A Moral marriage: Humanitarian values and the bhutanese refugees

Abstract

Despite lofty aspirations, humanitarian ideals often buttress forms of governance where domination and assistance are explicitly linked. These humanitarian forms of governance frequently deploy moral sentiments to manage refugees. This relationship, between humanitarian governance and morality, is particularly clear in relation to polygamous refugees, refugees that marry across national boundaries and child marriages. During fieldwork with Bhutanese refugees, service providers-whose policies and actions reflected the view these marriage practices were morally corrupt and inherently oppressive to women-approached these practices as a 'problem'. A willingness to transform such practices promised the Bhutanese refugees an opportunity to become part of an international community with all the attendant benefits (such as resettlement) this entailed. Through the experiences of the Bhutanese refugees, this article illustrates that humanitarian ideals actively govern refugees, while legitimizing broader processes of exclusion and inclusion. In turn, these values help maintain the legitimacy of a nation-based, global order.