Description
Formal camps continue to be the main site of research and aid policy, positioning refugees living outside of camps - those considered ‘urban refugees’ - as a risk. Refugee communities are increasingly geographically spread, and more difficult to identify, categorise and contain. Yet, policy requires clear categories, resulting in an international aid policy unable to effectively respond to refugee needs.
Drawing on nine months of ethnography conducted in the refugee-host village of Zaatari, Jordan, this paper embeds the humanitarian concept of social cohesion into the Centre; a refugee-led education initiative established in the village in 2016. I use the Centre as a keyhole from which to study the ambivalences that a social cohesion agenda, and its implementation, bring when enacted in a refugee-host village. This ambiguous term appears in nearly every state and international strategy, project and programme related to (urban) refugees in Jordan since 2011. As a mechanism of governance, social cohesion renders social problems found in any community a security concern. Through identifying the various perceptions of security which differentiate between the municipality, the residents and the humanitarian, this article encourages an alternative approach to cohesion and (in)security, focused on infrastructure and the materiality of everyday space, in order to understand the limits of humanitarian programmes.
