Three Nobel Prize laureates on their migrant experiences | Nobel Week Dialogue 2023
69Watch the discussion on "The Migrant's Experience" featuring three Nobel Prize laureates: Steven Chu, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Ardem Patapoutian.
Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, shares his powerful perspective on the condition of being a refugee, drawing from his personal experiences fleeing Zanzibar in the 1960s with his brother. Gurnah challenges the popular notions surrounding refugees, shedding light on the complex and misunderstood reality of their plight.
Medicine laureate Ardem Patapoutian offers a glimpse into life in the laboratory, portraying it as a diverse ‘tribe’ that shares the migrant experience. As an Armenian origin and Lebanese national who found his way to the USA, Patapoutian explores the theme of belonging and discusses how the laboratory provided a sense of identity amidst a diverse background.
Nobel Prize laureate Steven Chu delves into the rhetoric surrounding migration in the United States, addressing the backlash and its impact on the scientific community. Chu candidly discusses the persistence of Chinese exclusion, prejudice, and his own experiences, emphasising how these issues remain relevant in today's geopolitical sphere.
About Nobel Week Dialogue 2023: From our earliest beginnings, humanity has been on the move. Migration is our past, one of our present’s burning issues and, like it or not, it will be a defining feature of our future.
Time and again, our society has been shaped and reshaped by migrations. Everything suggests that the factors driving people to seek a new life elsewhere will only multiply. Whether forced by starvation or war, by our changing climate, or by the simple human desire to seek a better life elsewhere in the face of inequality, we humans will always be migrants.
Nobel Week Dialogue 2023 brought people together from across the spectrum of science, society and culture to explore the future of migration and how to approach that future. How we think about migration is one of the most pressing and important conversations we can have.
Delving into humanity’s intermingled origins, we asked what the past can tell us about what will come. Surveying the current picture of human resettlement, we discussed how the world is responding. Looking ahead, we investigate what steps we should take to assist and prepare.
In partnership with Carl Bennet AB; City of Gothenburg; Region Västra Götaland; Volvo.
Supporting foundation: Sten A. Olssons Stiftelse För Forskning och Kultur