Title
Decorating Public and Private Spaces: Identity and Pride in a Refugee Camp.
Abstract
Zaatari, the world's largest Syrian refugee camp, currently hosts around 80,000 Syrian refugees. Located in the desert, the camp has become the fifth biggest city in Jordan. Previous examinations of crisis-housing in refugee camps have assessed re-appropriation of shelters in order to improve functionality. In this paper, we show how interior adornment serves a purpose in refugee lives that goes beyond that of functionality. Our analysis of fieldwork conducted in Zaatari camp show how decorating provides an escape from the camp and compensates for loss of identity, home and leisure. Within contexts of austerity, decorating spaces is a valuable and vital aspect of living, coping and supporting people's sense of identity and pride. Through painting and decorating both public and private 'spaces', refugees transform them into 'places', creating a sense of home. We highlight how the capability of decorating, crafting and making is an enactment of freedom within contexts of political restrictions and resource limitations.
Year
Venue
Field
2018
CHI Extended Abstracts
Pride,Media studies,Austerity,Refugee,Computer science,Coping (psychology),Adornment,Painting,Well-being,Politics,Multimedia
DocType
ISBN
Citations 
Conference
978-1-4503-5621-3
2
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.38
3
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sara Nabil1103.89
Reem Talhouk2519.14
Julie Trueman331.06
David Kirk41949167.38
Simon Bowen5858.76
Peter Wright61645203.56