ORGANIZING REFUGEES Agency Is Inscribed Into Humans and Non-Humans Across Space and Time
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Yashar Mahmud On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Sweden, Finland, Greece, and Bulgaria during 2015-2019, this study investigates how ORGANIZING REFUGEES agency is inscribed into humans and non-humans across space and time. Knowledge drawn from various disciplines engaging with refugees are used to explain the empirical material. Yashar Mahmud Conventional organizational research takes for granted certain approaches of engaging with, seeing, and writing about the ORGANIZING REFUGEES “world,” which results in the world being kept constant. By utilizing actor-network theory (ANT), particularly Mol's (1999; 2002) version, this study alters the notion of reality and tries to understand the world differently, i.e. as a multiple rather than a plural one. Organizing Refugees shows that a) understanding reality as multiple has profound implications on organizing, and b) refugees are enacted into different but interdependent realities. By giving voice to refugees and revealing their vulnerability, the author calls for humanizing what has been dehumanized, and for new political ways of acting upon the world. This dissertation is a good read for anyone curious to learn more about organizing, multiplicity, refugees, reality politics, ANT, and time and space. Yashar Mahmud An organizational researcher at Stockholm Business School who holds a MSc (2014, Stockholm Business School) and a BSc (2004, Technical University of Varna). His research focus is on organizing, multiplicity, and interdisciplinarity. ISBN 978-91-7911-102-1 Stockholm Business School Doctoral Thesis in Business Administration at Stockholm University, Sweden 2020 ORGANIZING REFUGEES Yashar Mahmud Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration at Stockholm University to be publicly defended on Monday 14 September 2020 at 13.00 in Grö jersalen, hus 3, Krä ftriket, Roslagsvä gen 101. Abstract Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Sweden, Finland, Greece, and Bulgaria during 2015-2019, this study examines one of the greatest challenges of our time—refugees. Refugee flows are not only something chaotic but also something that is organized. In this study, the phenomenon is referred to as organizing refugees: an actor-network that consists of people, their practices, supporting non-human actors, held together by a narrative. Organizing is a verb and implies that something is constantly being made, i.e. refugees are made through interactions between the refugees themselves, other people and non-human actors. Instead of viewing refugees as a means to explain something else, this study takes refugees as a variable that needs to be explained. Accordingly, this research is an investigation of “refugees in the making.” Conventional organizational research takes for granted certain approaches of engaging with, seeing, and writing about the “world,” which results in the world (i.e. reality) being kept constant. By employing actor-network theory, particularly Mol's (1999; 2002) version, this study alters the notion of reality and tries to understand the world differently, i.e. as a multiple rather than a plural one. It is a dramatic shift. In this quest, I challenge the conventional organizational theories' idea of changing the epistemological conditions while keeping the reality (i.e. our perception of the world) constant. When something is made and re-made, it gives rise to different ontological worlds - it is not just about different perspectives. The organizing of refugees thus contains different, multiple, worlds - and they interact, although their coexistence always contains more or less frictions, or tensions. It is these tensions that this dissertation focuses on and it is where Mol's version of the actor-network theory is especially useful to understand the organizing of refugees. In other words, this is an investigation into how different practices and different worldviews interact in the making of refugees and what happens in those interactions. In this process, Organizing Refugees furthers Mol's (2002) work on multiplicity, analytically generalizes her conceptual tools, identifies—as well as accounts for—new “modes of organizing,” and offers a time multiple approach to advance our understanding of organizing. Moreover, the analysis shows how understanding of the world as multiple creates new ethical and political opportunities for organizing refugees, i.e. what we should do and what opportunities we have to act differently. Keywords: organizing, multiplicity, refugees, reality politics, actor-network theory, time, space. Stockholm 2020 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-182560 ISBN 978-91-7911-102-1 ISBN 978-91-7911-103-8 Stockholm Business School Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm ORGANIZING REFUGEES Yashar Mahmud