Informal places of protection: Congolese refugees’ ‘communities of trust’ in Kampala, Uganda^*

* The research was originally conducted as a doctoral thesis at the School of Geography (in affiliation with the Refugee Studies Centre), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. This article was written in 2015 when I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Turku, Finland.

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I explore the notions of ‘community’ and ‘trust’ with regard to Congolese refugees living in the city Kampala, Uganda. I collected the primary data from individual refugees and refugee communities in 2010–2011. Jabareen and Carmon’s [2010. “Community of Trust: A Socio-cultural Approach for Community Planning and the Case of Gaza.” Habitat International 34: 446–453] analytical framework on ‘communities of trust’ is applied in this paper. I analyse refugees’ five distinct types of ‘communities of trust’ here by examining three mutually reinforcing community-elements: daily life practices, basic beliefs and attitudes, and shared space. I conclude that certain communities identified by the refugees form an important informal ‘space of protection’ for them. Participation in community activities does not, however, automatically signify a strong sense of belonging. Shared beliefs and attitudes bring refugees together and act as reinforcing factors in community building. Inter-community mistrust also strengthens intra-community trust. Urban refugee communities occupy various micro-spaces in their city of exile, and engage both in acts of resistance and cooperation when it comes to their spatial practices. These main findings have implications for refugee communities and for agencies and authorities working with these communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Congolese refugees
• communities of trust
• protection
• urban
• Uganda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Two of the elements, that of ‘shared perceptions of risks’ and ‘shared interests’, are excluded from this paper due to the word constraints, and also due to the fact that they are already discussed in a published book chapter, however, under a slightly different theoretical framework (Lyytinen 2015b).

2. All names are changed to protect the anonymity of the informants.

3. At the time of the fieldwork in 2011 RLP was in a process of forming support groups for elderly refugees and for men and boys who had experienced sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Oskari Huttunen Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, and Emil Aaltonen Foundation.