More than mere survival: violence, humanitarian governance, and practical material politics in a Kenyan refugee camp

Léonie S Newhouse

Environment and Planning A, 2015, vol. 47, issue 11, 2292-2307

Abstract: This paper frames the political import of refugees' material practices in Kakuma Refugee Camp through critical reflection on Eyal Weizman's notion of the humanitarian present. To begin, I explore how the production of the refugee camp as a space of containment takes place not through a unified humanitarian calculus, but through a set of articulated practices undertaken by various actors—governments, police, aid agencies, host populations, and refugees—all of which have profoundly material manifestations. Secondly, I argue that refugees' pursuits of material well-being through semilicit and illicit means should be read as a practical material critique of the declining standards of humanitarian support. These efforts to achieve sustenance, invest in the future, and exert autonomy serve as a public reminder that humanitarian assistance fails to meet the minimum standard to ensure human existence, and that refugees aim for something more than mere survival.

Keywords: humanitarianism; refugee camps; violence; Kenya; South Sudan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:47:y:2015:i:11:p:2292-2307

DOI: 10.1068/a140106p

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