Reflections On Refugee Political Subjectivation. The Case Of The Palestinian Refugees In Lebanon

Leveraging Foucauldian perspectives on political subjectivation and its relevance to the refugee experience, this article addresses the socio-juridical violence surrounding Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, highlighting the lack of legal status, the instrumentalization of tawteen and the refugee camps as forms of subjection underpinning political subjectivation among them. Ethnographic fieldwork findings support the argument that resignifications of both the refugee identity and the refugee camp experience, alongside early political socialization, social mobilization, and participation, serve as practices of resistance that, in themselves, account for processes, dimensions, and expressions of political subjectivation. The main objective is to offer a critical approach to the political capacity of refugees, challenging traditional views that depict them merely as victims or threats.