The diverse refugee population of Amman, Jordan, including Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Somali, and Yemeni people, are neither guaranteed economic support from the UNHCR nor permitted to work, forcing them into the informal economy where they are harassed, exploited, and exposed to dangerous working conditions. My interlocutors sited the lack of or poor quality of humanitarian assistance, the criminalization of unpermitted work which leads to the constant threat of arrest and deportation, and racist and xenophobic encounters as negatively impacting their feelings of belonging and ability to be present in Amman. Employers exploit unpermitted refugee workers and treat them as disposable, grinding down their bodies through dangerous and difficult work. Additionally, refugees experience social hierarchization based on their race, nationality, gender, age, and legal status which impacts their access to services and work. These bordering structures intentionally exclude, discipline, and illegalize refugees whilst local and state-level officials benefit from both the international asylum and humanitarian system and refugees’ labour in the informal economy.
Yet people are resilient and persevere. Refugees in Amman build and participate in community initiatives, navigate the hostile urban landscape, and find creative ways to survive whilst constructing their presence. They are agentic, responding to various barriers, choosing to endure or protest their unfair treatment, and thus shaping the city. This paper aims to focus on the ways refugees foster presence and community in the urban space of Amman, mobilizing the data I collected during 20 collaborative visual arts workshops, 46 interviews, and two public art exhibitions conducted between 2023 and 2024. The collaborative arts-based methodology of the workshops built solidarity, decoloniality, co-ownership, and reflexivity into the foundation of this research project. It is notable that this study does not focus on one national group, as the diverse and constantly evolving environment is revealing in itself.
