We Are Not Going Anywhere: An ethnographical study of (im)mobility in Jordan
2018 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 30 credits / 45 HE credits
Student thesis [Artistic work]
Abstract [en]
In present time, to be mobile, to be able to physically move from point A to point B is something taken for granted by a small minority of the world’s population, while the vast majority are caught within or between borders. How did we reach to this point? This study examines the lived experiences of (im)mobility in Jordan. It captures the experiences of Syrians who live in Jordan and who have been denied mobility because of their flight from their homeland. By means of an ethnographical approach this study challenges conventional conceptions of what it means to be displaced. Situating the understanding of displacement in relation to the modern nation state, territorial boundedness, national identity and geographical categorizations it ultimately lays the foundation for conceptualizing the relative human (im)mobility and its links to a historical past. Through travelling and living in Jordan periodically between 2017-2018, totalizing approximately 6 months, conducting semi-structured interviews and engaging in everyday social and contextual encounters, this study offers a more multifaceted understanding of what it means to be (im)mobile in present time, as additional to conventional scholarship. It ultimately demonstrates that displacement as we understand it today is inadequate and simplified, and as we reassess its components we are able to reconceptualize the understandings of relative human (im)mobility.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. , p. 98
Keywords [en]
Jordan, refugee, Syria, passport, nation, identity, displacement, camp, mobility, nativity, foreignness, refuge, territory
National Category
Other Humanities
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-171217OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-171217DiVA, id: diva2:1339571
Supervisors
Examiners
2019-07-312019-07-302025-02-07Bibliographically approved