How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower

How does a free press resist state biopower? This article studies  the development and dissemination of KANERE Free Press, a refugee-run news source operating in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, that was founded to create “a more open society in refugee camps and to develop a platform for fair public debate...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Michele C. Deramo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: York University Libraries 2016-05-01
Series:Refuge
Online Access:https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40385
_version_ 1818055463859650560
author Michele C. Deramo
author_facet Michele C. Deramo
author_sort Michele C. Deramo
collection DOAJ
description How does a free press resist state biopower? This article studies  the development and dissemination of KANERE Free Press, a refugee-run news source operating in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, that was founded to create “a more open society in refugee camps and to develop a platform for fair public debate on refugee affairs” (KANERE Vision Statement). The analysis of KANERE and its impact on the political subjectivity of refugees living in Kakuma is framed by Foucault’s theory of biopower, the state-sanctioned right to “make live or let die” in its management of human populations. The author demonstrates the force relations between KANERE, its host country of Kenya, and the UNHCR through two ongoing stories covered by KANERE: the broad rejection of the MixMe nutritional supplement and the expressed disdain for the camp’s World Refugees Day celebration. Using ethnographic and decolonizing methodologies, the author privileges the voices and perspectives of the KANERE editors and the Kakuma residents they interviewed in order to provide a ground-level view of refugee’s lived experiences in Kakuma. As KANERE records refugees’ experiences of life in the camp, they construct a narrative community that is simultaneously produced by and resistant to the regulations and control of camp administration and state sovereignty. In doing so, KANERE creates a transgressive space that reaches beyond the confines of the camp.
first_indexed 2024-12-10T12:13:21Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d7ac8e07275d42e189ec4eb4add430ce
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 0229-5113
1920-7336
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-10T12:13:21Z
publishDate 2016-05-01
publisher York University Libraries
record_format Article
series Refuge
spelling doaj.art-d7ac8e07275d42e189ec4eb4add430ce2022-12-22T01:49:19ZengYork University LibrariesRefuge0229-51131920-73362016-05-0132110.25071/1920-7336.40385How KANERE Free Press Resists BiopowerMichele C. DeramoHow does a free press resist state biopower? This article studies  the development and dissemination of KANERE Free Press, a refugee-run news source operating in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, that was founded to create “a more open society in refugee camps and to develop a platform for fair public debate on refugee affairs” (KANERE Vision Statement). The analysis of KANERE and its impact on the political subjectivity of refugees living in Kakuma is framed by Foucault’s theory of biopower, the state-sanctioned right to “make live or let die” in its management of human populations. The author demonstrates the force relations between KANERE, its host country of Kenya, and the UNHCR through two ongoing stories covered by KANERE: the broad rejection of the MixMe nutritional supplement and the expressed disdain for the camp’s World Refugees Day celebration. Using ethnographic and decolonizing methodologies, the author privileges the voices and perspectives of the KANERE editors and the Kakuma residents they interviewed in order to provide a ground-level view of refugee’s lived experiences in Kakuma. As KANERE records refugees’ experiences of life in the camp, they construct a narrative community that is simultaneously produced by and resistant to the regulations and control of camp administration and state sovereignty. In doing so, KANERE creates a transgressive space that reaches beyond the confines of the camp.https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40385
spellingShingle Michele C. Deramo
How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
Refuge
title How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
title_full How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
title_fullStr How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
title_full_unstemmed How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
title_short How KANERE Free Press Resists Biopower
title_sort how kanere free press resists biopower
url https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40385
work_keys_str_mv AT michelecderamo howkanerefreepressresistsbiopower