026.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2020) ‘Wasting time’: migratory trajectories of adolescence among Eritrean refugee girls in Khartoum, Critical African Studies 12(1): 22–36.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Peter Müller (2016) “South Sudanese in Khartoum: The House in Amarat”, Egypte/Monde Arabe, 14.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2015) «Jeunes filles armées, femmes violées, porteuses de valises: les guerres au Sud Soudan »,, Actes de Colloques, Université de Kinshasa.
Horst, Cindy & Katarzyna Grabska (2015) Flight and Exile — Uncertainty in the Context of Conflict-induced displacement, Social Analysis: Journal of Cultural and Social Practice 59(1): 1–18.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2013) ‘The Return of Displaced Nuer in Southern Sudan: Women Becoming Men?’, Development and Change, 44(5).
Grabska, Katarzyna (2010) Lost boys, invisible girls: stories of Sudanese marriages across borders, Gender, Place and Culture 17(4): 479–497.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2006) Marginalization in Urban Spaces of the Global South: Urban Refugees in Cairo, Journal of Refugee Studies 19(3): 287–307.

Monograph

Grabska, Katarzyna; Nicoletta Del Franco & Marina de Regt (2019) Transitions into adulthood: adolescent girls’ migration in the Global South. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2014) Gender, Home & Identity: Nuer Repatriation to Southern Sudan. Oxford: Boydell and Boydell.

Book Chapter

Grabska, Katarzyna (2022) In Whose Voice? And for Whom? Collaborative Filming and Narratives of Forced Migration, in Grabska, Katarzyna; & Christina Clark-Kazak, eds, Documenting Displacement: Questioning Methodological Boundaries in Forced Migration Research. Toronto: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Marina de Regt (2022) Girls on the Move: Changing Dynamics of Migration in the Horn of Africa, in Bach, Jean-Nicolas; & Jan Záhořík, eds, The Horn of Africa as an Innovative Political Space: State of Play and Lessons from a Globalised Region.. London: Routledge.
Grabska, Katarzyna & Christina Clark-Kazak (2022) Introduction: Documenting Displacement beyond Methodological and Ethical Boundaries, in Grabska, Katarzyna; & Christina Clark-Kazak, eds, Documenting Displacement: Questioning Methodological Boundaries in Forced Migration Research. Toronto: McGill-Queen's University Press (3–23).
Grabska, Katarzyna & Azza Ahmed Abdel Aziz (2021) Epilogue. Negotiations of Multiple Identities and the Polemics of Living In-Betweenness: In Conversation with Stella Gaitano, in Casciarri, Barbara; Alice Franck; & Idris Salim El-Hassan, eds, In-Betweenness in Greater Khartoum: Spaces, Temporalities, and Identities from Separation to Revolution. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2021) Translocal Citizenship of the Margins: Nuer Negotiations of Belonging in Khartoum, in Franck, Alice; Barbara Casciarri; & Idris Salim El-Hassan, eds, In-Betweenness in Greater Khartoum: Spaces, Temporalities, and Identities from Separation to Revolution. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2020) Tracac czas: migracja dziewczat z Erytrei do Chartumu [‘Wasting time’: migratory trajectories of adolescence among Eritrean refugee girls in Khartoum], in Jaroslaw Rozanski, ed., Collectanea Sudanica vol. 4. Warsaw:: Wyszynski University (217–252).
Grabska, Katarzyna & An Van Raemdonck (2019) « Savoirs féministes et expertise de genre à l’épreuve des crises de réfugié·es, des déplacements de longue durée et du développement », in Christine Vershuur, ed., Savoirs féministes au Sud : Expertes en genre et tournant décolonial. Paris: Karthala : L’Harmattan.
Grabska, Katarzyna (2019) “‘Wasting time’: migratory trajectories of adolescence among Eritrean refugee girls in Khartoum, in Zabek, Maciej; & Jaroslaw Rozanski, eds, Bilad Sudan. Poland: University of k. St. Wyszynski.

Edited Volume

Grabska, Katarzyna; & Christina Clark-Kazak, eds, (2022) Documenting Displacement: Questioning Methodological Boundaries in Forced Migration Research. Toronto: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Grabska, Katarzyna; & Lyla Mehta, eds, (2008) Forced Displacement: Why Rights Matter. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Book Review

Grabska, Katarzyna (2020) Review of Nadia Mustafa Ali, ed., Gender, Race and Sudan’s Exile Politics: Do we all belong to this country?, in Cahier d'Études Africaines 240: 1015–1017.

Related pages