Strategizing to survive in liminal life: ghost-like agency of Afghan refugees in Turkey

Abstract

This study focuses on the agency of Afghan refugees in the quest of survival in Turkey. The countries where the refugee regime is ambiguous due to reasons such as complex asylum policies and limitation to Geneva Convention, refugees end up in a challenging situation where they can neither go back, nor incorporate to the host society and nor move further to a third country. In such context, when refugee governance is further based on neoliberal approach, refugees find themselves being left to their own devices to find solutions for their survival through using their agency. With this perspective, this qualitative study aims to understand how the refugee agency is formulated and operationalized by asking: What sort of survival strategies do Afghan refugees develop under complex refugee regime in Turkey? How do the daily lives of Afghans look like in the government-assigned satellite cities? How do Afghan refugees explain vulnerabilities and survival needs? Following making the analysis of the data collected from thirty-five in-depth, semi structured, and face-to-face interviews through the emerged themes, this study first found that following their flight, refugees find themselves in limbo where they are left to their own devices for survival. Second, with the aim of staying alive, refugees turn into ghosts through using their agencies, both by being visible and invisible. This agency however is partial because of the structural reasons. On the one hand, ghostlike nature deepens the already existing vulnerabilities as a result of risk-taking, and on the other, it works into the creation good relationships with the host community members in the satellite city. Whether visible or invisible, the ghost-like agency of Afghans has one ultimate goal: to be able to survive in Turkey.