The Power of Local Micro Structures in the Context of Refugee Camps

This article examines social orders of refugee camps, showing that they have a much higher complexity than is captured in theoretical conceptions that emphasize top-down notions of camp regime structures and power. The plurality of governing actors and power relations is highlighted by refugee camp studies, serving as a starting point for this article. Drawing on an ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic research approach, the example of aid delivery in a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand is used to show how camp residents establish powerful social micro structures. These are, for example, the locally achieved ‘disciplinary institution’ and ‘public camp secrets’. The article argues that the association of these micro structures generates the social order of camps. Further, it demonstrates the fruitfulness of an ethnomethodological approach for refugee studies that goes beyond discourses surrounding the camp, governing techniques and narratives of refugees—instead focusing in on people’s practices in concrete situations and events.