Book review: The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas
Naohiko Omata
Book: The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas, by Elizabeth Holzer. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2015. viii + 200pp. $69.95. ISBN 978 0 8014 5690 9. Refugees’ excision from their state of citizenship normally results in their political marginalisation in their hosting state – that is, although they are physically within the sovereignty and territory of a host country, they do not belong to its juridico-political structures. As politically disenfranchised non-citizens, refugees are not expected to be politically vocal and strategic during their exile. In part these perceptions can be attributed to the dearth of comprehensive books that focus on the political lives of people inside refugee camps, with the exception of some seminal works (for example, Turner 2010; Agier 2011). The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas by Holzer is a major contribution that seeks to address this gap. The author takes up the 2008 demonstrations led by a group called ‘The Liberian Refugee Women with Refugee Concerns’ (the Concerned Women) as her central topic. These protests took place inside Buduburam refugee camp - a long-standing residence for Liberian refugees in Ghana created in 1990.