Description
Book SynopsisIn The Concerned Women of Buduburam, Elizabeth Holzer offers an unprecedented firsthand account of the rise and fall of social protests in a long-standing refugee camp. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the host government of Ghana established the Buduburam Refugee Camp in 1990.
Trade ReviewHolzer's engagingly written text is unique in establishing... how women and men experience refugee relief that has morphed into a system of rule. Holzer’s attention to the motivations of all involved in the clash between the Liberian refugees, the Ghanaian host government, and the UNHCR is commendable. Along with delineating how social complexities of age, gender, ethnicity, and migration route impact camp politics, she describes the constraints imposed by the basic structures of humanitarian aid. Concerned Women of Buduburam is an unflinching and vital interrogation of the practical pitfalls and theoretical nuances of humanitarian aid.
-- Abena Ampofoa Asare * Mobilization *
The author deploys both extensive ethnographic research and a nuanced review of social theory, examining the 'themes of civic engagement, transnational government, administrative caregiving, political legitimacy, contentious politics and repression.' Integrating their impact, she names the resulting form of rule 'compassionate authoritarianism': compassionate in that its goal is to relieve the suffering of a displaced and traumatized population and authoritarian because clients lack power to pursue their own ends, are blocked from expressing discontent, and are incapable of receiving compensation for administrative failings.
-- S. J. Gold * Choice *
This book is a must read for all those concerned with transnational governance, the practicalities and ethics of humanitarian aid, and human rights in general.
-- Katarzyna Grabska, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: "The Midnight Hour in This Refugee Crisis"Part I. Everyday Politics in Crisis
1. Achieving Everyday Life in Humanitarian Crisis
2. Civic Engagement in the Refugee Camp
3. Bifurcated GovernmentalityPart II. Contentious Politics in Crisis
4. The Concerned Women Protests
5. Refugee Dissent as a Social Problem
6. Legitimacy in Repression's AftermathConclusion: Compassionate AuthoritarianismMethodological Appendix: Public Sociology and Private Compromise
References
Index
