His thesis, written in the 1960s, argued that any embodiment of the word ‘refugee’ struck terror into human hearts and minds. Whether a refugee fled persecution on account of race, religion, nationality or political opinion did not matter. To understand the predicament, examples of geography could be avoided: in fact, any person who sought refuge in any ‘other’ presented a conundrum for humans who liked to keep things in their place. Refugees from ideology, food groups or popular culture, for example, also aroused suspicion. Soon, he too sought refuge – from academia – and his thesis was buried until he had died.
