Suhaila Meera

Against the backdrop of an ever-escalating global refugee situation, mainstream media’s spotlight on children has ignited debates around notions of innocence, deservingness, and citizenship. Theater- and filmmakers, too, have turned their attention toward the child on the move. But how, and why, did children become main characters in the grand drama of contemporary displacement? And what might their performances reveal of borders, belonging, and the world they will inherit? “The Child at the Border” examines cultural works from South Asia and the Middle East, analyzing how they both reflect and challenge the violent logic through which nation-states render some children displaced, or “out of place”—while these children play their assigned roles strategically.