Social Exclusion and Survival Strategies of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
摘要
This chapter examines the social exclusion experienced by the Rohingya due to the segregation that forces them into refugee camps, where essential humanitarian services are not consistently provided. Consequently, the coping mechanisms activated by refugees are termed “survival” strategies. This contribution conceptualises “mobility” as more than just a restriction. The movements of the Rohingya, both outside and within camps, combined with their local cultural knowledge and social ties, enable them to mobilise various resources. Mobility becomes a lens through which this contribution examines the exclusion and strategies of refugees. During a one-year ethnographic fieldwork in south-east Bangladesh, I observed the lives of Rohingya women in three refugee camps. The inhabitants of the first camp lived in an informal settlement in Bangladesh for a decade before being included in the humanitarian response in 2017. This camp is called the “informal settlement camp”, and its inhabitants rely on their immaterial knowledge of local practices to pursue their strategies. The second camp, which I refer to as the “old camp” because it is where the Rohingya have been living for over thirty years, showcases the crucial role of social ties with the local community, leading to different forms of mobility. Finally, the new camp, remote from other camps, illustrates how isolation can be a resource for building social connections within the Rohingya “accidental community”. This camp is referred to as the “new camp” since the Rohingya arrived in 2017. These camps have early featured as sites of exclusion. The ways of facing social exclusion were diverse, as were their migrations and the places they lived in Bangladesh.