Paper short abstract:

I analyse what forms of (un-)belonging are created in a situation of permanent liminal legality. The focus are Eritrean and Ethiopian diasporas in Khartoum. I argue that in certain aspects of everyday life, liminal legality does not hinder a social existence, but important aspirations are curtailed.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I analyse what forms of belonging and un-belonging are created in a situation of permanent liminal legality. The concept of liminal legality zooms in on spaces of social existence in everyday lives in a context of legal quasi-non-existence. The focus of the paper are Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora communities who reside in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, often for decades or were even born there, but without any hope for full legal status or citizenship. While some see Khartoum as a transit destination, most have embraced the fact that it will be their place of residence for the long term.

Based on fifteen in-depth interviews with Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants each, so thirty interviews in total, the paper analyses the complex and ambiguous forms of belonging and un-belonging this liminal legality produces, and how aspirations are created and shaped by it.

The paper argues that in certain aspects of everyday life, liminal legality does not hinder a social existence as a quasi-citizen of Khartoum, and may even allow certain freedoms of action that Sudanese citizens do not possess. At the same time, important aspirations are being curtailed by liminal legality, and create forms of un-belonging that undermine this social existence.