Written by Eleanor Eckersley, Clementine Wesson, Laura Souter, Benjamin Orlin, Madeline Holden, India Cranwell.

Introduction

We have created a game based on ‘Snakes and Ladders’ that encapsulates the struggles of a refugee navigating life in what would typically be understood as a ‘developed’ country. The player is invited to compete against others, racing to reach the top of the board the fastest, with their chances based on luck and obstacles they encounter along the way. Through the themes of luck, promotions and setbacks and the tiresome fact that is it unachievable to win the game, we aim to show, drawing upon ethnographic work, how refugees experience a perpetual ‘state of exception’ (Agamben, 2004).

Based on luck

A ‘state of exception’, according to philosopher Georgio Agamben, is the political point of view that analyses how the suspension of laws during a state of emergency or crisis can establish a persistent state of existence. Using frameworks of limbo and liminality through governance, we wanted to unpack immobilizations experienced by refugees and immigrants living in these ‘states of exception’ in deciding their own fate. We use parallels of refugee liminality in Greece in an ethnographic study (Cabot 2012) with the unpredictability of the dice in the game. Cabot describes the struggles of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants, analysing the difficulties and prejudices they endure when battling systemic barriers in Greece as a ‘developed’ country. In Greece, many immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are presented with a ‘pink card’ as a legal document conveying their limbo status. The flimsiness of the card mirrors the fragility and vulnerability of their legal status, as well as further reflecting the lack of support provided by the state. The pink cards act as metaphysical representations of the state and ‘unpredictable meanings with indeterminate effects, which can disrupt the regulatory functions of the asylum procedure’ (Cabot 2012:1). The game reflects these difficulties that refugees endure, with the state (symbolised by the dice) expending power over the players. The dice, being a deciding force, represents how states control over individuals’ ability to progress or regress, conveying the dependency that refugees experience in ‘developed’ countries. Even in developed, western first world countries such as Greece, these countries are not as developed as claimed because the asylum seekers find themselves in ongoing crisis. This example of refugee crisis in Greece challenges rudimentary ideas of development, revealing the underlying power dynamics embedded in every nation-state and the obfuscation the categorisation of ‘developing’ creates.

Promotions and setbacks

The journey of navigating life in a new country is often marked by a series of promotions and setbacks, encapsulating the precarious balance between progress and regression, a form of backsliding. The experiences of refugees mean they are consistently subjected to structural barriers that prevent stability. Ramsay (2020) critiques the categorisation of refugees as an ‘exceptionalised’ population, arguing that this classification perpetuates their marginalisation and exclusion. This inherently creates a cycle of precarity mirroring the dynamics of promotions and setbacks in our game of Pink Cards and Paper Cuts. The analogy of Snakes and Ladders, where progress is undone by landing on a snake and advanced by a ladder, reflects the lived realities of many refugees. For example, in Ramsay’s study, a refugee named Rebecca who resettled in Australia initially perceived her migration as an escape from ‘a place with “no hope” for a better life’ (Ramsay 2020:4). However, her daily struggles for stability persisted. In the refugee camp where she lived before resettling in Australia, survival hinged on maximising humanitarian aid, informal work, and remittances. In Australia, these challenges remained. Her life continued to be dominated by low-income labour and the expectation of remittances to family members in Africa. 

In our interpretation, the game’s promotion and setback scenarios are drawn directly from texts such as Ramsay’s (2020). To avoid generalising refugee experiences, the game emphasises the multiplicity of contexts that shape lives, highlighting the structural conditions that perpetuate the feeling of being lost. The lack of chronological progression in the game reflects the reality of refugees fragmented and uncertain journeys, as resettlements fails to guarantee stability. As Rebecca observes, ‘Everywhere life is hard. Everywhere we are exploited’ (Ibid).

