Examining power in protracted spaces: a feminist approach toward approach toward the elimination of refugee women's insecurity inside Dadaab

Abstract

In Dadaab, a refugee complex located in eastern Kenya, the issue of refugee women’s insecurity is ongoing and of high proportions. In this Major Research Paper, I seek to understand how the insecurity of refugee women in Dadaab is founded on the interlocking positionalities of its four major actors: the Kenyan government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United States government, and the refugee community of Dadaab. Using a human security approach, along with intersectionality as the method of analysis, I demonstrate how the intersection of power relations by the major actors, along with the intersection of refugee women’s identities, compound refugee women’s livelihoods to produce a phenomenon whereby refugee women are particularly vulnerable to violence and insecurity. Furthermore, through a critical analysis, I aim to conceptualize a shared responsibility by the four major actors in Dadaab as a means to move toward the elimination of women’s insecurity in the complex. Key words: refugee women; insecurity; refugee camp; protraction; Dadaab; Kenya; UNHCR; intersectionality; human security