“Never had the hand”: Distribution and inequality in the diverse economy of a refugee camp

Abstract

In a long-term refugee camp with few opportunities for wage labor, giving and receiving become vital mechanisms for finding food to eat. Drawing on mixed-methods research at the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp in Ghana, this article focuses on the ethnographic details of everyday economic life to dismantle dominant narratives that shape current understandings of refugee economies. Exclusion from capitalist narratives and the lack of categories to account for the economic lives of refugees mask the dynamic and diverse impacts of the camp economy. Instead, ethnographic analysis of distributive practices and channels at Buduburam reveals how an underlying restorative narrative shapes the camp economy. Economic activities that sustain life inside the refugee camp-and the categories used to describe these activities-do not simply afford social protection; they also generate conflict and inequality.Keywords Refugee Camp Economy; Distribution; Informal Economy; Humanitarian Aid; Capitalism Situated approximately twenty-five miles west of Accra, Ghana, along an international road that stretches from Togo to Côte d'Ivoire, the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp was established in 1990 on property owned by the Ghanaian government. The succession of two civil wars in Liberia over the course of more than a decade resulted in the enduring presence of the Buduburam camp. Initially, wet (i.e., prepared) food aid was provided during the first two years, followed by a shift to dry (i.e., commodity goods such as corn), supplementary food aid. These rations were intended to compose a portion of the diet; refugees were expected to meet the bulk of their food needs on their own. However, few refugees had access to land for food production; instead, two markets at the camp offered a variety of fresh vegetables, grains, and proteins in varying degrees of quality. Generally, food was available, but many refugees faced uncertainties related to the resources to buy the food. By the time of my field research in 2008 and 2009, the distribution of humanitarian food aid had been significantly scaled back, and further reductions took place as I collected data. 1 In the wake of reduced humanitarian aid, social relationships, "petty trade," and transnational remittances constituted vital livelihood strategies

Beyond rights-based social protection for refugees

“…An alternative point of departure opens avenues in thinking through how responsibilities or duties to care necessitate encounters with others – recognising individuals not as autonomous and sovereign but as inherently vulnerable, fragile and dependent on others in situations of constraint. For many displaced people, access to social protection can normally be found in reciprocal arrangements rather than formal structures, with a reliance on kin, clan, religious and ethnic networks (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2016; Trapp, 2018; Zaman, 2016). Together, the formal and informal spaces of provision comprise what we might call ‘landscapes of care’ wherein ‘complex embodied and organisational spatialities emerge from and through the relationships of care’ (Milligan and Wiles, 2010:740).…”

Beyond Rights-Based Social Protection for Forcibly Displaced People

“…For many displaced people, access to social provisioning can normally be found in reciprocal arrangements rather than formal structures, with a reliance on kin, clan, religious, and ethnic networks (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2016; Zaman 2016;Trapp 2018). Together, the formal and informal spaces of provision comprise what we might call 'landscapes of care' wherein 'complex embodied and organisational spatialities emerge from and through the relationships of care' (Milligan and Wiles 2010: 740).…”

“…: 99). This is a moral economy wherein claimants depend on a framing of being entitled to a rightful share (Trapp 2018). Here, rights are understood in the vernacular -the demand for rights and entitlements '… is not only always sovereign, individualist, discrete, or indeed privately articulated one.…”