“Never had the hand”: Distribution and inequality in the diverse economy of a refugee camp

Abstract

In a long‐term refugee camp with few opportunities for wage labor, giving and receiving become vital mechanisms for finding food to eat. Drawing on mixed‐methods research at the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp in Ghana, this article focuses on the ethnographic details of everyday economic life to dismantle dominant narratives that shape current understandings of refugee economies. Exclusion from capitalist narratives and the lack of categories to account for the economic lives of refugees mask the dynamic and diverse impacts of the camp economy. Instead, ethnographic analysis of distributive practices and channels at Buduburam reveals how an underlying restorative narrative shapes the camp economy. Economic activities that sustain life inside the refugee camp—and the categories used to describe these activities—do not simply afford social protection; they also generate conflict and inequality.