Abstract
In this presentation, I examine the role of states in the encamped context of Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, Kenya. Previous research focusing on refugee camps has largely side-lined the presence of states, tending to overemphasise the camp as an Agambenian ‘state of exception’ (1998). This is partly a consequence of the traditional role played by the UNHCR in managing such camps instead of the state, prompting some to define the UNHCR as a ‘surrogate state’ (Slaughter & Crisp, 2008) for refugees. However, as of 2016, the Kenyan state has been taking increasing responsibility for refugee protection in Kenya, forcing refugees to engage and negotiate with a previously distant state. In addition, refugees themselves can be representative of foreign states, acting on behalf of external states within the camp. To understand this complexity, I build upon approaches that emphasise how the state is constituted through relations (Thelen, Vetters & Benda-Beckmann, 2017), practices (Bierschenk & Oliver de Sardan, 2014), and sovereign claims (Bryant & Reeves, 2021). By drawing upon a range of ethnographic data from my fieldwork in Kakuma and Kalobeyei between 2018 – 2019, I detail the increasing presence of state actors in former UNHCR institutional roles, such as refugee registration and repatriation. The state becomes constituted at such sites of interaction and negotiation between refugees, humanitarian agents, foreign state agents, and the emerging state bodies involved in refugee affairs. Therefore, I utilise the conceptual framework of encamped states to argue the state in Kakuma is both categorised by its multiplicity and mobility: multiplicity, because of the variety of different states that can be represented within the camps; and mobility in the sense that state actors, their relations and practices are not fixed, but rather adaptable to changing political conditions within the camp and beyond.
31 Mar 2021