Emplacing Displacement: Cultural Landscapes of Refugee-hosting in Ukwimi, Zambia

Abstract

In response to calls for increased understanding of and solutions to the issue of protracted refugee situations, this dissertation examines the social and spatial implications of a long history of refugee-hosting in Eastern Province, Zambia. In order to broaden our understanding of displacement and place-making, I pay particular attention to refugee and host community interaction in and around the former refugee settlement in Ukwimi, Zambia. Established in 1987, Ukwimi Refugee Settlement hosted over 20,000 Mozambicans for nearly a decade. After the repatriation of Mozambican refugees, Ukwimi evolved into a government-run agricultural resettlement scheme until it's re-opening as a refugee camp for Angolan refugees in 2001. Through theoretically-grounded fieldwork in eastern Zambia, I explore refugee-hosting as a dynamic interaction between and among refugee relief organizations, development initiatives, host communities, and refugee populations. In doing so, I analyze how refugee and host community relationships operate, and shift, within particular political, gendered, and historical contexts, thereby creating distinct cultural landscapes of refugee-hosting and resettlement which are constantly "in motion" and emplacing displacement.