ORGANIZING REFUGEES Yashar Mahmud ©Yashar Mahmud, Stockholm University 2020 ISBN print 978-91-7911-102-1 ISBN PDF 978-91-7911-103-8 Cover: Graphic by Nikolay Andreev (vector from Pngtree - https://bit.ly/2VkyzUX) Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2020 To Sabrie, Mustafa, and Sofiya Preface Refugeeing The world is in disorder The world is in chaos The world is in disarray The world is in, what I call, a big play I would like to research it But I do not know how I lack a framework and an a priori design Instead, I rely on following a practice line What can I do and what can I say? Should I be worried or should I be fey? With a smile and without a delay I set off for a journey of finding the way While the doubts are mounting On these (un)troubled shoulders of mine I ponder upon my approach And look for a sign I’m happy I have Latour and Callon And Law, Czarniawska and Mol are beside them, to compile on While I’m trying not to be left behind My supervisors are telling me ‘all is going to be fine’ Science and technology studies scholars claim ANT and mobile ethnology are the key To achieve, what I call, a way to study An object in the making and shifts in reality I’m following an object out in the field To understand what it is in different spaces and times Sometimes, it’s an armband, a sound or a silhouette At other times, it’s a victim of a cold-hearted market Here, it’s graphs and statistics shown all around There, it’s an unaccompanied minor or a terrorist to be found It’s humanitarian, security and more issues at once But, instead of in a plural, it’s in a multiple cadence How do I organize this unstoppable flow? Do I coordinate, distribute, aggregate or include? I decide to do all of them and more To understand the multiplicity of the whole Things relate but do not always add up Events occur but do not always map out The world is multiple and instead of fragmenting it We can hold it together by interfering in it There is a wealth of knowledge And different approaches to see I’m not reinventing the wheel But other opportunities to organize a refugee People, practitioners, researchers, society, Be benevolent, persistent and transparent For it’s about not only objects, spaces and times, But also human dignity, and human lives. Acknowledgements I want to thank each and every one of the participants in this study. I will start by thanking the individual refugees who agreed to share their stories with me. They are the ones who have the most to lose in the practices that I studied, and I humbly wish this dissertation sheds light on some of the struggles they experienced and will experience. Particularly, I want to thank the Iraqi refugee who ended up in Finland, for agreeing to keep in touch for such a long time and for keeping me updated on his experiences. Additionally, I would like to thank the Syrian refugee whom I met in Greece and who ended up in Germany, as well as another Syrian refugee whom I met in Stockholm and, later, moved to another Swedish town. Thanks for letting me into your homes and lives. Special thanks are due to the representatives of various organizations—such as the Swedish Migration Agency, Frontex, Stockholm Municipality, the Church of Sweden, Swedish Border Police, The Swedish Bar Association and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm—that engage with refugees. The insights they shared with me were of tremendous help in my efforts to understand the practices that refugees are subject to. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the volunteers in Stockholm, Malmö and Sofia, who spoke to me on numerous occasions about their activities. Regardless of whether they are acting on an individual basis or as part of an NGO's efforts, their selfless devotion to help people they barely know proves that humanity is not lost—it just goes through a rough patch. I wish to thank the colleagues whose assistance was a milestone in the completion of this dissertation. Particularly notable examples of such individuals are Thomas Carrington (SBS), Torkild Thanem (SBS), Elena Raviola (GU) and Bino Catasús (SBS), whom I feel are my auxiliary supervisors. Thanks for reading the previous drafts and helping me narrow down, reconcile, and take my research project a step further. I thank Johan Lindquist and Erik Olsson (SU's Department of Social Anthropology), and Thomas Faist (Bielefeld University) for assisting me in extending my understanding of the various disciplinary takes on refugees. I would also like to thank my peers at Stockholm Business School for their great support and for making my PhD life such an enjoyable experience. My own department—Management—is full of great personalities ready to help out whenever necessary. Thanks for all the seminars we organized together—they were great opportunities to share experiences and exchange ideas. Last but not least, I am grateful for the support and guidance provided by Tommy Jensen and Anselm Schneider.