The 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.