This Place Will Become Home - by Laura C Hammond (Paperback)

About the Book

How do communities grapple with the challenges of reconstruction after conflicts? In one of the first in-depth ethnographic accounts of refugee repatriation anywhere in the world, Laura C. Hammond follows the story of Ada Bai, a returnee settlement...

Book Synopsis

How do communities grapple with the challenges of reconstruction after conflicts? In one of the first in-depth ethnographic accounts of refugee repatriation anywhere in the world, Laura C. Hammond follows the story of Ada Bai, a returnee settlement with a population of some 7,500 people. In the days when refugees first arrived, Ada Bai was an empty field along Ethiopia's northwest border, but it is now a viable--arguably thriving--community. For the former refugees who fled from northern Ethiopia to eastern Sudan to escape war and famine in 1984 and returned to their country of birth in 1993, "coming home" really meant creating a new home out of an empty space. Settling in a new area, establishing social and kin ties, and inventing social practices, returnees gradually invested their environment with meaning and began to consider their settlement home. Hammond outlines the roles that gender and generational differences played in this process and how the residents came to define the symbolic and geographical boundaries of Ada Bai. Drawing on her fieldwork from 1993 to 1995 and regular shorter periods since, Hammond describes the process by which a place is made meaningful through everyday practice and social interaction. This Place Will Become Home provides insight into how people cope with extreme economic hardship, food insecurity, and limited access to international humanitarian or development assistance in their struggle to attain economic self-sufficiency.

Review Quotes

"This Place Will Become Home provides a fascinating insight into the way that refugees reconstruct their lives and their livelihoods once they are able to return to their own country. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork in the Horn of Africa, Laura C. Hammond's book skillfully portrays the difficulties and multiple dimensions of the reintegration process. It is essential reading for scholars and humanitarian practitioners alike."

"As Laura Hammond demonstrates, human reality is much more complex, open to questions, and difficult to penetrate than many believe. In This Place Will Become Home she challenges common assumptions regarding repatriation and presumed homes and homelands. The self-reflective stance with which Hammond engages her experience is communicated to the reader. This approach further deepens the reality and integrity of her work and adds theoretical depth as well."

"Here at last is a study of refugees, return, place, identity, and home that is empirically rich, theoretically engaging, and utterly readable--a treat. Laura C. Hammond illuminates 'the quality of the relation between person, community, and place' with consummate insight, sensitivity, and elegance."

"Hammond delves into issues of birth and death, family, food, economy, mutual assistance, and network formation. She uses an impressive array of sources that include archival material, personal accounts, interviews, aid reports, and journalists' accounts. Recommended. All academic levels/libraries."

About the Author

Laura C. Hammond is Assistant Professor of International Development and Anthropology at Clark University.