In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristi speaks with Dr. Rumana Hashem — political sociologist, feminist criminologist, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London.Dr. Hashem shares her powerful journey from Bangladesh to the UK, exploring how gender, conflict, and displacement shaped her path into migration research and refugee archiving. Her work brings together activism, feminism, and decolonial research to challenge the barriers that prevent refugees and migrants from accessing the very archives meant to hold their stories.Together, Kristi and Rumana discuss what “ethical archiving” really means — who gets to belong, who is left out, and how projects like the Living Refugee Archive are changing access for displaced and undocumented communities.Dr. Hashem also opens up about her experience with restrictive academic systems, the politics of belonging in research, and the ongoing fight for equity and inclusion in migration studies.Key Topics• Rumana’s journey from Bangladesh to the UK and her PhD on gender and conflict• The ethics of archiving forced displacement and migration stories• Access and exclusion in academic and archival institutions• The meaning of “belonging” and “unbelonging” in refugee research• Challenges faced by displaced and undocumented researchers• The Living Refugee Archive and its role in democratizing access• Ethical storytelling and compensation for research participants• How activism, academia, and archiving intersect in migration work• Decolonial and intersectional approaches to archiving and belongingResources & LinksLiving Refugee Archive: http://www.livingrefugeearchive.orgCentre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging (University of East London): https://www.uel.ac.uk/researchJournal: Displaced Voices: A Journal of Migration Archives and Cultural HeritageAbout Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive — a space that highlights storytelling projects, archives, and oral histories that share the experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees around the world. Special attention is given to the voices of female-headed households and single mothers in displacement.Together, Across Archives and our companion series The Archive Speaks preserve lived experience, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.🎧 Continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, our oral history audio archive featuring the voices of women and mothers living through displacement.