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Abstract:  Resettlement is considered one of three durable solutions for refugees and provides an alternative to protracted displacement when repatriation and local integration are impossible or unlikely. Rather than framing resettlement as a solution that marks the end of a refugee's displacement, I demonstrate how the displacement of forced migration extends through the initial resettlement phase. Humanitarian programs are not purely benevolent and can create new conditions of uncertainty and vulnerability. In reality, resettlement marks another uprooting and readjustment for refugees who may have already rebuilt their lives numerous times following internal migrations or relocations to camps and urban areas. By contextualizing resettlement within the life course and focusing on refugees’ journeys, destinations, and well-being, I show how displacing the initial resettlement process can be. Based on over 1,000 hours of ethnographic fieldwork at a refugee resettlement agency in San Diego, California and Boise, Idaho and 102 interviews with refugees and service providers, I reconceptualize early resettlement as a time of disorientation and dislocation rather than one of settlement and integration.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Michaelmas Term is convened by Christiaan Monden and Leo Azzolini.  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.