Paper short abstract:

Far from benign benevolence, humanitarian ideals are employed by international organisations to reshape refugees. Drawing on ethnographic research with Bhutanese refugees, this presentation argues that as refugees perform humanitarian values, they conceal alternative constructions of themselves.

Paper long abstract:

Over 20 years ago, close to one hundred thousand Bhutanese became exiles in Nepal. Living in camps run by the UNHCR the Bhutanese, as a participant informed me, "learn to be refugees". International organisations hold clear expectations of refugees and attempt to mould the Bhutanese into a particularly deserving subject. Thus, rather than physical containment and on-site surveillance, the emphasis in Nepal is governance from a distance achieved through radical moral reconfiguration. Shared humanitarian ideals, rather than direct surveillance, become a means to maintain social order. These endeavours aspire to remake the world by designing righteous humanitarian subjects (Fassin 2012).

The Bhutanese recognise the necessity of reflecting the ideals of equality and democratic governance promoted by international organisations in the camps. To access resources the Bhutanese must appear not only to adopt but also to internalise these values. Consequently, the Bhutanese cultivate an image of domesticated (controlled) subjects eligible for ongoing care and support. This performance requires the Bhutanese to transform their existing values and social norms. Drawing on 18 months of multi-sited ethnographic research in Nepal and Australia, this presentation argues that as the Bhutanese perform the values of international organisations, alternative constructions of themselves are concealed. The refugees reinvent themselves to mirror the expectations of humanitarian agencies in the camps. Far from benign benevolence, humanitarian ideals are employed by international organisations to reshape refugees.