Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Link to the OBL Anthropology section
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2010-12-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "In August 2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police posts and an army base in western Rakhine state, Myanmar, claiming to fight for the rights of Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority living in western Myanmar. Within a few weeks, under the pretext of ?clearance operations”, more than 600,000 Rohingya people fled across the border into neighbouring Bangladesh amidst reports of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arson by Myanmar?s state military, the Tatmadaw. The United Nations has declared this to be ?a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. This categorisation is only strengthened in private conversations with humanitarian actors working in Bangladesh, who describe the sheer scale of war crimes that have been committed against civilian populations since August. And yet the Tatmadaw?s campaign has been disturbingly popular within Myanmar. Many of my friends from fieldwork, including members of other long-oppressed ethnic minorities, have posted in support of what they consider to be a mission to rid the country of illegal immigrants and terrorists. In the midst of the horror, I have been left wondering what my role as a researcher is. Indeed, while the anthropologist in my head cautions me to maintain reflexivity and consider the events more critically, this perspective and my pedagogical training seem inadequate right now..."
Creator/author: Justine Chambers
Source/publisher: "New Mandala"
2017-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2017-12-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The impact of night-time on the social life of refugees is under-researched. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with refugees from Myanmar in Thailand, this article argues that researching refugees? lives after dark is essential for a comprehensive understanding of refugees? social relations, education and economic activities as well as health and safety concerns. Findings of this article provide food for thought for researchers and practitioners working with refugees and internally displaced persons around the world and are likely to entice more research on the subject of night-time in refugee settings...." Keywords: Karen refugees, camps, Thailand, night-time
Creator/author: Pia Jolliffe
Source/publisher: "Journal of Refugee Studies" (10.1093/jrs/fev023)
2015-12-03
Date of entry/update: 2015-12-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 152.11 KB
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Description: "This paper examines the resettlement of refugees from Burma/Myanmar to the United States, by focusing on the refugee experience. The ethnographic description of the resettlement process reveals how refugees, by establishing a transnational ?Myanmar” community in the United States, manifested a nationalism that was hitherto believed to be impossible. Building a nation-state in Burma/Myanmar has been a controversial issue since the nation?s independence from the British in 1948. Callahan argues that the process of state building in Burma has focused on warfare and violence by the state. After independence, the national army or Tatmadaw regarded citizens as potential enemies, and conducted various anti-insurgency campaigns. Her argument richly elucidates the state-building process in Burma/Myanmar. However, though the Nation and the State are inseparable, her arguments exclude the nation-building process. This paper explores one aspect of belonging to the nation of ?Myanmar.” While state building is one of the most important tasks for a country following ethnic conflict, it is often analyzed only within the context of resistance movements, such as ?Burmanization” by the government or resistance movements against it. Hence, the possibilities for actual nation building have not yet been explored. The experiences of refugees outside the country offer a new and useful perspective for such a discussion. Refugees may no longer legally belong to their country of origin, yet their existence expresses the core essence of the nation they come from. The case study dealt with in this paper focuses on Karenni refugees from the Kayah State, which is the smallest state in Burma. In the Kayah State, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) has been resisting the Burmese ruling military junta for more than 60 years, seeking either autonomy or independence from the state. The KNPP strategically have used the word ?Karenni” as an umbrella term that includes all ethnic groups in Kayah State, in order to resist the Burma-centric state. The ex-chairman of the KNPP, namely Khu Hte Bu Pe, invented a ?Karenni” script for the sake of the core spirit of his nation. Two refugee camps in Thailand were centers of KNPP politics in order to construct the ?Karenni”, and ?Karenni” has been an anti-state term, with its use being prohibited inside Burma by the junta. The category of ?Karenni” or ?Karenni” identity was constructed as a refugee concept in Thailand. This paper discusses the further transnational spread of ?Karenni” through the resettlement of refugees to a third country, while also considering the meaning of Burma and Myanmar for those resettled refugees..."
