Developing an International System for Internally Displaced Persons

Cohen, Roberta

doi:10.1111/j.1528-3585.2006.00233.x

Cited by 25 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As also noted by other investigators the women in our study were more impoverished when their husbands died or migrated to different locations within Ghana in search of employment (Cohen 2006;Martin 2004). Respondents reported that men who left in search of employment often abandoned their displaced families in order to establish a new family in one of the urban areas in the south.…”

Section: Study 1: Ethnic Conflict Older Women and Family Survival Insupporting

confidence: 53%

Collective Familial Decision-Making In Times Of Trouble: Intergenerational Solidarity in Ghana

McGadney-Douglass

Douglass

2008

J Cross Cult Gerontol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In post-colonial populations the retention of the nuclear family concept of collectivism as the basis for decision-making is associated with familial and cultural survival. Collectivism within familial contexts provides intergenerational access to experience, information, resources, and sound decision making during times of conflict or dealing with the consequences of poverty. In contemporary Ghana inter-ethnic wars and conflict have marginalized minority groups, causing substantial internal displacement of people. Poverty and cultural issues have caused a persistently high level of child malnutrition and mortality in all areas of Ghana, including urban centers where appropriate food is in abundance. In each of these circumstances the senior women, particularly the grandmothers, have been found to be essential for child survival, protecting the family from dissolution, and ensuring intergenerational cultural transmission. This paper discusses the place of collective decision-making processes of older African women in two studies in Ghana that assessed the: (1) indigenous methods used for understanding and arresting violent ethnic conflict by internally displaced women who survived the 1994/95 Guinea Fowl War; and (2) parenting and grandparenting strategies from families who insured the survival of children suffering from kwashiorkor, a severe form of childhood malnutrition. In this paper, findings from qualitative interview data will include narratives and illustrative cases.

show abstract

Section: Study 1: Ethnic Conflict Older Women and Family Survival Insupporting

confidence: 53%

Collective Familial Decision-Making In Times Of Trouble: Intergenerational Solidarity in Ghana

McGadney-Douglass

Douglass

2008

J Cross Cult Gerontol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Since the 1990s, the category of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a subject of considerable debate and concern. (Cohen 2006;Hyndman 2000). Not having crossed a border, such persons did not traditionally fit in the UNHCR mandate and they did not constitute a formal category.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

DIFFICULT DISTINCTIONS: Refugee Law, Humanitarian Practice, and Political Identification in Gaza

Feldman

2007

can

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The almost four-and-a-half million people who are formally registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and who are therefore eligible for the agency's educational, health, and (for hardship cases) rations services, serve as a reminder of the longevity of what is often referred to as the "Palestine problem." 1 Since 1948, when the former territory of British Mandate Palestine was divided by war into three distinct areas-the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip, the West Bank (quickly annexed to Jordan), and the newly established state of Israel-much of the former population of the country, along with their descendants, have been in exile: displaced from their homes and dispossessed from their lands. 2 How to resolve the status of Palestinian refugees has proven to be a major sticking point in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as a source of political contestation within the Palestinian community. 3 As large as the group of registered refugees is, however, it does not account for all those Palestinians who suffered losses in what they remember as the nakba [catastrophe] of 1948. The UNRWA mandate, for instance, is limited to those who "lost both their homes and means of livelihood" and does not, therefore, cover the native population of the Gaza Strip, many of whom were dispossessed, but not displaced, by the 1948 war.Gaza, home to one-and-a-half million people of whom two-thirds are refugees, is a place that is at once exceptional and paradigmatic-of the broader Palestinian condition and of refugee situations more generally. As such, it offers a particularly good site for investigating refugeedom, as well as its "partner" status, citizenship. Gaza is an anomalous space in that since 1948 it has not been the sovereign territory of

show abstract

“…Physical and cognitive borders situate the internally displaced people in politically ambiguous spaces that impact the extent of humanitarian assistance they receive . They are susceptible to structural violence (Kingston and Datta ) in contested territorialities (Dean ) and exist outside of global protection norms (Cohen ). Kachin internal displacement highlights the geopolitics of international humanitarian assistance, showing how the protection role of international humanitarian organisations is circumscribed by competing claims of sovereignty; whoever controls the disbursement of aid affects its equitable distribution (Tan‐Mullins et al .…”

Section: Bordering Contested Territorialities and Affinity Tiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilising affinity ties: Kachin internal displacement and the geographies of humanitarianism at the China–Myanmar border

2016

Trans Inst British Geog

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper considers how webs of connection bridge people from different social worlds and engender affinity ties that can be mobilised to nurture caring relationships, despite the physical and cognitive borders that exist within and between societies. Territorial contestation between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army has precipitated internal displacement in Kachin state (Myanmar). The situation of Kachin internally displaced people in camps at the China–Myanmar border directs attention to how geographical and geopolitical constraints deter international humanitarian assistance yet provide opportunities to engage a different set of humanitarian actors. The paper first argues that Kachin internally displaced people are treated as surplus populations by the sovereign states in both Myanmar and China. Surplus populations come into existence when nation‐states impose punitive measures that compromise the survivability of populations that are considered threatening to national sovereignty. Second, the paper examines how mobilising affinity ties enables Kachin humanitarian workers to leverage the citizenship resources of empathetic Chinese nationals to negotiate humanitarianism constraints at the China–Myanmar border. Affinity ties refer to connections emanating from a dynamic constellation of cultural attributes to do with history, ethnicity, religion and place among other malleable identity constructs. Interlocking constellations form webs of connections that transverse essentialising categories of social difference and contribute to shared biographies that allow for cultivating emotional attachments to a place and its people. Affinity ties may congeal into durable ties of solidarity and activism, but no less significant are vernacular expressions of affinity that prompt empathy for proximate or distant strangers and a predilection to act on behalf of those experiencing oppression. The paper proposes that conceptualising affinity ties draws out transversal webs of connections that bridge people of differential social positionings. This approach provides a potential ethical stance and productive analytical lens for advancing wider migration and citizenship debates.

show abstract

Developing an International System for Internally Displaced Persons

Cited by 25 publications

References 5 publications

Collective Familial Decision-Making In Times Of Trouble: Intergenerational Solidarity in Ghana

Collective Familial Decision-Making In Times Of Trouble: Intergenerational Solidarity in Ghana

DIFFICULT DISTINCTIONS: Refugee Law, Humanitarian Practice, and Political Identification in Gaza

Mobilising affinity ties: Kachin internal displacement and the geographies of humanitarianism at the China–Myanmar border

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About