ABSTRACT
In the Conclusion, it is suggested that rather than think about displacement during decolonization as fracturing individual lives and collective identities, it may be more productive and appropriate to acknowledge the choices made of one’s own initiative and the nature of community forged under duress. The chapter reflects on the varied meanings of displacement during decolonization and delves deeper into how refugeeness could foster opportunity and generate networks of affinity. Rather than gloss displacement as a burden to be borne, it questions historical landscapes that enable the displaced to help themselves and one another. It asks: what do refugee voices tell us about making home anew? Doing so complicates our understandings of the role of refugees in the making (and remaking) of history in postcolonial Africa. This shows how this story challenges both historical and contemporary understandings of refugeeness and opens up new debates on the role of displacement in nationalist movements globally.
