Institutional Coadaptation Work: How Refugees and Provisioning Institutions Coadapt in Pursuit of Consumption Adequacy

Abstract

Prior research on refugee migration documents the acculturation processes through which refugees adapt to the cultural context of the host society. In this research, the authors complement the insights from prior research by uncovering how the host society’s provisioning institutions coadapt in response to the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. To understand these coadaptation practices, they gather qualitative data from low-income Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who were repatriated to India in the face of violent ethnic conflict. The data aid in theorizing the concept of institutional coadaptation work, defined as the dyadic coadaptation of refugees and a host society’s provisioning institutions, to serve the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. This coadaptation perspective envisages change as a collective process in which agency is distributed among multiple actors in society. More specifically, this research provides focused policy recommendations explaining how the government, market, and community can work collaboratively to address consumption adequacy needs of refugees.