Paper Short Abstract:

Grounded in a ongoing mixed-methods research project, this paper engages with anthropology of hope to explore refugees' experiences of (im)mobility in Hong Kong. While practicing hope, the refugees we met make sense of immobility to envision and daily practice an existence worth living.

Paper Abstract:

With acceptance rates as low as one percent and not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, Hong Kong is a transitional place to many refugees, but hardly one of final resettlement. While migrating through a self-branded “Asia’s world city”, refugees find themselves paradoxically stuck in it. Not entitled to work and with allowances aiming at mere subsistence, they are immobile, and it is precisely this condition that nurtures further marginalization.

Despite such a background, many refugees we met engage in daily practices of hope, which challenge the spatial-temporal dimension they are constrained in. Grounded in a mixed-methods study conducted by our research team – H.E.A.R. (Health Experience of Asylum seekers and Refugees), this paper engages with anthropology of hope to make sense of their experiences of (im)mobility.

For some refugees, hope is embodied in their children’s prospects: for instance, by taking care of their education daily, they build a different future for them, with “proper job”, a “proper house” and ultimately a proper life. For some, hope is narrowed to the strength to cope with a context of suffering, for instance by engaging in practices and relationships connecting rather than further marginalizing them. For some, hope is instead not imaginable for this life, and yet they pray for the next one. Far from being a delusion detached from reality, for some hope is a fate that keeps them away from despair. While engaging with hope, the refugees we met make sense of immobility to envision an existence worth living.