UNHCR IS MY HUSBAND: INTERPRETING THE NATURE OF MILITARIZED REFUGEE WOMEN’S LIVES IN KANEMBWA REFUGEE CAMP By Barbra Lukunka Submitted to the School of International Service of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Art In International Peace and C Chair: Susan Shepler June Mertus Dean of School of International Service Dai 2007 American University Washington DC 20016 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1448704 Copyright 2007 by Lukunka, Barbra All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. 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UNHCR IS MY HUSBAND: INTERPRETING THE NATURE OF MILITARIZED REFUGEE WOMEN’S LIVES IN KANEMBWA REFUGEE CAMP BY Barbra Lukunka ABSTRACT The nature of conflicts after the end of the Cold War leads one to question different dimensions of the effects of war. The consequences of war transcend the destruction of power and state structures in present conflicts however they also destroy norms and socially woven mechanisms in place that are tied to people’s behavior and culture. Refugee women in Kanembwa camp reveal a change in behavior as a result of conflict in Burundi. This study analyzes the militarization of refugee women, a phenomenon that has been made possible due to the nature and history of conflict in Burundi, and the culture and circumstances in the refugee camp. By analyzing the history of the Burundian conflict and the transformation of the Burundian culture in the refugee camp, the nature of refugee women’s militarization in Kanembwa camp can be understood. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................... v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................1 2. LONG INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATION: COLLECTING DATA ON THE LIVES OF REFUGEE WOMEN.................................. 9 3. THE QUESTION OF MILITARIZATION: DIALECTIC OF UNCONVENTIONAL BEHAVIOR ..................................................... 39 4. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS: BRIDGING POLITICS, ETHNIC ANIMOSITY, GENDER AND MILITARISM.....................................85 5. EXPERIENCES OF MILITARIZED REFUGEE WOMEN: FEAR AND DEPENDENCY...............................................................117 6. CONCRETELY UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURE OF KANEMBWA REFUGEE CAMP....................................................... 138 7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 175 APPENDICES.........................................................................................................178 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................... 183 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Causal Model Explaining the Militarization of Refugee Women............................................................................. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLES Table 1. International Rescue Committee Sexual and Gender Based Violence Centre 2006 Chart.................................................................................. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Political violence is corralled as the province of rational militaries and mostly rational soldiers controlling the dangerous elements and explosive fissures inherent in human society. A comfortable picture, but a mythical one.1 The understanding of war has undergone a metamorphosis with time. The end of the Cold War seemed to have evoked a change in armed conflict. There appear to be more intrastate wars and far fewer interstate wars. The end of the Cold War put a different focus on what conflict means. This new phenomenon or type of war has led to the understanding that perhaps the state is not the only important actor in International Relations. There are different actors that we must now take into account. The severities of conflicts are also pronounced considering that “wars today are longer in duration, deadlier and kill higher percentage of civilians than wars of preceding centuries.”2 Conflicts are no longer understood merely as being between state armies. Armed conflicts are now being fought by different types of actors, and against civilians. As stated by Carolyn Nordstrom, the idea that wars equals soldier and soldier equals male is a myth.3 1 Carolyn Nordstrom,Shadows o f War: Violence, Power and International Profiteering in the twenty-first Century (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2004), 34. 2 Nordstrom,Shadows of War: Violence, Power and International Profiteering in the twenty-first Century, 43. 3 Nordstrom,Shadows o f War: Violence, Power and International Profiteering in the twenty-first Century, 33. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Conflicts are unconventional today compared to how they have been traditionally understood. What we see however is a new type of conflict where civilians, children and women partake in conflict. Civilians, children and women are three categories of people that have been viewed as non-combatants and therefore “innocent” in conflict. Women especially are often viewed as passive, and victims of wars. Essentially the idea that “women don’t join mobs, they are assaulted by them”4 does not always hold weight. Africa provides many examples of non-traditional conflicts; in addition, the damage that the armed conflicts have caused on the continent has gone beyond the destruction of any state or power structures but has also led to the destruction of lives, social norms, identities, and traditions. Africa has suffered numerous conflicts which have left the continent in a transformed state. This is indicated not only by the number of fragile states and structures but of the destruction of life and human well-being. In addition the remnants of conflicts have also permeated cultural and traditional aspects of society thereby transforming behaviors and identities. In this study I insist on the analysis of the micro-level effects of conflict and the changes that it brings. This study is intended to move beyond the conventional realist study of state behavior and to look specifically at some of the most affected individuals in society due to conflict. My study analyses the consequences of the Burundian conflict on the lives of Burundian refugee women. 4 Nordstrom, Shadows of War: Violence, Power and International Profiteering in the twenty-first Century, 30. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I present the culture of militarized Burundian refugee women in Kanembwa refugee camp in western Tanzania. Culture in this context is understood as “the way of life of a particular people.”5 Therefore the culture of militarized refugee women refers to ways in which militaristic activities and ideas are integral to the lives of refugee women. The culture of militarized refugee women clearly reveals the extent to which conflict and militaristic ventures and activities transform behaviors and identities and lives. By the same token the transformation of behaviors and identities brought about by conflict and the consequences of conflict also explain the continuity of militaristic activities during conflict and in post-conflict situations. The definition of militarization that drives this paper is presented by Cynthia Enloe who describes militarization as a “step-by-step process by which a person or a thing gradually comes to be controlled by the military or comes to depend for its well-being on militaristic ideas.”6 Therefore this study analyzes the ways that refugee women have come to be controlled by the military, and how they have come to depend on the military as a result of the conflict and the circumstances in the refugee camp. The fact that refugee