No one wins

In Obeid’s (2019) article, she explores Widad’s experience navigating London as a Palestinian refugee. Obeid explores the mental and physical exhaustion of negotiating foreign bureaucratic systems after obtaining housing in a London Borough. The unpredictability of these encounters is debilitating, especially for people like Widad who are newcomers in the system. This experience is demonstrated through our game’s never-ending nature. Widad learns to strategically deploy terms such as “stress” to frame her need for assistance (Obeid 2019:73). However, even as Widad becomes more adapted to the UK context, she remains trapped in a state of limbo such as in her efforts to improve her accommodation. This liminal state exacerbates anxiety as time passes without meaningful progress.

Our game incorporates this by requiring players who reach the end to start over, symbolising the cyclical and frustrating process of seeking aid that keeps “players” in a constant state of limbo. As is replicated in our game, even when Widad learnt the system over time, she still feels like she could never win against the rigid structure. This emphasises how “developed” bureaucracies like the UK perpetuate uncertainty, trapping individuals in emotional and procedural limbo.

Conclusion

Overall, our ‘Pink Cards and Paper Cuts’ offers a political commentary about the refugee crisis beyond what is understood as the ‘developed’ world; namely in in countries such as the United Kingdom, Greece and Australia. When reflecting on our game, we aim for the player to question preexisting ideas of what constitutes the ‘developed’ world, drawing upon anthropological work that problematises these assumptions by looking at the enduring dilemmas faced by refugees in ‘developed’ countries. We also invite the player to consider the precarity experienced by refugees navigating bureaucracy and challenges within a host country, something that represents that the perpetual nature of the struggles which are ongoing beyond settling in a country.

Bibliography
Agamben, G (2004). ‘State of Exception.’ University of Chicago Press.
Cabot, H. (2012) ‘The Governance of Things: Documenting Limbo in the Greek Asylum Procedure’, Political and Legal Anthropology Review (PoLAR), 35(1), pp. 11–29.
Obeid, M. (2019) ‘Novices in bureaucratic regimes: Learning to be a claimant in the United Kingdom’, Focaal, 85, pp. 70–84.
Ramsay, G. (2020) ‘Humanitarian exploits: Ordinary displacement and the political economy of the global refugee regime’, Critique of Anthropology, 40(1), pp. 3–27.

Related

By Phoebe Ireland, James O’Connor, Anushka Singh, Hannah Wheeler, Jess Woodward

In this exhibition, we focus on capitalistic conceptions of crisis and how they shape development via the example of the housing crisis in Manchester. This is a relevant topic since the lack of affordable housing is an issue that impacts populations around the world. We researched different housing development projects across the globe and came to the conclusion that a local focus would be more impactful. We feel there are important similarities here with the work of organisations around the world focusing on housing issues, such as SALVE. In researching how housing development projects follow neoliberal ideals, we examine how the housing crisis has evolved and many individuals, families and subsequently children can end up living in precarious situations. We also felt it important to rethink development as being simply a third world phenomenon and delve into the issues of development in ‘advanced’ economies.

We exhibit a photographic collection of buildings around Manchester, some abandoned, some current development projects, and some redeveloped or brand new. Displaying such photographs contrasts the living reality of Manchester’s homeless population against the backdrop of continual developmental efforts that inadequately attempt to combat the housing crisis, the way in which sustainable development projects are framed as an avenue for capitalist expansion, and the resultant continued precarity experienced by the homeless.  

We employ Klein’s (2007) framework of disaster capitalism to argue that the housing ‘crisis’ has created a space for capitalist expansion under the guise of development efforts. According to Klein (2007), neoliberal capitalism has developed a shock doctrine that encourages the expansion of free market policies by taking advantage of the chaos and ambiguity brought on by crises, both natural and social. We propose that the housing crisis posits a similar situation, where developmental efforts seem to be beneficial to expansion of capitalist policies in the name of empowering the homeless and poverty-stricken populations. 