Creator/author: KUBO Tadayuki
Source/publisher: The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies, No. 32, 2014... 上智アジア学 第32 号2014 年 目次 ...Burma Studies in Japan: History, Culture and Religion
2014-12-27
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 690.94 KB
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Description: "Since late 2011, I have made contacted with Karen refugee communities in two geographic locations ?one on the Thai-Burma border and one in Melbourne, Australia, which has provided me opportunities to observe and participate in a number of activities organized by those displaced residents. During my three-year engagement, I have come across many Karen refugees who have enthusiastically taken part in the production as well as circulation and consumption of Karen pop music, especially in the form of music CDs or DVDs and audio and video files shared through online media platforms such as YouTube. Some explain that music offers them opportunities to enjoy themselves and to ?hang out? with like-minded fellow Karen. Moreover, I have found that music involvement helps some Karen individuals to cope with and to make sense of situations of displacement, oppression and alienation. Notably, the sentimental charge of song lyrics and melodies as well as the visual representations in music videos become a source of a sense of Karen identity and solidarity, and thereby make it possible for the producers as well as their audiences to maintain connections with their counterparts in different countries.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Manoch Chummuangpak
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 373.42 KB
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Description: Focus on Karen refugees....."The force of habit, the awe of traditional command and a sentimental attachment to it, the desire to satisfy public opinion - all combine to make custom be obeyed for its own sake. In this the ?savages? do not differ from the members of any self-contained community with a limited horizon, whether this be an Eastern European ghetto, an Oxford college, or a Fundamentalist Middle West community. But love of tradition, conformism and the sway of custom account but to a very partial extent for obedience to rules among dons, savages, peasants, or Junkers. [. . .] in the main these rules are followed because their practical utility is recognized by reason and testified by experience." (Malinowski 1926).....Re the attached sales flyer for the book, the publishers say that a paperback version will be out in July or August.
Creator/author: Kirsten Mcconnachie
Source/publisher: "Governing Refugees - Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism" (Chapter 4)
2014-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 618.94 KB
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Description: "We lawyers just cannot help being Darwinian. We simply cannot shake off our assumption that some legal cultures are more developed than others. We prefer written law to oral law; we are happier with professional judges than with people?s rough justice; and — need I say? — we just love cultures that have their own lawyers.".....Re the attached sales flyer for the book, the publishers say that a paperback version will be out in July or August. (Andrew Huxley 2011)
Creator/author: Kirsten Mcconnachie
Source/publisher: "Governing Refugees - Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism" (Chapter 6)
2014-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 599.05 KB
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Description: Abstract: "This paper examines the interfaces of local community based humanitarian organizations with displaced Karen people in Thai-Burmese border spaces and their claims for cultural rights. It argues that Karen people have to organize themselves in a context where they do not have access to social welfare of the state and in which the state is hostile and oppressive to them. Applying Merry?s thesis on the localization and vernacularization of international rights frameworks in the local context, the paper explores the context of power in which different humanitarian actors intervention in the local conflict zone. The author finds that Karen displaced people have differentiated access to humanitarian assistance and that powerful organizations like the Karen National Union are able to benefit while essentializing Karen culture and suppressing internal difference among the Karen to position itself towards the international donor community, thereby becoming ?liked? or ?preferred? refugees. The paper then also looks at secular and faith-based local humanitarian groups and finds that these groups are deeply embedded in local society and thus able to help effectively. Karen displaced people thus create non-state spaces in border spaces by establishing partnerships with local humanitarian organizations that act as brokers and mediators of international organizations and donors."
