Epilogue: The Power of Arts for Future Making in East Africa: From Kakuma Refugee Camp and Beyond
Published 2024-06-19
Keywords
- art production,
- Kakuma Refugee Camp,
- Kenya,
- future,
- imagination
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2024 Claudia Böhme
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Through the example of migrants staying at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in north-western Kenya, I show what art consumption and production means for people living in marginalised and restricted places in East Africa. With its 30 years of existence Kakuma refugee camp has developed into a major city-camp and its residents are very active consumers and producers of art. In this context, as shown in this special issue, art has an important function of identity creation, connection to wider East African communities, to home and future places to stay as well as for the imagination, planning and making of alternative futures.
This epilogue concludes the NJAS special issue "Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa", edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed.
References
- Amollo, Maurice O. 2008. “The Power of Theatre in Transforming Conflicts at Kakuma Refugee Camp.” Beyond Intractability, January 2008. Accessed June 12, 2024. https://www.beyondintractability.org/casestudy/amollo-power.
- Böhme, Claudia. 2023. “Digital Communication Practices around the Experience of Resettlement from Kakuma Refugee Camp to Germany.” Sozialpolitik.ch 8 (2): 1–19.
- Halais, Flavie. 2017. “‘They Call Him the Millionaire’: The Refugee Who Turned his Camp into a Business Empire.” The Guardian, 10/5/2017. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/may/10/millionaire-refugee-mesfin-getahun-kakuma-refugee-camp.
- Horst, Cindy. 2006. “Buufis amongst Somalis in Dadaab: The Transnational and Historical Logics behind Resettlement Dreams.” Journal of Refugee Studies 19 (2): 143–157.
- Jansen, Bram J. 2008. “Between Vulnerability and Assertiveness: Negotiating Resettlement in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya.” African Affairs 107 (429): 569–587.
- Jansen, Bram J. 2018. Kakuma Refugee Camp: Humanitarian Urbanism in Kenya's Accidental City. London: Zed Books.
- Opile, Caroline. 2018. “Popular South African Actress and Model Nomzamo Mbatha Visits Kenya in Support of Refugees.” UNHCR Kenya, 5/3/2018. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/13446-popular-south-african-actress-model-nomzamo-mbatha-visits-kenya-support-refugees.html.
- UNHCR Kenya. 2024. “Kenya Registered Refugees and Asylum Seekers as of 30 April 2024.” Kenya Statistics Package. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Kenya-Statistics-Package_30-April-2024.pdf.
- Vodafone. 2020. “Kenyan Refugee Art Students Amazed by Live VR National Gallery Trip.” Vodafone Foundation News, 24/01/2020. https://www.vodafone.com/news/vodafone-foundation-news/art-students-in-kenyan-refugee-camp-amazed-by.
- Wachiaya, Cathy, and Mohamud Hure.2015. “Student Excels at Angelina Jolie Pitt-Funded Girls School in Kenya Camp.” UNHCR News, 01/04/2015. https://www.unrefugees.org/news/student-excels-at-angelina-jolie-pitt-funded-girls-school-in-kenya-camp/.