Submitted Abstract
Over the last few years, Luxembourg has responded to an increasing number of refugees arriving by setting up temporary reception facilities. More generally, across the world, refugees are accommodated in similar infrastructures, known as either reception centres or refugee camps. These facilities, and the length of time their residents stay there, often turn into a situation of ‘permanent temporariness’, which raises questions about the integration of refugees. Are they included in, or excluded from, the state territory and its society? This project focuses on the governance of these facilities and its effects on residents’ subjectivities. It starts from two observations: 1) Even though, in many countries, facilities are located on the territories of local authorities, the latter are often not officially in charge of them. Facilities are set up by the central state and operated under its supervision. Yet local authorities are often indirectly involved, for example through the provision of municipal services; 2) In the fields of forced migration and ‘camp’ studies, there is a lack of research perspective on the governance of reception facilities across the global South and North, and especially with a focus on the role of local authorities. To meet these research needs, this project builds on the PI’s previous research on reception facilities in Jordan, to put them into perspective with similar processes in Luxembourg. By doing so, we aim at: 1) Developing a more global approach to analysing the governance of refugee reception facilities, going beyond the global South-North divide. We will draw on conceptual and methodological discussions of ‘comparative urbanism’ and its postcolonial critiques. Insights from the global South will allow exposure of processes which are nascent, or configured in other ways, in the global North. This will be useful to understand the production of excluded and/or included subjects; 2) Developing a better understanding of the role of local governance in relation to refugee reception across the global South-North divide. We will demonstrate that despite not being directly in charge of refugee policies and the governance of reception facilities, local authorities are playing an important role in processes of exclusion and/or inclusion of their residents; 3) Understanding better the specificities in Luxembourg of the governance of refugee reception facilities from the perspective of global processes of refugee reception. The findings of this research will prove invaluable if we want to enhance the governance of reception facilities in Luxembourg and the integration of refugees within the country and its society. The research requires a qualitative design. In Luxembourg, all data will be gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the governance of reception facilities and local authorities, as well as ethnographic observation in reception facilities, in-depth interviews with refugees, and photographs taken by participants and researchers. In Jordan, it will only consist of an update of data by conducting semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the governance of reception facilities and local authorities. The project will be overseen by one of the leading international experts on the local governance of forced migration in Europe and by one of the leading local experts on migration issues in Europe.