ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses communicative constructions of space as distinctively practice based and grounded in concrete material and spatial realities. Drawing on a novel combination of spatial and social research methods, the authors discuss how refugee camp residents and local authorities engage in communication that can be decoded through materials and spaces. For residents, spatial and material appropriations are a means of striving for safety and stability, transforming standardized shelters into de facto homes. Camp management, social workers, or security personnel equally engage by choosing or resisting to apply and enforce norms and standards. The emerging complex arena of conflictual negotiations not only articulates the (existential) needs of refugees but also shows how their search for inclusion and acceptance reshapes the socio-spatial environments of camp settings and, albeit indirectly, alters institutionalized routines and practices. The chapter argues that reframing such negotiations through the concept of communicative constructions of spaces can help to further our understanding of the communicative power of spatial practices in general. Beyond humanitarian settings, the study of concrete material and spatial outcomes can be considered a key to better understanding the communicative construction of spaces in societies that are increasingly shaped by translocal relations, migration, and diversity.
