Anchors, archipelagos, and ports of departure: how resettlement shapes im/mobilities in Nyarugusu refugee camp, Tanzania

2025/03/20 by Clayton Boeyink, Jean‐Benoît Falisse, Levis Niyokwizera +1 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Refugees, and Integration #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/01419870.2025.2474610

openalex publication_date 2025/03/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

This article examines how the prospect of resettlement influences the migration plans and daily lives of encamped refugees. Using repeat surveys and interviews carried out with 77 refugee households in 2017–2023, we explore the consequences of the unfortunate “natural experiment” of Nyarugusu refugee camp, where some Congolese refugees had substantial chances to be resettled while Burundian refugees were de facto barred from the opportunity. Participants depict resettlement as their favourite option in every single way; they are also acutely aware of their chance of being resettled and adjust their mobility plans accordingly. All feel stuck in the camp. Burundian refugees endure profound uncertainty and cast their hopes on moving to the “archipelago” of refugee-hosting camps and cities in the region (yet rarely manage to do so). The possibility of resettlement anchors Congolese to the camp as they wait in a “port of departure”.

Citations

• Introduction: On Stuckness and Sites of Confinement
• Waithood and creativity in the absence of resettlement: evidence from “residual” Liberian refugees in Nigeria
• Waiting for resettlement: experiences of Iranian refugee women in Turkey
• “We don’t have to resettle those refugees. Some other countries do”: how race affects the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and refugee admissions
• The “not yet” and “never” resettled: individual and communal waiting strategies among refugees in Kenyan camps
• Between hope and harm: the fragmentary effects of resettlement for Congolese refugees in Uganda
• Refugee resettlement as an institution

Cited by

• Brokering refugee integration: promises and pitfalls of refugee co-sponsorship in the United States
• Refugee resettlement as an institution

Discussions

• #ERSNew #ERSSpecialIssue🐣🔓 In Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, resettlement creates stark contrasts: Congolese hope anchors them in a 'port of departure,' while Burundians navigate limited options in a 'huma [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]