Barbara Elaine Harrell-Bond (née Moir) (7 November 1932 – 11 July 2018) was an American-born British

social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

in the field of refugee studies.

Early life and education

Barbara Elaine Moir was born on 7 November 1932, daughter of postman Elmer Edwin Moir and nurse Irene (née Belden), and raised in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen () is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,495. making it the third-most populous city in the state. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University. ...

. She attended Asbury College in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

where she studied music and later taught music, and met her future husband, Nathan Harrell-Bond. When he won a scholarship to

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Mansfield Coll ...

for a doctorate in psychology, she began studying anthropology at the

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

in 1965 where she earned an M.Litt. (1967) and a D.Phil. in social anthropology.

Academic career and the Refugee Studies Centre

Harrell-Bond was initially employed by the Department of Anthropology,

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, the African Studies Centre, Leiden, Holland, the School of Law,

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, and the American Universities Field Staff. She founded the

Refugee Studies Centre The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) was established in 1982, as part of the University of Oxford's Department of International Development (Queen Elizabeth House), in order to promote the understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migrati ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, the world's first institution for the study of refugees. It now hosts an annual lecture series named after her. On retirement in 1996, she conducted research on the extent to which refugees enjoy their rights in exile in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. She also founded or helped to found refugee legal aid organizations in several locations, including the Refugee Law Project in Uganda and AMERA (Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance) in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and worked with many young refugee rights lawyers such as Michael Kagan. In 2000 she was invited to the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...

to establish another refugee studies programme, the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS). In 2005, Harrell-Bond was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for her contributions to refugee studies. In September 2008, she returned to Oxford where she worked on establishing a website, www.refugeelegalaidinformation.org, an information platform for legal aid practitioners in the global south as director of the Refugee Programme of Fahamu Trust, an international NGO working on social justice issues.

Personal life

In 1951, Moir married Methodist pastor Nathan Samuel Harrell-Bond, with whom she had two sons and a daughter. On his return to America in 1969, they divorced, and she took the children with her whilst conducting research in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

for her dissertation. She married secondly, in 1972, Dr Samuel Nwafor Okeke, a Nigerian engineer she met in Sierra Leone; they subsequently divorced.

Death

Harrell-Bond resided in

Oxford, United Kingdom Oxford () is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every ...

. She died at home on 11 July 2018, at age 85.

Books

*''Modern Marriage in Sierra Leone'' (1975) *''Community Leadership and the Transformation of Freetown'' (1978) *''4 June: A Revolution Betrayed'' (1982, as Barbara E. Okeke) *''Imposing Aid: Emergency Assistance to Refugees'' (1986) *''Rights in Exile: Janus-Faced Humanitarianism'' (2005, with

Guglielmo Verdirame Guglielmo Verdirame, Baron Verdirame, (born 25 August 1971) is a legal scholar, barrister and a member of the House of Lords. He was previously a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, a university lecturer in law at the Universit ...

)

References

External links

AUC faculty pageArticle on Barbara Harrell-Bond being awarded the OBEInterview with Barbara Harrell-Bond from 2007Article on the occasion of her passing in The Financial TimesArticle on the occasion of her passing in The Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrell-Bond, Barbara 1932 births 2018 deaths British women academics Asbury University alumni Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford American emigrants to England British social scientists Academics of the University of Edinburgh Officers of the Order of the British Empire Academics of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Warwick People from Aberdeen, South Dakota Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom