Institutional governance and refugee resistance : displaced Karen in the Thai-Burma borderlands

Displaced Karen constitute a complex array of actors in the Thai– Burma borderlands. Forms of governance meant to contain and control these actors are framed by practices of territorial sovereignty and bureaucratic processes of identification and resource allocation. This article examines forms of institutional governance through two broad authorities, the state (predominantly the Thai government) and the humanitarian aid apparatus. It argues that the operations of these two authorities establish a series of control over space and movement and a system of administrative categorisation that works to identify and regulate displaced populations. Based on an ethnographic study of displaced Karen residing in the Thai–Burma borderlands, I go on to argue that the Karen challenge these institutional forms of governance because they do not adequately capture their claims for political autonomy. Key features of this political autonomy include Karen understandings of being a refugee and their experience of the refugee apparatus, their advocacy around human rights abuses, and their agitation for political and social change. I argue that these challenges represent a reframing of the discourse around refugeedom, where displaced Karen bring the experience of displacement back into the ‘humanitarian case’ and pursue a desire to be actively engaged in a political resolution to their displacement.