Identity, Intersectionality and Refugees in Cox’s Bazaar: Remaking Rohingyas?

Abstract

With what framework do we analyze the host community-refugee relationship? Given the dearth in extant literature on this subject, this study places intersectionality under the microscope to understand identity/ies in flux, using the recent Rohingya flows as its case. Selective labels or markers imposed upon Rohingyas by local Bangladeshi host communities were drawn from first-hand field-group discussions to unpack the nature of Rohingya intersectionality, then probe how intersectionality transpires and influences identity formation, particularly to account for the transition from a Rakhine home to a Bangladeshi refugee camp adjusting to a host community. Constructivist lenses proved to be most useful in analyzing identity from local narratives, in turn exposing othering as a factor in this migratory setting. Other prisms also open up, like the placement of othering at multiple critical intersections, such as social, cultural, or political groupings. Insights forcing us to reconsider both old sociological patterns and opening spaces for new promises of conflict resolution, ultimately enhance our comprehension of transborder social groupings in an age of immense uprooting.