Creator/author: Alexander Horstmann
Source/publisher: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religioius and Ethnic Diversity
2012-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 940.17 KB
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Description: ABSTRACT: "This study examines the place of new media in the maintance of Burmese diasporic identities. Political oppression in Burma, the experience of exile and the importance of opposition movements in the borderlands make the Burmese diaspora a unique and complex group. This study uses tapoetetha-kot, an indigenous Karen research methodology, to explore aspects of new media use and identity among a group of Burmese refugees in Auckland, New Zealand. Common among all participants was a twin desire to share stories of suffering and to have that pain recognised. Participants in this project try to maintain their language and cultural practices, with the intent of returning to a democratic Burma in the future. New media supports this, by providing participants with access to opposition news reports of human rights abuses and suffering; through making cultural and linguistic artifacts accessible, and through providing an easy means of communication with friends and family in Burma and the borderlands."... Keywords: Burma, Karen, refugee, diaspora, indigenous, political activism, new media, tapotaethakot VIOLET CHO
Creator/author: Violet Cho
Source/publisher: PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 17 (1) 2011
2011-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2011-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 85.07 KB
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Description: Abstract: "This study examines ways in which Burmese diasporic identities are formed and maintained, and the importance of new media in this process. Political oppression in Burma, the experience of exile and the importance of opposition movements in the borderlands make the Burmese diaspora a unique and complex group. This study used tapoetethakot, an indigenous Karen research methodology, to interact with fourteen participants in Auckland, exploring aspects of new media use and identity maintenance. Common among all participants was a twin desire to share stories of suffering and to have that pain recognised. This suffering is an important part of refugee identity and is also linked with resistance against assimilation in New Zealand. Instead, participants try and maintain their language and cultural practices, with the intent of returning to a democratic Burma in the future. New media supports these processes, by providing participants with access to opposition media reports of human rights abuses and suffering, through making cultural and linguistic artifacts accessible and through providing an easy means of communication with friends and family in Burma and the borderlands."
Creator/author: Naw Violet Cho
Source/publisher: School of Communication Studies Auckland University of Technology
2009-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2011-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English (main text); Interviews (English, Karen, Burmese)
Format : pdf
Size: 581.81 KB
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Description: Abstract: "As the refugee crisis unfolds, tens of thousands Karen refugees roam in the jungle, make their way to the refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border or self-settle in the border town or in the countryside. In this paper, I explore the nexus of the Karen becoming stateless and empowered in Christian networks. I engage with Castells? social theory of network society to show the reliance of refugees on support networks. I argue that Christians are able to counter their confinement to the refugee camp by claiming spaces in the borderland. Far from being passive recipients of humanitarian aid, Karen refugees emerge as senior evangelists who use cross-border church networks to proselytize in the borderland. I show that the Karen use these dense support networks for reconstruction in the Thai borderland and for re-entering the war-zone in eastern Burma as part of a collective project and spiritual passage. I argue that the development of an indigenous Karen Christian tradition is intertwined and developed in tandem with the nationalist project of a Karen state. The Karen ?struggle” is thus interpreted in religious language of Christian prophecy. This discourse is also reinforced by the identification of Western humanitarian aid agencies with the fate of the Karen."
Creator/author: Alexander Horstmann
Source/publisher: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-12-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.6 MB
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Description: "...The thesis sought to explore the impact of organized violence, displacement and resettlement has had on the identity of a micro-section of the displaced Karen people ? those professing to be Christian and either living in a displaced persons? camp on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border or having migrated to a third country under the UNHCR Resettlement Scheme with a special emphasis on Australia. The reason for choosing this particular micro-section of the Karen people is that, though not the predominant faith practiced by the Karen, the Christian Karen are a synecdoche for the Karen internationally. The thesis was informed by theories of organized violence, displacement and resettlement and explored their relationship to the central construct of identity. A transitional ecosystems model was used to explore the interrelationship of these theories and concepts for Christian Karen, displaced from their homeland by organized violence perpetrated by the ruling power of their country..."
