Burundian refugees’ journey towards citizenship: pragmatics of belonging in Ulyankulu settlement, Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACT How do refugees develop a sense of belonging and de facto citizenship throughout long-term exile? This question, now relevant for global policy as ever, is at the heart of this journal article. This article analysesBurundian refugees’ everyday practices and narratives of belonging and claiming of rights while waiting for de jure citizenship in a rural settlement in empirical terms. It starts by providing a theoretical framework that introduces the concept of ‘pragmatics of belonging’, then it traces different phases of governance in the settlement’s history and continues by showing how the practices of belonging have been in tension with policies of care and control of the settlement. This research is based on qualitative field research in Ulyankulu Settlement in Tabora region and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 2012, when the refugees were still waiting for citizenship in a period of uncertainty.