Entangled Paths through Different Times: Refugees in and from the African Horn

Abstract:Migration has played a key role in the history of the Horn of Africa. This article looks at the migration experiences of three Eritreans who left their region for a safer life elsewhere, each under unique circumstances. Gerezghier, in the 1960s, could rely on his personal skills and luck. Fidel, in the 1970s, could make use of emerging asylum procedures and Western countries' anticommunist refugee policies. Samrawit's fate was more challenging and precarious, in the contemporary context of international refugees' deteriorating status. All three experienced violence, insecurity, and uncertainty. The global context of their personal experiences, however, has changed considerably over the past three generations. To explore the entanglements of individual trajectories with protracted regional conflict, international relations, and an emerging global refugee regime, this article adopts a phenomenological approach, one that takes into account social life-worlds and their zeitgeist.