LIVING IN LIMBO WITH HOPE: THE CASE OF SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CAIRO GAMAL ABDELRAHMAN ADAM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO March 2012 © Gamal A. 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Canada ABSTRACT This dissertation is about Sudanese refugees in Cairo and is based on ten months fieldwork carried out between August 2003 and June 2004. It highlights the resilience and hope that distinguish refugees' lives despite the odious experience they face on a daily basis. The dissertation has three main objectives. The first objective is to describe and analyze the coping strategies of Sudanese who live in the situation of limbo and the impact this situation has on them as men, women, and children. The second objective is to explore the patterns of life and kinds of identities they have formed in response to the exclusion and exploitation which they experience in their interactions with Egyptians. The third objective is to investigate what kinds of hope the refugees can have in such a situation where they are both exploited and excluded. The questions and the themes which the research deals with revolve around urban refugees' livelihood in Egypt. The research has resulted in several key findings. First, the refugees have adopted a resource pooling strategy, which includes living in larger households, exempting the newcomers from rent and purchase of food for some time, and ensuring that the individuals who have more resources contribute more. Second, the traditional gender roles have changed and in some cases reversed, many spouses have separated, and children have lost the rights of play and education. And third, refugees are hopeful in celebrating events and setting plans for a better future despite the turbulent experiences they have gone through; most of them are resilient people who encourage each other and ii their agency is rejuvenated by speeches delivered during various events which they celebrate. The dissertation traces the Sudanese refugee problem back to 1989 when the Islamists took over power in Sudan through a coup d'etat and declared war against almost all the other categories of the population. It is a contribution to the literature on urban refugees in Africa where, in most cases, refugees are held in camps with very few rights and freedoms compared with citizens of host countries. DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to Sudanese refugees in Cairo and refugees worldwide. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been completed without the generous inputs of many individuals and organizations. I would like to thank my committee members Professors Dan Yon, Malcolm Blincow, and Wenona Giles for patiently guiding me through it until it was completed. I am also grateful to Professor Peter Harries-Jones who was able to supervise me until the middle of my Ph.D. journey. I repeat my special thanks to Professors Dan Yon and Malcolm Blincow for their patient guidance throughout my doctoral program from the start to the end, and to Professor Wenona Giles for accepting to join the advisory committee. Professor Dan Yon also accepted to replace Professor Harries-Jones as supervisor. I learned a lot from all three of them and their thoughtful comments and corrections will remain useful to me forever. As well, I am thankful to the members of my examining committee for the time they dedicated. I acknowledge that this dissertation would not have been possible without the International Development Research Center's (IDRC) generous grant. The IDRC's Doctoral Research Award enabled me to conduct my field studies with Sudanese refugees in Cairo for one year. It covered most of my fieldwork expenses. At the American University in Cairo (AUC), I am especially indebted to Professors Nicholas S. Hopkins (then Dean of the Social Sciences and Humanities) and Barbara Harrell-Bond (then Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program) for their help. Professor Hopkins inspired me to become an v anthropologist and encouraged me to study for a Ph.D. since 1996 when I was writing my MA thesis at the American University in Cairo. Professor Harrell-Bond generously invited me to use her home library for the secondary data on refugees. At the University of San Francisco, I would like to thank Professors Dorothy Kidd and Cecilia Santos for their continuous encouragement. Professor Dorothy Kidd also proofread the draft of my dissertation and corrected my English mistakes. I would like to express my special gratitude to Sudanese refugee men and women in Cairo who contributed to my study in uncountable ways. They opened the doors of their homes for me, invited and accompanied me to events, referred me to friends and relatives, and kindly shared their experiences with me. It is unfortunate that I cannot disclose their names for confidentiality and safety reasons. I am also grateful to my son, Darfor Adam, for his patience and courageous spirit. I enjoyed playing soccer and racing in the field with him after I had helped him with his homework and had been tired of reading and writing. Finally, I will always be indebted to my partner, Professor Anne Bartlett, for her continuous support, encouragement, insightful comments, friendship, and patience. It is her warm, kind, and patient spirit that always kept me going. vi Table of Contents Abstract ii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii List of Tables x List of Figures xi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Key Questions of this Study 9 Chapter Outline 12 Chapter Two: Refugees in East Africa and Libya 16 War and Forced Migration in Sudan 16 Refugees in East Africa 19 Camp Refugees 21 Urban Refugees 25 Malkki and Kibreab: Integration Versus Repatriation 28 Refugee Administration in East Africa 34 Profile of Sudanese Refugees in East Africa 39 Refugees in North Africa 42 Libya and Sudanese Refugees 44 Conclusion 48 Chapter Three: Sudanese Refugees in Cairo: Population Profile and Methodology for Studying them 50 Origins of this Research Project 50 Population of the Study 55 Geographical Distribution and Demographic Features of the Targeted Population 61 Return to Cairo 62 Field Activities and Methods of Data Collection 66 Advocacy and Action Research 68 Techniques of Data Collection 72 Equipment Used for Data Collection 76 Forced Migrants as the "Other" of Nationals and Nationals as the "Other" of Forced Migrants 78 Difficulties Encountered 81 Conclusion 84 Chapter Four: Sudanese Refugee Administration in Cairo 86 Egypt's Role in the Displacement of Sudanese People 86 Egyptian Government Policies and Sudanese Refugees in Cairo 88 vii UNHCR and Caritas 91 The Process of Refugee Status Determination and its Impact on Sudanese Refugees 95 Who Determines the Status of Applicants to UNHCR? 99 The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program 112 Legal Aid Project and Nadeem Center 114 The Role of Churches and Mosques 115 Role of Sudanese Organizations and Political Parties 119 Roles of Individuals 122 Conclusion 123 Chapter Five: Egyptian Refugee Policies and their Impact on Sudanese Refugees' Housing Conditions 126 Population Growth and Work and Housing Problems in Cairo 127 Sudanese Refugees' Housing and Residential Problems in Cairo 135 Description of Sudanese Refugees' Apartments 151 Conclusion 154 Chapter Six: Sudanese Refugees' Survival Strategies in Response to Difficult Residential and Work Conditions in Cairo 156 Resource Pooling as Sudanese Refugees' Survival Strategy 156 Patterns of Resource Pooling