The role of socio-economic status in experiences of displacement: The case of displaced Burundians in Kigali

In the last couple of years, with the surge of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, migration, and forced migration has been gaining more attention.

With a strong focus on desperate individuals, risking their lives on leaky boats, a stereotypical and limited picture is portrayed of migration in Africa and the Middle East.

African forced migration has many different trajectories and in order to obtain a full comprehension of what conflict-related migration means and looks like the many different aspects of it need to be explored and understood, by academics and policymakers. Both urban residing and self-settled displaced people have received less attention by academics and policymakers alike.

In addition, people of a high socio-economic position who forcibly move due to conflict in their home country, have received little to no attention.

This research aims to fill this particular gap by exploring the lived experiences of Burundians of a high socioeconomic status who fled Burundi in 2015 and have been living in Kigali, Rwanda since.

The overall objective is to explore what role socio-economic status plays in experiences of displacement, looking specifically at the decision to leave and choice of destination, integration into the host community, connection to the home country, and how gender interlinks to these experiences.

The objectives will be reached using semi-structured interviews, supported by participant observation to ask forced migrants from Burundi about their experiences.

The project is of importance for the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions as it contributes to adding and deepening knowledge in relation to Sustainable Development Goal number 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions and to UNHCR’s Global Compact on Refugees.

It also gives an opportunity to the researcher to restart her career in a EU country and through secondment to link institutes in an EU country and an AC that have not been linked before.