A ‘Refugee’ No Longer: Karen Residents’ Experiences of Discarding a Label in Australia

Abstract

The label ‘refugee’ is often used to describe a person long after they have settled as a permanent resident in a new country. What ‘refugee’ means to those labeled as such, however, is regularly missing from discourses about third country resettlement. This article seeks to bring attention to such voices, acknowledging them as crucial to discussions about the usefulness and relevance of the ‘refugee’ label in a settlement context. Drawing data from in-depth interviews with ethnic Karen people, I highlight participants’ perceptions of their identities after they have settled in an Australian city. I demonstrate that many participants stopped thinking of themselves as ‘refugees’ upon arrival in Australia.

Keywords:

• refugees
• labels
• Karen people
• Australia
• humanitarian migrants
• refugee settlement

Acknowledgements

I give thanks to the interpreter who helped me on this project (and who I have not named due to privacy concerns) and the participants who volunteered their time and shared their stories.