Large numbers of Eritrean refugees find themselves in situations of limbo at multiple stops in their journeys to flee the repressive environment of Eritrea. The situations of limbo have been...Show moreLarge numbers of Eritrean refugees find themselves in situations of limbo at multiple stops in their journeys to flee the repressive environment of Eritrea. The situations of limbo have been analyzed by drawing from theories of mobility and liminality. First, the situations in the refugee camps and the AZCs have been analyzed through a spatial and a temporal dimension of liminality. Secondly, the situations of limbo have been analyzed as connected to theories of mobility, and especially immobility by investigating what influences migratory routes. In the refugee camps of Northern Ethiopia and The Sudan, Eritrean refugees find themselves pushed to the edges of society, unable to participate. Similarly, the Eritrean refugees that are resettled to the Netherlands, find themselves in the same kind of in-betweenness in the Dutch asylum seekers centres (AZCs), waiting for approval while being prevented from participating in Dutch society. Furthermore, in this paper it has been argued that the Eritrean refugees are kept in limbo, in remote locations from as a result of the policies that an international mobility regime, in the form of the European Union that interacts with the African states with the goal of hindering border-crossing mobility. Within nations too, the mobility of the refugees in limbo are extremely restricted, being confined to the camps and the AZCs.Show less
