Ideal Refugees

Refugee camps are typically perceived as militarized and patriarchal
spaces, and yet the Sahrawi refugee camps and their inhabitants
have consistently been represented as ideal in nature: uniquely
secular and democratic spaces, and characterized by gender
equality. Drawing on extensive research with and about Sahrawi
refugees in Algeria, Cuba, Spain, South Africa, and Syria, Fiddian-
Qasmiyeh explores how, why, and to what effect such idealized
depictions have been projected onto the international arena.