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An Intellectual History of Refugee Livelihoods: 1919 – 1979

An Intellectual History of Refugee Livelihoods: 1919 – 1979. Evan Elise Easton-Calabria evanec@uw.edu Humanitarian Innovation Conference, July 2014 Research funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP). Construction of a settlement for Greek refugees in Macedonia in the 1920s.

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An Intellectual History of Refugee Livelihoods: 1919 – 1979

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  1. An Intellectual History of Refugee Livelihoods: 1919 – 1979 Evan Elise Easton-Calabria evanec@uw.edu Humanitarian Innovation Conference, July 2014 Research funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP)

  2. Construction of a settlement for Greek refugees in Macedonia in the 1920s. Source: Anistoriton

  3. We don’t know what’s new • Gap in historical knowledge and institutional memory prior to late 1970s • 'Since its inception…refugee studies has been notoriously ahistorical. Preoccupied with the latest emergency and with the plight of living people, researchers in this area of study have all too rarely looked into the past.' (Crisp 2003: 223)

  4. Publications containing term ‘Refugee Livelihoods’: 1708 – 2014 (decades)

  5. What is new about refugee livelihoods assistance? What has changed? What hasn’t?

  6. Data and Methods • Current literature review and 200+ archival documents (League of Nations, UN, ILO, T. F. Betts Grey Literature archives) • Intellectual History: Tracing of terms, dominant intellectual and economic thought • Foucauldian Genealogy: Focus on practices and power, begins with a ‘diagnosis of the present’ (Foucault 1977)

  7. Emerging Findings on Refugee Livelihoods Assistance: 1919 - 2014 What has changed: • Terms • Structure and implementation   What hasn’t: • Main Practices • Aims • Challenges (since 1960s)

  8. Structure and Implementation of Refugee Livelihoods Assistance: 1919 - 1979

  9. In the Rutumba Settlement in Tanzania: ‘Fishing...is tolerated only if it does not interfere with the agricultural projects. The use of coercion is considered normal, and refugees are put into prison if they fail to provide expected labour requirements for projectssuch as the establishment this year of 400 acres of block farms to grow more rice, beans and cassava.’ (Trappe 1971: 10)

  10. What needs innovating? • ‘Lack of early planning’ (UNHCR 2010: 7) • Lack of expertise • Practical problems: failed micro-finance initiatives, lack of soil testing, destructive farming methods • Lack of displaced community involvement

  11. Conclusion • Interwar Period: Example of a participatory refugee regime • Postwar Period: Insight into ongoing challenges where innovation is needed • Innovation as doing something old in a new way or context • Listening to the uncited ‘experts’

  12. For more information: Evan Easton-Calabria evanec@uw.edu Humanitarian Innovation Project hiproject@qeh.ox.ac.uk

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