Paper details
| Paper authors | Md. Abdur Rashid, Most. Suraiya Akter, Ferdous Hasan |
| In panel on | Beyond Refugee Camps: Exploring Participatory Responses to Protracted Crises in Bangladesh |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
A refugee camp is a settlement that provides accommodation and other assistance to refugees with the help of the hosting government and other humanitarian agencies. Agamben considers camps as a state of exception where regular order is suspended by the sovereign. Biharis who are now the citizens of Bangladesh, migrated from several provinces of India to East Pakistan in 1947. Later, they had to resettle in different camps after the liberation of Bangladesh. Currently, there are 70 Bihari camps across 13 districts of Bangladesh. Initially, they wanted to go to Pakistan, but their younger generation considers Bangladesh to be their homeland. The objective of the study was to amplify the lived experiences of Bihari camp residents of Saidpur. Guided by qualitative methodology, this study adopted in-depth interviewing in the form of testimonio for data collection and collected data were analyzed thematically. The findings of this study reveal that Biharies in the camp face the housing crisis, lack of employment, educational and sanitation facilities which force them to lead an impoverished life in a “zone of indistinction”. This study might guide the policymakers and the government to take effective initiatives to solve their livelihood challenges.
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