Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp: A Nine-To-Five Emergency

Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp explores the relationship between time and power in Azraq, a Jordanian camp for Syrian refugees. It challenges the perceptions of Azraq as the 'ideal refugee camp' and argues that it operates as a 'nine-to-five emergency' where mundane bureaucratic procedures sustain a power system that suppresses and forecloses futures.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2023
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press

Azraq refugee camp, established in 2014 and accommodating forty thousand refugees, stands as one of the two official humanitarian refugee camps in Jordan for Syrian refugees. Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp delves into the intricate interplay between time and power within Azraq, exploring how a politics of time shapes, constraints, or empowers the daily lives of displaced individuals and aid workers. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2018, the book challenges prevailing perceptions of Azraq as the epitome of an "ideal refugee camp." Melissa Gatter contends that the camp operates as a "nine-to-five emergency," where mundane bureaucratic procedures serve to maintain a power system that socializes refugees to endure a cynical wait—both for essential services and for their potential return—without holding out hope for a better outcome.

Furthermore, Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp delves into the ways in which refugees navigate this complex system, both on a day-to-day basis and over extended periods. By examining various layers of waiting and their impact on refugee perceptions of time within the camp, the book sheds light on how refugees perceive time not only in the present but also in the past, near future, and far future.

It is important to note that Azraq, far from being an "ideal camp," represents a harsh reality where a power system intended to aid refugees ultimately suppresses and forecloses futures that it is supposed to preserve. This book serves as a powerful testament to the complexities and challenges faced by refugees in displacement contexts and highlights the urgent need for transformative policies and interventions to address their needs and protect their rights.

Weight: 474g
Dimension: 237 x 161 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781617970979