LIMINAL SPACE: Home and Belonging in the Landscapes of Power of Exile. A Case Study of Congolese Refugees in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

The central theme of this thesis is the connection between people and place in the aftermath of forced displacement. It seeks to uncover the dynamics affecting this relationship by exploring narratives of “home” and “belonging” embedded in refugee experiences of displacement and exile. It provides a case study of Congolese men and women living in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, in a protracted refugee situation for at least five years. This thesis builds on constructivist notions of place and belonging, which holds that the meaning of place is constructed from a multiplicity of social relations across all spatial scales. It analyses the experience of exile through the landscapes of power, which shape the contours, opportunities and constraints in the structural environment of the host. It finds that the perceptions of the Ugandan landscapes of power lead to a profound feeling of being “out of place”. This feeling is coupled by the fear for fellow Congolese refugees, and the deconstruction of the “homeland”. Instead, “home” is imagined as a “utopic future” or a spiritual state of being.