Sustainable development, especially, emerges as a controversial landscape. On the one hand, we see the rise of eco-sustainable projects which claim to boost employment, invoke climate responsibility, and cultural multiformity. However, urban cultural spaces often advance capital accumulation by inviting new investment flows and boosting land rates (Harvey, 2002). This can be seen in our exhibition and around Manchester, where abandoned warehouses are converted to high-end apartments rather than affordable housing, and public funding is pumped into urban cultural spaces which only serves to increase rent and land rates and decrease affordability for the poor. This can be seen in some of our photo exhibits. We concluded that even if some of these high-end projects are done in the name of eco-sustainability, they are not accessible to the majority of the population and so the benefits are limited. Projects need to be socially sustainable also, meaning that they actively add to the current and future generations’ ability to build liveable and healthy communities. Often the development of high-end apartments is part of the gentrification process in which previous communities are pushed out by the rising prices in that area brought on by development. 

Moreover, the housing crisis has profound effects on individuals experiencing it. Redfield’s (2005) minimalist biopolitics offers an important theoretical standpoint to investigate this. Redfield discusses vulnerable populations and the NGOs providing aid to them in times of crisis (such as refugees fleeing conflict or a disaster), arguing that the construction of crisis and emergency reduces victims down to zoological, not biographical, beings. These populations lose their voice and sociality, and are not benefited in the long run when their crisis is deemed to be over and immediate aid stops. We believe this is applicable in our research context too. We acknowledge the importance of organisations such as Shelter and what they offer to those experiencing housing crises. However, this aid, whether it be a raincoat or a room for a night, reduces people down to their biological needs, which causes the full complexity of their biographies to be downplayed. Echoing Redfield, offering aid in place of constructive development does little to confront the roots of a long-term problem. Thus, we must build more accessible houses for these communities or state support to help with (re)building a safe and stable place to call home.

Further, we must also consider the implications of framing this situation as a crisis, which can exceptionalise the issue. According to Ramsay (2020, p. 21), global capitalism has generated a “precarity of everyday life.” In this context, it means that looking at the crisis as an ‘exceptional’ state to be solved by implementation of neoliberal development strategies is a mistake. One instrument perpetuating the precarity of life for the homeless is microfinance, which is the lending of small, non-mortgage backed loans to lower-income families or individuals, to put towards their housing. Housing microfinance has advanced among low-income populations both in the Global North and the Global South due to the market-driven expansion of financialisation. A few characteristics set housing microfinance apart, such as its acceptance of borrowers, housing arrangements that are more informal, as well as the fact that non-profit or not-quite-for-profit organisations actively promote it (Grubbauer and Mader, 2021). However, exploitative rates render the poor even more indebted, continuing their precarious living conditions even after ‘help’. Homelessness, thus, is not just an exceptional problem to be solved, but also a problem rooted in capitalist expansion and hence neoliberal development policies are just a bandaid preventing profound reformation of the system.

Thus, we contend that rethinking development requires reimagining crisis as a permanent feature of capitalist modes of economy. We suggest that, firstly, we need to rethink sustainable development. This includes, for instance, converting abandoned buildings into affordable housing for the poor rather than pouring public funding into ‘development’ projects that aim to reform the aesthetics of an area and end up inflating prices. Moreover, we need to reconsider the state of homelessness from being a state of exception to be solved by aid and neoliberal development policies, to being an everyday reality, which forces people into adopting unfair means such as exploitative microfinance as an escape. By seeing the housing crisis as part of the everyday, it can allow for the full biographies of people to be viewed when creating long-term, sustainable solutions. Ultimately, rethinking the housing crisis involves development that does not put the needs of the homeless as secondary to their incorporation into the economy.

Bibliography

Grubbauer, M. & Mader, P. (2021) Housing microfinance and housing financialisation in a global perspective, International Journal of Housing Policy, 21:4, pp. 465-483

Harvey, D (2002) ‘The Art of Rent: Globalization, Monopoly and the Commodification of Culture’, Socialist Register, vol 38., pp 94-110

Klein, N. (2007)  Disaster capitalism. In Harper’s Magazine, 315, pp.47-58.

Ramsay, G. (2020) Humanitarian exploits: Ordinary displacement and the political economy of  the global refugee regime. In Critique of Anthropology, 40(1), pp. 3–27.  

Redfield, P. (2005) Doctors, Borders, and Life in Crisis. In Cultural Anthropology, 20(3), pp.328–361.

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