Paper short abstract:

Reflecting on the different emotions expressed by attendants at the inauguration of a mural done by refugees and residents of Perintis Sub-district in Medan, Indonesia, I will illustrate how refugees' presence have complex affects on the lives of local residents and their access to certain spaces.

Paper long abstract:

Indonesia has long been perceived as a transit state for refugees on their way to Australia. In more recent years, the decline in resettlement opportunities has forced about 14,000 refugees in Indonesia to live in a state of indefinite transit. Approaching encounters between refugees and residents ethnographically, I aim to explore how responses and reactions to refugees' presence in Indonesia are deeply emotive and speak to broader discourses of identity.

One event that stood out during fourteen months of multi-sited ethnographic research, was the inauguration of a mural organised by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and local officials in Medan, Indonesia. The mural was meant to represent a positive collaboration between residents and refugees. However, it was also a contested space between government and IOM officials that were presenting the mural as a positive achievement for refugees and the sub-district and disgruntled vendors who had been working on the road since 1994 and were forced to relocate their stalls for the mural. Taking the expressed emotions of those present seriously, the inauguration of the mural is a moment that captures an intersection of multiple lives; where the ideal of promoting awareness to protect refugees affects the lives of residents and their access to certain spaces. The mural epitomizes political projects that reflect and influence how refugees are treated by their host society. Examining emotion/ affect highlights the complex ways that refugees, whose identities are defined by international conventions and their global movements, are given meaning within specific localities.