https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4535-7586
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ABSTRACT
The human sense of temporality – the way we experience time – has become a major focus in urban geography and in research on human migration. However, little has been written about how refugee place-making activities are temporally mediated. For refugees – especially those from rural backgrounds – navigating unfamiliar urban temporalities is an important and overlooked layer within the broader challenge of settlement. This paper draws on 52 interviews with refugee-background Ethiopians in Australia, from both urban and rural backgrounds. It examines their experiences of place-making, studying how they have adapted to fast-paced urban life in Melbourne, and have negotiated the tensions between what we call the “temporal logics” of their settlement and pre-settlement locations. We highlight implications for policies concerning refugee settlement, concluding that successful settlement requires consideration of the temporal aspects of the challenges that refugees face.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The names of participants have been changed to protect their identity and privacy.
5. In our sample, participants came from: City (over 1 million people) = Addis Ababa; big town (between 100,000 and 1 million people) = Adama, Bahir Dar, Dessie, Debre Berhan, Dire Dawa, Gondar, Harrar, Mekelle; small town (between 20,000 and 100,000 people) = Adigrat, Alamata, Axum, Ambo, Durame, Woldia; rural area = not city, big town or town. The classification of city, big town, town and rural area is based on population data obtained from “Central Statistical Agency Population Projection of Ethiopia from 2014–2017” : https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/population-projection/.