Creator/author: Shirley Lorraine Worland
Source/publisher: School of Social Work and Human Services, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland
2010-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.29 MB
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Description: Introduction: "Night-time is scarcely discussed when it comes to the analysis of life in refugee camps. Around the world, humanitarian aid agencies? access to camp sites is often limited to traditional office hours. Aid officials? presence may be limited by offical curfews. Aid workers may retreat from camps for socializing and rest. At night-time, refugee settlements – almost terra incognita - elicit ambiguous sentiments among those who eschew them. Aid workers often see refugees? nocturnal activities as merely physical (e.g. sleep and sexual relationships). They also point to increased dangers at night-time, and may use these to justify personal withdrawal. Against this backdrop, this paper1 makes a first attempt to shed light on nocturnal life in and around refugee camps. Most of the data used here stems from anthropological fieldwork with Karenni refugee and forced migrant youth in and around a refugee camp close to Mae Hong Son (Northern Thailand). I conducted this fieldwork during January and February 2006 as a preliminary study for my doctoral dissertation project. During the course of this research, I had only one opportunity to participate in a nocturnal event within the camp and thus relied largely on the accounts of my interlocutors (some of whom I regularly met during the hours of darkness outside the camp) to form a picture of the time from dusk until dawn in and around refugee camps. While the majority of research participants consisted of refugee and forced migrant youth roughly between the ages of 17 and 25, the information presented in this paper is also based on the testimonies and accounts of adults working and/or living with these young people. Besides the data originating from this case study, this text draws together findings on forced migrants? nocturnal lives in different geographical settings. Since this research is a work-in-progress, this paper does not purport to offer an authoritative picture of nocturnal camp life, but rather hopes to instigate discussion that might shape further research directions. The paper begins by stressing the importance of scrutinizing night-time, whether in relation to forced migration or in social research, more generally. This is followed by a presentation of preliminary research findings with regard to the impact of nightfall on the lives of refugees and forced migrants, in particular, social relations; physical security; mental well-being; and livelihood provision after dark. The paper concludes by suggesting that exploring nocturnal aspects of refugee camps and settlements might not only reveal new insights into refugees? livelihood strategies and coping mechanisms during the night, but also improve our general understanding of social life in refugee camps and settlements."
Creator/author: Pia Vogler
Source/publisher: UNHCR - New Issues in Refugee REsearch
2006-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Material objects and the physical actions of making and using them are a fundamental part of how forced migrants, far from being passive victims of circumstance, seek to make the best of ? and make a home in ? their displacement.
Creator/author: Sandra Dudley
Source/publisher: "Forced Migration Review" No. 30
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update: 2008-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese
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Description: "In 1996, approximately 1500 people lived in Camp 5, a refugee camp located in the jungle on the Thai-Burmese border. The camp was open and self-administered, with refugee-run schools, two churches, and one Buddhist monastery. Though unavoidably and significantly influenced by displacement, cultural life in Camp 5 was vibrant. Refugees were able to celebrate annual festivals in the camps; for many internally displaced persons inside Burma, such celebrations have been impossible for some years. One such festival is diy-kuw. The people living in Camp 5 call themselves Karenni and have fled from Kayah State (referred to by the Karenni as "Karenni State"). Kayah is Burma's smallest state, bordering Thailand's northwestern province of Mae Hong Son..."
Creator/author: Sandra Dudley
Source/publisher: "Cultural Survival Quarterly" Issue 24.3
2000-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The effects of displacement on culture can have significant impacts on the psychological and physical welfare of individual refugees and on the social dynamics within a refugee population. Yet, refugees and relief agencies alike often underestimate or feel too overworked to incorporate the importance of cultural factors in assistance programmes. Potential cultural conflicts between refugee communities, host communities and relief agencies are of course important. Less often recognised, however, is the importance of cultural variation and tension within the refugee community. This article argues that if relief agencies develop a greater awareness of cultural patterns and potential cultural conflict within as well as between communities, their assistance programmes may be more effectively and appropriately designed and implemented...This article is based on anthropological field research, conducted by the author at the request of the NGO concerned during the course of wider field research conducted in 1996-7 and 1998, with Karenni refugees living in camps on the Burmese border, in Thailand?s northwestern province of Mae Hong Son. Karenni people have been fleeing from Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern Burma and seeking refuge on the Thai side of the border for some years, the first significant numbers arriving in 1989..."
Creator/author: Sandra Dudley
Source/publisher: "Forced Migration Review" No. 6
1999-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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