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India has not signed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees—the primary instrument setting... more India has not signed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees—the primary instrument setting international norms for the
treatment of refugees. As a result, its treatment of refugees remains outside the purview of a congenitally pusillanimous Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For the most part, India’s treatment of Tibetan refugees has been
generous, providing them with political exile as well as shelter and the opportunity to secure an economic livelihood, but the
limitations to this generosity are becoming increasingly apparent.
Contrary to the usual practice of releasing peaceful demonstrators after a few days of judicial custody with an admonition, 365 Tibetan
demonstrators, including 64 women, continue to be held in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, nearly two weeks after the Beijing Olympic torch arrived
and departed. The stifling of the right to peaceful protest around the recent farcical torch run is only the tip of the iceberg, not merely
for refugee rights but for wider democratic freedoms.
This report considers how relationships between urban refugees and more established local communi... more This report considers how relationships between urban refugees and more established local communities affect
refugee access to key services and resources. According to the estimates of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), the majority of the world’s refugees now reside in cities or towns. In contrast to camps,
where refugees are relatively isolated from local host communities and more dependent on assistance from
humanitarian agencies to meet their basic needs, refugees in urban areas typically depend more on social networks,
relationships and individual agency to re-establish their livelihoods. This study explores the conditions under which
refugee-host relations may either promote or inhibit refugee access to local services and other resources. It also
considers how positive impacts of these evolving relationships may be nurtured and developed to improve
humanitarian outcomes for refugees.
Drawing on three years of participant observation in a Liberian immigrant community, this article... more Drawing on three years of participant observation in a Liberian immigrant community, this article examines the role of legal refugee status in immigrants’ daily encounters with the state. Using the literature on immigrant incorporation, claims making, and citizenship, it argues that refugee status profoundly shapes individuals’
views and expectations of their host government as well as their interactions with the medical, educational, and
social service institutions they encounter. The refugees in this study use their refugee status to make claims for
legal and social citizenship and to distance themselves from native-born blacks. In doing so, they validate their
own position vis-à-vis the state and in the American ethno-racial hierarchy. The findings presented demonstrate
how refugee status operates as a symbolic and interpretive resource used to negotiate the structural realities of the
welfare state and American race relations. These results stress the importance of studying immigrant incorporation from a micro perspective and suggest mechanisms for the adaptational advantages for refugees reported in
existing research. Keywords: race, immigration, Africa, incorporation, refugee
India has not signed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees—the primary instrument setting... more India has not signed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees—the primary instrument setting international norms for the
treatment of refugees. As a result, its treatment of refugees remains outside the purview of a congenitally pusillanimous Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For the most part, India’s treatment of Tibetan refugees has been
generous, providing them with political exile as well as shelter and the opportunity to secure an economic livelihood, but the
limitations to this generosity are becoming increasingly apparent.
Contrary to the usual practice of releasing peaceful demonstrators after a few days of judicial custody with an admonition, 365 Tibetan
demonstrators, including 64 women, continue to be held in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, nearly two weeks after the Beijing Olympic torch arrived
and departed. The stifling of the right to peaceful protest around the recent farcical torch run is only the tip of the iceberg, not merely
for refugee rights but for wider democratic freedoms.
This report considers how relationships between urban refugees and more established local communi... more This report considers how relationships between urban refugees and more established local communities affect
refugee access to key services and resources. According to the estimates of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), the majority of the world’s refugees now reside in cities or towns. In contrast to camps,
where refugees are relatively isolated from local host communities and more dependent on assistance from
humanitarian agencies to meet their basic needs, refugees in urban areas typically depend more on social networks,
relationships and individual agency to re-establish their livelihoods. This study explores the conditions under which
refugee-host relations may either promote or inhibit refugee access to local services and other resources. It also
considers how positive impacts of these evolving relationships may be nurtured and developed to improve
humanitarian outcomes for refugees.
Drawing on three years of participant observation in a Liberian immigrant community, this article... more Drawing on three years of participant observation in a Liberian immigrant community, this article examines the role of legal refugee status in immigrants’ daily encounters with the state. Using the literature on immigrant incorporation, claims making, and citizenship, it argues that refugee status profoundly shapes individuals’
views and expectations of their host government as well as their interactions with the medical, educational, and
social service institutions they encounter. The refugees in this study use their refugee status to make claims for
legal and social citizenship and to distance themselves from native-born blacks. In doing so, they validate their
own position vis-à-vis the state and in the American ethno-racial hierarchy. The findings presented demonstrate
how refugee status operates as a symbolic and interpretive resource used to negotiate the structural realities of the
welfare state and American race relations. These results stress the importance of studying immigrant incorporation from a micro perspective and suggest mechanisms for the adaptational advantages for refugees reported in
existing research. Keywords: race, immigration, Africa, incorporation, refugee