Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic material, this paper explores the experiential process of 'transit' for Somali refugees in Delhi where practices of waiting intertwine with attempts to create a meaningful life 'in the meanwhile'.

Paper long abstract:

Recent developments within the European Union, that have sparked widespread debate and concern over the 'refugee crisis', fail to acknowledge that large numbers of refugees continue to live in 'transit countries' the world over. India is one such example, which continues to house one of the world's most diverse refugee populations despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol. As of July 2013, over 24,000 urban refugees and asylum seekers- originating from non neighbouring countries and Myanmar- are assisted by the UNHCR in India. Refugees from Somalia make up the African bulk of this population, as they await resettlement to a third country. Based on the narratives of Somali refugees currently located in Delhi, this paper will attempt to center mobility within the larger field of forced migration, understanding how ideas of (im)mobility and transit interact and engage with configurations of belonging and identity. Oelgemoller (2010) posits 'transit country' to be a politically charged term, located within state discourses of 'migration management'. This paper offers a reconceptualization of the temporal- spatial understanding of 'transit', or more specifically 'transit countries', as located in refugee narratives. Revisiting notions of 'home', 'belonging' and 'otherness', the paper also analyses the motifs of 'safety' and 'freedom' that dominate imaginings of the final flight to resettlement.