Abstract
Unsettled Families: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Kinship takes the reader one step back in the refugee resettlement process, revealing the power and reach of resettlement as refugees navigate an uncertain context of asylum in Kenya. Through the experiences of Somali and Congolese refugees navigating insecurities and limited futures in Nairobi and Kenyan camps, Sophia Balakian offers much-needed insights about a stage of resettlement that is seldom the focus of scholarly work. Set primarily in Nairobi, this book shines a light on how asylum and the prospect of resettlement unfold in an urban setting, which creates unique challenges and prompts different adaptive strategies as refugees seek stability and rights. In moving between the perspectives of refugees and humanitarian workers, the chapters of this book sensitively unpack the many contradictions and complexities that make resettlement so frustrating for both parties as they interact with one another at different moments of the resettlement process.
Through extensive ethnographic fieldwork that spanned several years, Balakian foregrounds the transnational nature of forced migrants’ lives. Many of her interlocutors had undergone numerous migrations motivated by strategy and necessity. As a result, they possess social networks that span the global South and global North, which facilitate the dissemination of information and resources that help others access daily essentials, medical care, and educational opportunities. Yet these far-reaching networks can simultaneously be sources of sorrow as loved ones endure lengthy separations that may never be resolved.
The transnational lives at the center of this book are mirrored in the scope of Balakian’s ethnography that spans the asylum context of Nairobi and the resettlement destination of Columbus, Ohio, with numerous other locales illuminated throughout the stories of her interlocutors’ experiences. Each setting carries its own challenges: violence in the home country, insecure status and curtailed rights in Nairobi, a lack of opportunity in the camps, and economic hardship compounded by familial obligations in the United States. Contrasting with media portrayals of refugees as helpless and stuck, Balakian reveals the cosmopolitan lives and mentality of refugees as they persistently navigate complex institutions in hopes of a better future.
At several junctures, Balakian lays bare some of the unfortunate realities of the humanitarian systems upon which refugees must rely for protection. Refugees’ stories of persecution risk being flagged as fraudulent when they appear either too formulaic or too distinctive. Instances of internal corruption may turn a successful resettlement case into a nightmare when it is discovered that the case was “sold.” Strict requirements that limit kinship ties to biogenetic nuclear families, in conjunction with DNA testing requirements, may preclude certain families from resettlement or result in the stranding of individuals who get dropped from cases. A growing emphasis on national security may subject refugees from certain countries of origin or religious backgrounds to additional levels of scrutiny that further delay or preclude resettlement. Such complications leave many refugees feeling dejected, confounded, and wronged. There is no discernible logic to explain why some refugees get resettled, others get stuck with perpetually pending cases, and still others get rejected. Unsettled Families makes clear how rare successful resettlement is and how many ways cases can go awry.
Balakian also astutely describes the potential damages that come with requirements for DNA testing. In certain instances, failed DNA tests have the potential to carry devastating consequences within families. Children taken in to a family at a young age due to tragedies of war may learn that the parents and siblings they had grown up with are not their biological family. DNA tests may also reveal if pregnancies were the product of sexual violence, a weapon of war used against women. Families’ efforts to mend in the aftermath of conflict and persecution may be undone by regulations that impose definitions of a legitimate family.
Over the course of this book, Balakian addresses how families reshaped by persecution and forced migration interact in complex ways with the resettlement process. As studies of economic immigration have shown, migration can be a strategy for diversifying resources and income streams for larger family units who remain in the home country. Balakian demonstrates how the resettlement of some family members carries financial security that benefits extended relations in refugee camps, urban areas, or in the country of origin. Not only do those resettled send remittances, they become important bearers of the systems of care and provide critical resources to relatives spread across multiple countries. In this sense, the net advantages of resettlement are shared by those who may never get resettled.
In spending time with both refugees and staff at various international organizations, Balakian successfully conveys how many of the misunderstandings, tensions, and conflicts between refugees and humanitarian workers result from incongruous moral logics. Whereas one older woman in the book understood resettlement to be a resource that she had the right to access as a refugee, the gatekeepers she encountered viewed resettlement instead as a privilege only available to a select few. For this older woman, the denial of her case was particularly confounding. Yet for the people who work in the organizations that review files and counsel cases, situations such as hers were logically excluded because they did not fit the imagined case of the vulnerable refugee who lacked agency, an archetype that Balakian shows is largely a construct of the humanitarian system. When incompatible moral logics butt heads, opposing parties rationalize the other in ways that risk vilifying their intentions and actions.
At several junctures, this book subtly pushes against the notion that refugees passively wait for humanitarian organizations to offer them an alternative path forward. Balakian reveals how resettlement is an active process, requiring a deep persistence and enduring effort as cases linger in the system for years, encountering discouraging roadblocks along the way. Resulting from the work that refugees engage in during their pursuit of resettlement, they accrue extensive contextualized knowledge from years of interactions with international organizations and through information-sharing within extensive transnational networks.
Though Unsettled Families is framed around the theme of kinship, it is about so much more than families. This book is critical reading for anyone thinking about refugee resettlement, whether as a scholar, policymaker, practitioner, or community volunteer. The daily frustrations, obstacles, and injustices experienced by the Congolese and Somali individuals in this book speak to the systemic inequalities and flawed systems that govern refugees’ lives.