Gender Relations in a Refugee Camp: A Case of Chechens Seeking Asylum in the Czech Republic

ALICE SZCZEPANIKOVADepartment of Gender Studies, Central European University, Budapestalice.szczepanikova@gmail.comThis article aims to give an account of how refugees’ family relations are construc-tedinexile.ItisbasedonfieldworkconductedamongChechenasylumseekerslivingin a refugee camp in the Czech Republic in April 2004. It argues that althoughtraditional norms defining women’s and men’s position in Chechen families haveoften beentransgressed in the actualexperiences of menand women in situations ofemergencysuchaswar,flightandlifeinthecamp,theyremainrelativelyunchangedat the level of refugees’ ideal notions of femininity and masculinity. It also showsthat the environment of the refugee camp provides, on the one hand, some oppor-tunities for the increase of women’s power in the family and men’s involvement inchildcare and household duties. But on the other hand, the assistance in the camp isbasedonanundiversified andgender-blind perceptionandconstructionofrefugeesas passive objects of aid, and latently sustains gendered violence.