Contemplating the coronavirus crisis through a postmigrant lens? From segregative refugee accommodations and camps to a vision of solidarity

Abstract

This chapter takes the coronavirus pandemic that first emerged in December 2019 as a springboard to ref lect on how society deals with forced migration from a postmigrant perspective. Such a theoretical vantage seeks to 'demigratize' research on forced migration (Römhild 2017). Analytical inquiry then is not a mode of special research on refugees but rather it investigates the societal power relations and social inequalities that affect all human beings. The experience of forced migration is relevant for research exploring living together in society as a whole. Taking that premise as a point of departure, the present study investigates dedicated refugee accommodation centers and camps as specific settings in which persons who have f led their homes and countries are largely separated, segregated and shielded from the rest of the population. The chapter addresses the questions: What are the life realities of human beings in these settings? What significance do they have for life together in society as a whole? How is it possible against this backdrop to conceptualise postmigrant visions of an urban, cosmopolitan, inclusive and open living together in solidarity?