The Close Encounters in War Journal has reached an important goal that means much for us editors and for the project itself. One year after the publication of the first issue of November 2018, we publish issue n. 2, devoted to the topical theme of displacement. In between, we have taken an important decision for the life of the journal and we have consequently taken a crucial step that represented no minor challenge. We moved the whole journal to a new website of our own design in May 2018. Since then, the journal has been re-designed in accordance with the purpose of providing a complex tool for our readers, consisting in two different but non-exclusive sections: the academic journal that is published on a yearly basis; and the section of news and announcements that is fed year-round. CEIWJ is gaining more and more visitors worldwide and its scientific value is demonstrated by the rate of visits that the journal receives daily. We plan to close 2019 with the official registration for ISSN number, which will permit CEIWJ to gain wider visibility in the catalogues of the major libraries of the world. And last but not least, we are soon going to publish the Call for Articles for our issue n. 3 that will be devoted to the theme of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, a few words about the current issue. Displacement and forced migration represent some of the most worrying issues of the contemporary world: according to data published by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) there are currently 70.8 million forced migrants globally (Figures at a Glance, 2019) and its reports also show that wars, persecutions, violence and human rights violations are among the main causes of current forced migrations. The current crisis is unprecedented and calls for a deep reflection on how to face its urgency, particularly in relation to the situation of the people involved and the humanitarian emergency. In this special issue we look at displacement and forced migration caused by war and conflict in the contemporary era, with a particular focus on the challenges met by those who experienced it.

The five articles collected in the present issue cover a number of case-studies of displacement that vary as to geographical and chronological context, methodological approach, and specific disciplinary field, as far as they range from oral history to cultural history, and cultural studies.

Issue n. 2 (2019): Close Encounters, Displacement and War

Christophe Declercq: The Odd Case of the Welcome Refugee in Wartime Britain: Uneasy Numbers, Disappearing Acts and Forgetfulness Regarding Belgian Refugees in the First World War

Simona Tobia: Voicing New Identities. Two Case-Studies of Oral History and Displacement in WW2 and its Aftermath

Barbara Krasner: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Crossing between Nazi-Occupied and Soviet-Occupied Poland in 1939

Elisheva A. Perelman: Babysan’s Burden: An Analysis of the American Occupation of Japan through Cartoons

Natoschia Scruggs: Recollections of War and Displacement from the Somali Global Diaspora