Sociopolitical dimension of environmental refugees suffering: the university as a discursive support mechanism

Abstract

This article aims to understand the sociopolitical dimension of the suffering experienced by environmental refugees, based on the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis, as well as to establish the importance of the university in relation to reception and the possibility of discursive support for this population. To this end, a bibliographic review was conducted on refuge and migration resulting from environmental events and conditions. Based on the material found, the sociopolitical dimension of the suffering of environmental refugees was analyzed, along with the role of the university in the integration of this population into the host country. It is understood that the lack of recognition of this migration category in major legal instruments, along with the various forms of exclusion and violence experienced, produces discursive abandonment and multiple modes of silencing and marginalization. Therefore, the importance of the debate on environmental refuge is highlighted, both in legal and academic spheres, involving civil society, governments, and social institutions.