In Making Refuge Catherine Besteman follows the lives of a group of Somali Bantu refugees over the course of three decades, from their pre-civil war homes and terrible experiences in Kenyan refugee camps, to their recent resettlement in the struggling former mill town of Lewiston, Maine.
Exploring the complex dynamics of power, politics, and violence, this collection of essays delves into the reasons behind the physical violence that can emerge in political processes. It features classic writings alongside contemporary analyses of political violence in various contexts. The contributors examine state-sanctioned violence against individuals, as well as conflicts among citizens and between citizens and the state, providing a comprehensive look at the interplay of authority and aggression within political systems.
Catherine Besteman offers a sweeping theorization of the ways in which countries from the global North are reproducing South Africa's apartheid system on a worldwide scale to control the mobility and labor of people from the global South.