Paper short abstract:

Displacement creates uncertainty and upheaval, it also invites a response and action from forced migrants. At stake is every aspect of peoples’ lives including identity, subsistence and authority. Using an intersectional analysis, the paper examines how refugees manage dilemmas relating to change, opportunity and loss in exile.

Paper long abstract:

Displacement inevitably creates uncertainty and upheaval, it also invites a response and action from forced migrants at a number of levels simultaneously. When exile becomes protracted, the question of how best to manage uncertainty and strategize for the present and future, is compounded. Not only is it likely that forced migrants' individual and collective expectations and aspirations will change over time, but it also quickly becomes clear that experiences will vary considerably within and between 'communities' or groups. At stake is every aspect of peoples' lives including personal and collective social and other identities, livelihood and subsistence activities, and leadership and authority structures.

Based on ethnographic research with conflict generated Sudanese Acholi refugee populations in Uganda over more than a decade, this paper explores the way in which dramatic changes in personal circumstances led to a number of dilemmas relating to the management of social transformation for members of this refugee group. It argues that while displacement brought change and uncertainty to all, for different individuals this was experienced negatively in terms of losses of various kinds, or positively in terms of new opportunities, aspirations and activities. Questions of gender and generation proved predictably important in this respect, but did not alone provide a sufficient explanation as to why some people were more successful than others in (re)-establishing life projects and pursuing goals. An intersectional analysis is therefore employed to reflect on the diverse and intersecting characteristics which appear to be influential in these respects.