Introduction: Refugees, agency and social transformation

Refugees and the Transformation of Societies is about cultures and societies in change, in the process of producing, refusing or receiving refugees. It explores experiences, interpretations and practices of 'refugees', 'internally displaced' and 'returnees' in or emerging from societies in violent conflict. It also addresses ethics and politics of interventions by professionals and policy makers. Contributions elicit specific contexts, histories, conflicts and negotiations in which refugees take part in the course of their flight and resettlement. Authors highlight the extremely dynamic nature of situations where refugees, policy makers and practitioners interact in trying to construct new livelihoods in transforming societies. The main aim of this volume is to present empirical realities and policy discourses, to challenge prevailing orthodoxies and to encourage new developments in refugee studies and practices. There is a need for reconceptualising notions of migration and refugees, presuppositions about actors and their identities, and the impact of migration on identities and practices of receiving societies. We have reason to believe that the notions of agency and social transformation, central to such an undertaking, contribute to a more adequate, strategic and dynamic understanding of how refugees succeed in remaking their livelihoods, or, for that matter, in surviving a camp environment.