A Micro-Perspective on Governance in Informal Tented Settlements

Abstract

A decade after the outbreak of the Syrian war, anyone visiting the Beqaa, or Northern Lebanon can’t get around without taking note of the myriad white Informal Tented Settlements (ITSs), providing a “home” to Syrian refugees. While a lot of literature has been dedicated to formal refugee camps run by UNHCR, studies on ITSs are relatively scarce. Existing literature describes them as precarious spaces, run by an informal leader called Shawish, and highly dependent on the informal labor market. This thesis based on two individual cases, considers governance in ITSs in Lebanon from a micro-perspective. It aims to understand the complex ways in which Syrian refugee communities negotiate the spaces in two ITSs: one governed by a male Shawish and the other by a female Shawisha. This thesis observes emerging governance structures, characterized by complex processes, and reveals the extent of long-term sustainability of these settlements. The results suggest ways in which the empowerment of the Shawish has disempowering effects on the settlement’s communities. They furthermore show, how the Shawish takes over the role of a gatekeeper who reinforces boundaries between the inside and the outside of the settlement. Moreover, this study analyzes the position of the Shawish through the lens of ethnic identifications and gender, and it tracks the evolution of his role from being a mediator in agriculture between migrant workers and landowners to an informal leader of an entire refugee community.