The ideal refugees : gender, Islam, and the Sahrawi politics of survival

Refugee camps are typically perceived as militarized and patriarchalspaces, and yet the Sahrawi refugee camps and their inhabitantshave consistently been represented as ideal in nature: uniquelysecular and democratic spaces, and characterized by genderequality. Drawing on extensive research with and about Sahrawirefugees in Algeria, Cuba, Spain, South Africa, and Syria, Fiddian-Qasmiyeh explores how, why, and to what effect such idealizeddepictions have been projected onto the international arena.