Introduction

Abstract

The introduction, “Architecture and History in a Refugee Camp,” The Introduction, “Architecture and History in a Refugee Camp,” asks what we learn when we look closely at a refugee camp, and argues for understanding it not as object but event, one that unfolds into lifeworlds of migration. It situates an architecture of migration as a theoretical vantage point from which to understand enclosures. It provides sociospatial and historical context for the Dadaab refugee camps, as spaces where forces of belonging, sedentarization, and underdevelopment undergird complex processes of humanitarian settlement. The Introduction introduces and analyzes architectures within the Dadaab refugee camps, and epistemological and ethical problems in studying with them.