Paper short abstract:

This paper exposes the repatriation process of Burundian refugees in Tanzania between 2006 and 2012. Through this case study, the paper tries to break the assumptions about the link between repatriation and peace-building in post-conflict societies.

Paper long abstract:

This paper exposes the repatriation process of Burundian refugees in Tanzania between 2006 and 2012. Through this case study, the paper tries to break the assumptions about the link between repatriation and peace-building in post-conflict societies. It argues that the hegemonic discourse that promotes repatriation as a step of the peace-building process is part of the neoliberal peace framework, that celebrates the capacities and abilities of individual refugees to reconfigure the post-conflict society, while neglecting the structural factors that conditions the capacity of returnees to influence and reconfigure the post-conflict scenario. In addition, the emphasis on the repatriation solution and the stress on the potential use of refugee abilities in their countries of origin hides how the standard refugee policy of setting refugees in camps in host countries constrain and shape the skills refugees acquire during their exile.