Managing the undesirables : refugee camps and humanitarian government

Bibliographic Information

Managing the undesirables : refugee camps and humanitarian government

Michel Agier ; translated by David Fernbach

Polity, c2011

  • : hbk
  • : pb

Other Title

Gérer les indésirables

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Note

Translation of: Gérer les indésirables

Originally published: [Paris] : Flammarion, 2008

Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-255) and index

Description and Table of Contents
Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780745649016

Description

Official figures classify some fifty million of the world's people as 'victims of forced displacement'. Refugees, asylum seekers, disaster victims, the internally displaced and the temporarily tolerated - categories of the excluded proliferate, but many more are left out of count. In the face of this tragedy, humanitarian action increasingly seems the only possible response. On the ground, however, the 'facilities' put in place are more reminiscent of the logic of totalitarianism. In a situation of permanent catastrophe and endless emergency, 'undesirables' are kept apart and out of sight, while the care dispensed is designed to control, filter and confine. How should we interpret the disturbing symbiosis between the hand that cares and the hand that strikes? After seven years of study in the refugee camps, Michel Agier reveals their 'disquieting ambiguity' and stresses the imperative need to take into account forms of improvisation and challenge that are currently transforming the camps, sometimes making them into towns and heralding the emergence of political subjects. A radical critique of the foundations, contexts, and political effects of humanitarian action.

Table of Contents

List of acronyms Introduction: From Vulnerable to Undesirable Part One: A World of Undesirables, a System of Camps Chapter 1. Refugees, Displaced, Expelled: the Itinerary of the Stateless Chapter 2. Refugee Camps Today. An Attempted Inventory Part Two: Everyday Life in the Twenty-First Century's Refugee Camps Chapter 3. An Ethnologist in the Refugee Camps Chapter 4. The Interminable Insomnia of Exile. The Camp as an Ordinary Exceptionalism Chapter 5. Experiences of Wandering, Borders and Camps: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Chapter 6. Surviving, Reviving, Leaving, Remaining. The Long Life of Angolan Refugees in Zambia Chapter 7. The Camp-Towns. Somalia in Kenya Chapter 8. In the Name of the Refugees. Political Representation and Action in the Camps Chapter 9. Who Will Speak Out in the Camp? A Study of Refugees' Testimony Part Three: After the Camps Chapter 10. If this is a town Chapter 11. If this is a world Chapter 12. If this is a government Conclusion Bibliography
Volume

: pb ISBN 9780745649023

Description

Official figures classify some fifty million of the world's people as 'victims of forced displacement'. Refugees, asylum seekers, disaster victims, the internally displaced and the temporarily tolerated - categories of the excluded proliferate, but many more are left out of count. In the face of this tragedy, humanitarian action increasingly seems the only possible response. On the ground, however, the 'facilities' put in place are more reminiscent of the logic of totalitarianism. In a situation of permanent catastrophe and endless emergency, 'undesirables' are kept apart and out of sight, while the care dispensed is designed to control, filter and confine. How should we interpret the disturbing symbiosis between the hand that cares and the hand that strikes? After seven years of study in the refugee camps, Michel Agier reveals their 'disquieting ambiguity' and stresses the imperative need to take into account forms of improvisation and challenge that are currently transforming the camps, sometimes making them into towns and heralding the emergence of political subjects. A radical critique of the foundations, contexts, and political effects of humanitarian action.

Table of Contents

List of acronyms Introduction: From Vulnerable to Undesirable Part One: A World of Undesirables, a System of Camps Chapter 1. Refugees, Displaced, Expelled: the Itinerary of the Stateless Chapter 2. Refugee Camps Today. An Attempted Inventory Part Two: Everyday Life in the Twenty-First Century's Refugee Camps Chapter 3. An Ethnologist in the Refugee Camps Chapter 4. The Interminable Insomnia of Exile. The Camp as an Ordinary Exceptionalism Chapter 5. Experiences of Wandering, Borders and Camps: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Chapter 6. Surviving, Reviving, Leaving, Remaining. The Long Life of Angolan Refugees in Zambia Chapter 7. The Camp-Towns. Somalia in Kenya Chapter 8. In the Name of the Refugees. Political Representation and Action in the Camps Chapter 9. Who Will Speak Out in the Camp? A Study of Refugees' Testimony Part Three: After the Camps Chapter 10. If this is a town Chapter 11. If this is a world Chapter 12. If this is a government Conclusion Bibliography

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