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Migration. Refugees --- Demography --- Netherlands --- Theses

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On the 9th of July 2011, South Sudan became the world’s youngest nation. Thousands of South Sudanese celebrated on the streets of the capital Juba and elsewhere, filled with hope that the birth of their independent nation would mark the end of a long period of instability and war. At the end of 2013, however, just two years after South Sudan’s independence, the country was again drawn into civil war, causing the displacement of more than four million of its citizens. This thesis focuses on a subsection of these displaced people, namely those who found refuge in northern Uganda. Studies about forced displacement and refugees, are often framed in terms of their exceptionality and focus on the disruption of life in exile more generally. Without downplaying the exceptionalities and rupture associated with displacement in any sense, this thesis studies different aspects of the everyday life of South Sudanese refugees and in doing so, focuses on elements of continuity and connectedness instead. The findings are based on approximately six months of qualitative research in the Adjumani district of northern Uganda, including semi-structured interviews, life stories, informal discussions and observations in and around the selected Adjumani settlements. Before the results are presented, the study is first situated within the broader regional history of the South(ern) Sudan1 and northern Ugandan border region; and a detailed description is provided of Uganda as a (progressive) host for refugees. The core of the thesis consists of four empirical chapters2 that, each from a different perspective, explore how refugees in Adjumani have agency as socio-economic actors, as they participate in socio-economic interactions with the local Ugandan population, are involved in settlement governance by taking up leadership roles, act as key mediators of disputes and tensions in the settlements, and engage in everyday mobilities, to continue with aspects of ‘normal life’, such as attending funerals or celebrations, cultivating land, and visiting loved ones. As such, the Ugandan settlements have become nodes into broader networks, that span Ugandan and South Sudanese villages, towns, cities, as well as locations elsewhere. The overall contribution is to show how refugees negotiate justice, authority and mobility, and to draw attention to the role of continuity and connectedness within those negotiations.

Migration. Refugees --- South Sudan --- Uganda

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Theses --- Migration. Refugees --- Administrative law --- Netherlands

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Migration. Refugees --- Economic conditions. Economic development --- Mekong River Delta

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This research examines the surplus that Senegalese migrants realize in the country of arrival (Belgium) and that they transfer under the form of financial capital, goods and knowledge in one way or another to (close) family members in their country of origin (Senegal). In this study, these transfers are referred to as remittances. When the emphasis is being laid on the motives for sending remittances, the expectations of the household, the purpose for which remittances are used and the amount of remittances, the term practices of remittances is used. These practices of remittances are being studied from a sociological, transnational and multi-sited framework. The sociological framework is based on the structurationtheory and the praxis model of Bourdieu, whereby practices (in this case practices of remittances) are being conceived as the result of the interactions between individual and structural factors. Bourdieu uses therefore the intermediate concepts of habitus, capital and field. Each of these concepts responds in their specific way to the ultimate practices of remittances. The transnational framework is used because practices of remittances are by definition transnational practices which connects people and places. Migrants are emotionally connected to both, place of origin and place of destination and they live thereby in a fragmented social space. Transfers make an important bridge between this dichotomy. Practices of remittances are, following Sassen, studied as ‘emplaced’. This means that the emphasis is on the fact that practices of remittances are the result of the specificity of the place where remittances are being accumulated (by the migrant in Belgium) and spent (by the household in Senegal) on the one hand, and the result of the relationship between both on the other hand. This principle requires a multi-sited research methodology: the research is conducted by both Senegalese migrants in Belgium and by their respective households in Senegal. In this way practices of remittances are examined from location of departure and arrival and can thereby be studied from a single space that connects origin with destination. Based on qualitative fieldwork among Senegalese migrants in Belgium (n = 54) and their related households in Senegal (n = 43), we can conclude that: Senegalese migration to Belgium is a recent migration, with migrants mainly originative from urban households. Within the Belgian context, it became clear that migrants take specific positions in the Belgian society which influences in an important way their final practices of remittances. The accumulation of capital within specific fields in the Belgian society (the labor market, education, housing market, health care, social networks) and the means of the habitus have a specific influence on the final practices of remittances of migrants. The specific accumulation of capital has also an important influence on the motives and value patterns that form the basis of the final practices. In the Senegalese context, it became clear that the participation of Senegalese households in has an important influence on the expectations towards remittances. Their degree of participation and integration within the Senegalese society also determines the use of these remittances.By connecting the migrant and his household it became clear that the final practices of remittances are the result of a subtle interaction between both positions. The migrant makes decisions in function of its own participation in Belgian society and in function of the participation of his household in Senegal. The accumulation, exchange and conversion of different forms of capital (not only economic capital) are thereby importan

Academic collection --- Theses --- Migration. Refugees --- Social geography --- Income