Refugees, Conflict and the Search for Belonging

Download or read book Refugees, Conflict and the Search for Belonging written by Lucy Hovil and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the convergence of two problems: the ongoing realities of conflict and forced migration in Africa’s Great Lakes region, and the crisis of citizenship and belonging. By bringing them together, the intention is to see how, combined, they can help point the way towards possible solutions. Based on 1,115 interviews conducted over 6 years in the region, the book points to ways in which refugees challenge the parameters of citizenship and belonging as they carve out spaces for inclusion in the localities in which they live. Yet with a policy environment that often leads to marginalisation, the book highlights the need for policies that pull people into the centre rather than polarise and exclude; and that draw on, rather than negate, the creativity that refugees demonstrate in their quest to forge spaces of belonging.