City of Thorns

“At a time when there are more refugees than ever, the rich world has turned its back on them. Our myths and religions are steeped in the lore of exile and yet we fail to treat the living examples of that condition as fully human. Instead, those fleeing the twenty-first century’s wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere are seen as a potential fifth column, a threat.” (p.4)   

Overall Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Why this book?
This book tells the story of the strange limbo of life in a refugee camp, life in a settlement that no one wants to admit has become permanent and is now home to three generations. I wanted to read this book because I want to increase my subject knowledge (and thus improve my teaching) of migration. More specifically, my teaching of Migration, Identity and Sovereignty at A-Level (a topic of the Edexcel A-Level course). Whilst I don’t plan to use this book directly in my teaching it has opened my eyes to the reality of life in refugee camps around the world- giving me perspectives and insights that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere.  

The book centres on the impacts of the 2011 drought in Somalia. It conveys the desperation that must have be felt to move to Dadaab (the world’s largest refugee camp) and often stay for more than a decade.

For teachers:
This book discusses the role of the UN, international aid and natural disasters with a brutality that is essential for geographers to consider. You may not agree with everything said but regardless, you will be made to think critically- as we encourage our students to. Ben Rawlence explains how this was a drought and a resultant famine with inconvenient timing. After all, on 11th March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami had devastated Japan and ‘the world can only cope with one disaster at a time’.

The warning signs were there; it was an avoidable famine. And yet it ended up killing 260,000 people- half of them under 5. The quote below is an example of how the role of Western IGOs and aid is questioned throughout this book:
‘Early warning was a waste of time- there would have to be people dying on television before the money from rich governments would flow. And when it finally did, it would come in a flood. And the markets for the local farmers would collapse entirely. The same thing happened every time. (p.69)

Ben Rawlence is clear in his message that the world was complicit in the worsening of this disaster; it is the vulnerable who pay for the worlds’ indifference. As a result, one of my key areas of reflection as I read was on the reporting and portrayal of disasters around the world. This famine was only taken seriously once it was a killer; when it was lurking, this was not enough.  It had taken TV reporting for the relief effort to arrive. Why was this? Well, whilst the technical parts of the humanitarian system were working and delivering the warnings, the political side was either indifferent or asleep. After all, there is no glory in a famine averted.

To say that I enjoyed this book is wrong; it is not an enjoyable topic. Yet I learnt a lot, I couldn’t put it down and it made think. I’ll end with a quote to sum up the significance of what the media can present as ‘just a camp’:
“It served a need, for the miracle of schools and hospitals and a safety net of food, and for respite from the exhaustion of the war. It had become a fact. Through the accumulated energy of the generations that had lived there it had acquired the weight and drama of place. It was a landmark around which hundreds of thousands oriented their lives.” (p.346)