Important Dates

Abstract

Even though it seems clear that socio-economic inequality has a strong impact on (forced) migrants and the way displacement is experienced, it is not so clear how to substantiate this dynamic in anthropological research. In this presentation, I will outline an approach of how to conceptualise socio-economic positioning in the translocal context of (forced) migration, its effects on experiences of displacement and potential downward or upward social mobility in the migration process. Building on my research with Somali migrants in Kenyan cities, I will argue that socio-economic positioning takes place in relation to multiple places, that  the refugee category plays an important role in that context, and that the translocal mobility of people and capital through family and other social networks have to be taken into account as well.

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