Zimmadari and Gendered Belonging: The Lived Experiences of Rohingya Men in Refugee Camps

Abstract

This thesis explores how Rohingya men navigate and negotiate their gendered belonging amid the precarious realities of displacement and life in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Grounded in 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this study explores how systemic marginalisation, social expectations, and creative practices shape and challenge the masculinities of young Rohingya men. By focusing on their lived experiences and emotional expressions, this research reveals the fluid and contested nature of gendered belonging in conditions of profound precarity. In the refugee camps, structural constraints such as restricted mobility, dependence on humanitarian aid, and limited employment opportunities disrupt traditional masculine roles centred on providing for and protecting families. These challenges, coupled with shifts in familial and economic structures, have marginalised older men, who were once regarded as authoritative family guardians. Their roles have been rendered increasingly symbolic as they struggle to perform the responsibilities traditionally associated with manhood. Simultaneously, the camp environment has created opportunities for younger men to assume new roles as volunteers, community schoolteachers, and poets. These roles offer alternative avenues to gain social recognition as responsible individuals while reconfiguring what it means to be a man in the context of displacement. Poetry emerges as a key practice through which young Rohingya men negotiate their gendered belonging. The poetry they compose reflects their emotional engagement with themes of grief, dignity, belonging, and freedom, drawing connections between their past, their current struggles, and their aspirations for the future. Beyond serving as a medium for self-expression, poetry becomes a platform for asserting identity and countering the stigma of being perceived as dependent or disempowered refugees. Through their poetic practices, these young men navigate vulnerabilities, resist dehumanisation, and cultivate recognition within the community without subverting respect that older Rohingya men continue to hold in the community.

This thesis also illuminates the tensions between societal expectations of masculinity and the lived realities of Rohingya men. Outside the camps, they are often stereotyped among Bangladeshis as violent, polygamous, or freeloading, further complicating their ability to assert masculine identities. Within the camps, they face ongoing police harassment, the constant threat of arrest, and the stigma of failing to fulfill the traditional provider role. These adversities underscore the fragility of their gendered belonging, forcing them to adapt and renegotiate their masculinities in response to systemic and structural challenges. By situating these experiences within broader anthropological discussions of gender, displacement, and marginalisation, this thesis argues that Rohingya men's gendered belonging is inherently dynamic and continuously renegotiated. Masculinity in the camps is neither singular nor stable. It emerges as a site of both vulnerability and resilience, shaped by the interplay between systemic adversity and creative agency. On the one hand, men struggle with the erosion of traditional roles and the indignities of displacement. On the other hand, they actively resist these challenges by cultivating new forms of masculine identity that align with their lived realities.