My name is Elizabeth Campbell, and I recently successfully defended my PhD

entitled "Contemporary Protection Challenges in the Era of Globalization: the 

case of Nairobi" at the State University of New York at Binghamton.  Enclosed 

here is the abstract and table of contents.  Anyone who shares similar 

interests with me or would otherwise like to read part or all of the 

dissertation, I would be happy to share it with you.



Sincerely,



Elizabeth

[log in to unmask]



ABSTRACT:



This study focuses on urban refugee livelihoods in Nairobi, Kenya.  In doing 

so, the work critically examines the Government’s official position and the 

popular local perception that refugees are an economic burden and serve as a 

source of rising insecurity in the city.  Empirical data on refugee trade 

networks and commercial enterprises reveals that most urban refugees are 

successful, self-sufficient entrepreneurs.  These refugees have turned 

Eastleigh, a refugee-dominated area of Nairobi, into the city’s third largest 

commercial center.  In the best examples, urban refugees have even created 

work for local Kenyans.  Evidence is also provided to challenge the myth that 

urban refugees as a group are a threat to national security. Despite urban 

refugees entrepreneurial successes and their high levels of self-

sufficiency, conditions for most refugees in Nairobi are extremely difficult.  

Urban refugees live largely without material assistance or legal protection 

from the Government or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 

(UNHCR). Consequently, most are vulnerable to chronic police arrest and abuse 

and face rising levels of xenophobia from the local population.  Through 

revealing the positive social and economic impacts of refugees in Nairobi, 

this study challenges the arguments against legalizing the status of urban 

refugees and lends support to the idea of local integration as a viable, 

durable solution to their situation of protracted exile.



TABLE OF CONTENTS:



INTRODUCTION: The Significance of Nairobi’s Urban Refugees



 Theoretical Orientation: Between the Local and the Global

 Contributions to the Emerging Field of Forced Migration and Refugee Studies

 Comments on Methodology

 Review of Chapters





CHAPTER ONE: Origins and History of the International Refugee Regime

and Contemporary Politics of Asylum



 Setting the Context

 The Legal-Institutional Definition of Refugee

 The Emergence of the Modern Refugee

 The Beginnings of International Refugee Law

 Creation of an International Refugee Regime

 Refugees, UNHCR, and the Cold War

 The International Refugee Regime in Sub-Saharan Africa

 The Rise of the Western Fortress

 The “New Migration Crisis”

 Economic Globalization and the Implications for the Refugee Regime   The

Changing Role of UNHCR: From Clear Mandate to Overextension?





CHAPTER TWO: UNHCR, the Government of Kenya, and Urban Refugee

Policy and Practice



 Who is Responsible for Protection?

 Protracted Refugee Situations

 Refugees: From Temporary to More Permanent Problems

 The Changing Nature of Conflicts and Causes of Protracted Situations

 Historical Background of Refugees in Kenya

 The 1990s Large-Scale Refugee Influx in Kenya

 Overview of Current Refugee Regime in Kenya

 Defining International Protection

 International Protection, the Government of Kenya, and UNHCR

 The Legal Status of Urban Refugees

 The Encampment Policy: You Can Enter but You Cannot Move

 Refugee Status Determination

 Issuance of Documentation





CHAPTER THREE: The Historical Development of Nairobi and Refugee Livelihoods



 Urban Refugees in Nairobi: the New Forbidden Group

 Nairobi: the Birth of a Transnational City

 The Global Community of Eastleigh

 Urban Refugee Businesses and Livelihoods: the Case of the Somalis

 Formalizing and Financing (Informal) Trade

 Small Scale Somali Businesses and Traders in Eastleigh

 Ethiopian Livelihoods in Nairobi

 Great Lakes Refugees: the Case of the Congolese in Nairobi

 South Sudanese in Nairobi

 Refugees in Legal Limbo and the Booming Business of False Documents

 The Impact of Refugee Livelihoods and Businesses in Nairobi

 Security and Urban Refugees

 Security from the Perspective of Refugees

 Refugee Livelihoods in Nairobi: Some Concluding Remarks





CHAPTER FOUR: Durable Solutions and the Relationships between Resettlement,

Remittances, and Local Development



 Conceptualizing Solutions to Kenya’s Protracted Refugee Situation

 The History of Durable Solutions: from Resettlement to Containment?

 Resettlement in Kenya and Problems of Protection

 Resettlement and the Infamous ‘Corruption Scandal’

 Resettlement and Security Claims

 Resettlement-Driven Migration?—The Moyale Incident

 Somali Bantus in Tanzania

 Group Resettlement: a Case of Managed Migration?

 The Relationship between Resettlement, Remittances, and Integration

 Resettlement from Kenya: Some Concluding Remarks





CHAPTER FIVE: Urban Refugees and the Possibilities of Legal Local

Integration in Nairobi



 Local Integration in Nairobi: a Forgotten Protection Tool

 Refugee Protection and the Post September 11th Context

 Economic Globalization, Xenophobia and Urban Refugees

 Promoting Local Integration: a Viable, Durable Solution for Urban Refugees



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