Roads towards recognition: An exploration of the interactions shaping and negotiating Somali refugee citizenship in Eastleigh, Nairobi

Abstract

This thesis provides an in-depth exploration of the multi-level and multi-actor interactions and negotiations that have shaped refugee citizenship of urban Somali refugees living in protracted exile in Eastleigh, Nairobi. For over 28 years Kenya has been one of the major hosts for the many Somali refugees that have been displaced by ongoing civil conflict, violent insurgencies and persistent drought and shortages. The majority, around 208.000, of Somali refugees lives in the Dadaab refugee camp. However, a small but thriving Somali refugee community has preferred to settle in Eastleigh; a neighborhood in Nairobi which become notorious as ‘Little Mogadishu for its booming Somali owned businesses and malls. Yet, In the context of numerous terrorist attacks claimed by Al-Shabaab, the presence of the Somali refugee community in Kenya and specifically Nairobi has predominantly been treated with hostility by the Government of Kenya. Culminating numerous security responses to relocate refugees to the camp and stop urban protection services, the life of Somali refugees seems precarious and restricted. Procedures for obtaining a legal status as un urban refugee has generally been lengthy if not impossible. As a result, there is a large population of unattended Somali refugees who remain legally in-limbo and have no right of presence in Eastleigh. Arguing that existing frameworks on refugee citizenship are not exhaustive enough to study the interactions through which refugee citizenship of Somali refugees in Eastleigh is constructed, this thesis proposes to study refugee citizenship through three dimensions; Refugee citizenship as labeled from above, refugee citizenship as enacted and performed from below and refugee citizenship as an assemblage of interactions. I conclude that since the enactment of the Refugees Act in 2006, refugee citizenship has predominantly been shaped through the security-oriented regime by the government of Kenya, restricting the legal status, presence and rights of Somali refugees in Eastleigh. In being pushed into illegality, the major concern for the interviewed Somali refugees in Nairobi is to obtain a form of authorized or unauthorized recognition. As follows, this research finds that Somali refugees have been able to contest and readdress their unwarranted citizenship status by ‘enacting citizenship’ through activism, and by remaining illegal and following irregular trajectories towards recognition.