Rohingya Refugee Movement in Bangladesh: Insiders and Outsiders in Strengthening and Weakening of Borders

Abstract

This paper examines the role insiders and outsiders play directly and indirectly in strengthening both territorial and psychological borders. At the same time, it also investigates how they undermine the existing boundaries of difference; in other words, how they weaken borders. This study understands ‘borders’ as both physical and cultural boundaries or visible and invisible boundaries of (re)producing and (re)ordering “us” versus “them” or insiders and outsiders. The conceptual framework developed by Azmeary Ferdoush (2017) has been employed to investigate the role of insiders and outsiders in strengthening and weakening borders. The Rohingya movement to Bangladesh case study is used to examine the paradoxical affects that both insiders and outsiders have on borders. This study aims to contribute the existing literature by explaining how borders are (re)produced and (re)shaped with the interaction of both the insiders and outsiders, with a specific focus on the implications of the refugee movement on border-making.
 Key Words: Border, Refugee Movement, Rohingya Refugee, Bangladesh.