Refugees, prisoners and camps: A functional analysis of the phenomenon of encampment

Abstract

What do refugee and concentration camps, prisons, terrorist and guerrilla training camps and prisoner of war camps have in common? Arguably, they have all followed an 'outsides inside' model, separating those perceived to be 'undesirable' and 'deviant' from that which is considered 'desirable' and 'normal'. With its predominant focus on camps for refugees and internally displaced persons, this work surveys the many categories of camps and similar spaces of confinement and separation from both a functionalist and multidisciplinary perspective. In a study that is replete with historical examples from across the world, Møller explores various substitutes for camps and camp-like arrangements, deportation and surveillance among them, and surveys the ways in which this separation of the 'normative' and 'deviant' has often served the purposes of the powers that be.