Abstracts
Abstract
Research on refugee resettlement frequently overlooks the larger context of the experience of forced migration. As a result, the micro-level interactions between refugees and the bureaucrats who make resettlement decisions are obscured. We can better understand the socio-political dynamics between refugees and the officials deciding their resettlement cases if we approach encounters between refugees and migration officials during ceremonial visits as sites of emotional exchange. This article examines the complex socio-political emotional exchanges of power and vulnerability that underpin the refugee resettlement process through an ethnographic analysis of Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal.
Keywords:
- emotion,
- refugee resettlement,
- refugee status determination,
- humanitarianism,
- bureaucracy
Résumé
Les recherches sur la réinstallation des réfugiés négligent souvent le contexte plus large de l’expérience de la migration forcée. En conséquence, les interactions au niveau micro entre les réfugiés et les bureaucrates qui prennent les décisions en matière de réinstallation sont occultées. Nous pouvons mieux comprendre les dynamiques sociopolitiques entre les réfugiés et les fonctionnaires qui prennent des décisions sur leurs cas en abordant les rencontres entre les réfugiés et les fonctionnaires de l’immigration pendant les visites officielles comme des lieux d’échange émotionnel. Cet article examine les échanges émotionnels sociopolitiques complexes de pouvoir et de vulnérabilité qui sous-tendent le processus de réinstallation des réfugiés à travers une analyse ethnographique des camps de réfugiés bhoutanais au Népal.
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