Book Publishers Association of Alberta

This ethnography of Bhutanese refugees reveals how the language of compassion in humanitarianism is used to oppress vulnerable communities and erode their rights. Alice Neikirk conducted fieldwork with Bhutanese who fled Bhutan, resided in camps in Nepal, and finally settled in Australia. She observes that in accepting the role of humanitarian subjects, refugees must abandon their role as contributors to the nation state and become satisfied with the position of guests. The experiences of the Bhutanese illustrate the complex strands of power that limit the scope of people who “deserve compassion.” Neikirk describes how responses to refugee crises have shifted from facilitating the movement of people to enforcing their containment.