Crossing borders : policies that shape refugee life

The purpose of this chapter is to consider various border crossings that frame refugees' experiences and to examine a range of policies that affect refugees. These policies are both international and Australian. The nature of the border crossings and policies that frame refugee life in Australia, and in particular the lives of African refugee students, is the focus of this chapter. It is important to contextualise refugees' experiences in terms of worldwide as well as local phenomena. These contexts involve multiple border crossings: geographic, physical, legal, psychological and cultural. In essence, refugees are people who cross borders because they fear persecution if they remain in their countries of origin