The meaning of Home while living in Exile How a ‘sense of home’ is constructed by Burmese refugees residing in Thailand.

Abstract

Burma is the scene of one of the longest ongoing conflicts in the world, lasting over sixty years. However, in recent history the country has opened up and is undergoing a transformative political landscape into a democracy. Due to armed conflict and human rights violations by both the government and ethnic armed groups, thousands of people forcibly crossed the border into Thailand, in search for refuge and better opportunities. The aim of this thesis is to give voice to some of the young refugees living in a protracted situation in Thailand along the border with Burma. It seeks to uncover how these refugees, living in exile in refugee camps on the Thai/Burma border area, construct a sense of home in their past, present and future by identifying ‘home as journey’ as the dominant way they imagine, reproduce and construct home. The word ‘home’ is closely associated with identity and memory as well as territory and place. Therefore, in this thesis I discuss different conceptions of the relationship between people and places, conceptions that underlie the narratives of home and belonging of protracted Burmese refugees. The refugees construct and reproduce the past and future senses of home, which usurps the present. The refugees’ search for home is translated into an abstract