Dissertation Defense - Adriana Salcedo: Transnational Displacement, Clandestinity And Conflict In The Ecuadorian-Colombian Bordelands

Frontiers Of Identity: Transnational Displacement, Clandestinity And Conflict In The Ecuadorian-Colombian Bordelands And Inner Cities In Ecuador

Monday, April 21st
1:00pm - 4:00pm
Conference Room 5183

Ruth Adriana Salcedo
Dissertation Director: Dr. Mark Goodale

Abstract:
The arrival of approximately 300,000 thousand Colombian refugees in Ecuador during the last two decades has introduced several changes in the country’s economic, political, social and cultural landscape. Displaced by the magnitude and ferocity of the Colombian conflict, refugees encounter a multiplicity of challenges upon their arrival in the country, from deep suspicion to fierce discrimination and xenophobia, and they struggle to reconstruct their lives in the middle of adversity. In this context, strategies to integrate refugees into local communities (sponsored mainly by the Ecuadorian government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR) have encountered several challenges, since the majority of the population fear that the massive violence present in Colombia can be imported into their communities via the presence of refugees.
With an in-depth approach grounded in rigorous field work, this dissertation presents the different paths that refugees undertake in their journey for survival and in their attempts to reinvent and reinsert themselves in their host communities. It explores the question of how “forced migration” due to violent conflict shapes the construction of identities of Colombian refugees living in Ecuador, as well as how these processes are affected by the particular relationships that Colombian refugees establish with the members of their host communities, with the Ecuadorian state and with the international relief organizations in charge of their protection. In this sense, a critical exploration of the unequal, differential and contested processes in which refugees are immersed, or by which refugees come to challenge many of the State’s and society’s exclusionary practices, constitutes a central part of this research.
Nevertheless, this research is above all an attempt to understand the situation of Colombian refuge in Ecuador from the refugees’ perspectives. Their lives, touched by long- lasting violence and displacement, have led me to explore the diverse and complex interactions and the diverse processes of shaping and re-shaping of their identities, as strategies adopted to respond to structural violence, discrimination and conflict. In this context, particular attention should be paid to the relationship established between refugees and the State and its regulations on refuge. Refuge Law and its application have led to the creation of a complex taxonomy of refugees (“solicitant”, “denied” and “appellant”, among others) that, instead of providing relief from their many tribulations, has ended up invisibilizing the majority of refugees, thereby contributing to deepening their initial vulnerability even further.
The challenges faced by refugees do not end with the “recognition” of their status as refugees. On the contrary, this is the beginning of a long-term journey to reach economic security, social integration with local communities, the fulfillment of their rights and eventually, political recognition as a contesting strategy to fight back marginality and exclusion.