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Involuntary Immobility: On a Theoretical Invisibility in Forced Migration Studies.
- Source :
- Journal of Refugee Studies; Dec2008, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p454-475, 22p
- Publication Year :
- 2008
-
Abstract
- This study of two seemingly counter-intuitive phenomena—'involuntary immobility' and 'socially fortuitous wartime migration'—seeks to reveal important limitations in the theoretical framing of the interdisciplinary field of forced migration/refugee studies. In the Mozambican context, I demonstrate that the forms of disruption and disempowerment usually attributed to wartime movement were more often produced by involuntary immobility than by migration per se; even while wartime migration paradoxically resulted in forms of empowerment for at least some social actors. I argue that the implicit conflation of migration with displacement that currently serves as the definitional point of departure in forced migration/refugee studies, not only renders invisible an entire category of people who suffer a form of `displacement in place' through involuntary immobilization, but also distorts our analysis of the experience of wartime migrants themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09516328
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Refugee Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36347880
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fen043