Where will my future Be? Adaptive sensemaking of refugee camp entrepreneurs in perpetual liminality

Aki Harima and Crista Plak

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2025, vol. 37, issue 3-4, 325-349

Abstract: Refugees in camps are in precarious and perpetual liminal situations that require them to continually make sense of entrepreneurial activities. This study seeks to answer the following research questions: How do refugee camp entrepreneurs make sense of entrepreneurial activities in perpetual liminality? How do their individual stories interact with the collective narrative of entrepreneurship within the camp community? We employed adaptive sensemaking as a theoretical construct to conduct an explorative qualitative study of Somali refugees in the Umkulu camp in Eritrea. Our study found that entrepreneurs perceive a disparity between an imaginary future and the perceived reality of perpetual liminality in making sense of entrepreneurial activities. When the disparity is small, entrepreneurs are committed to collective accounts for refugee camp entrepreneurship. When the disparity is large, however, it harms the plausibility and cohesiveness of existing narratives, which leads to sensebreaking and eventually prompts the refugees to look for an alternative liminal place. Based on the findings, we theorize refugee camp entrepreneurs’ adaptive sensemaking in perpetual liminality. This study advances scholarly discussions on refugee camp entrepreneurship by revealing the dynamic interplay between individual sensemaking and collective accounts within the camp and conceptualizing the refugee camp as a perpetual liminal place.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2024.2390976

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