Implications of tragic experiences on symbolic power: The case of displaced persons in Kenya

Abstract

Displacement of human populations is a common phenomenon from natural and human causes. Conflict and natural disasters such as floods, volcanic eruptions, landslides, out-breaks of diseases are among the regular culprits. Victims of displacement experience dramatic changes in their life situations a common denominator being temporary and at times permanent deprivation of crucial resources for their daily lives. This affects their place in the social hierarchy among members of their host community. The displaced persons in Kenya following the 2007-2008 post-election violence were uprooted from their homes and deprived of their property. They lived in camps and with well-wishers depending on assistance from others. How did this affect their social station in life and how did they manifest? This paper examines the effect of displacement on the perception and treatment of the affected persons by their host communities. The paper utilizes qualitative methods to analyze the discourse of the displaced persons, providing a deeper understanding of their experiences upon displacement. The paper was guided by insights from Critical Discourse Analysis and Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of capital, symbolic power and symbolic violence. It brings to light the sudden changes in the perceptions and social evaluations of the victims and their response to the undesired changes. The paper comes to the conclusion that the new life status leads to new self-evaluations as well as the evaluations by those around them and the displaced persons lose symbolic capital and symbolic power and come to the receiving end of symbolic violence. In so doing, the paper illuminates the plight of the displaced persons beyond the evident material loses and recommends interventions to address these effects.