Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE) - Volume 23 - Issue 1 - Language, education, and power in refugee camps

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆

Language, education, and power in refugee camps examines how language-in-education policies operate as political instruments rather than neutral technical tools. Using a comparative case study of Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, it shows how power dynamics can enable or exclude refugees from decisions about language of instruction. The analysis highlights differing elite agendas, where efficiency and cost-effectiveness often override linguistic rights, shaping inclusion and contestation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Refugee Education and Language Policies

Literature Review Context of Refugee Education

Findings and Comparative Case Contexts

Discussion and Implications

Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), Volume 23, Issue 1, Winter 2021 Language, education, and power in refugee camps: A comparison of Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and Thai Myanmar refugee camps Hang M. Le International Education Policy, University of Maryland – College Park While there is growing attention to language as a central issue in education for refugees, this policy area still appears to be dominated by an apolitical, technical, and instrumentalist perspective. Through a comparison of language-in-education policies in two refugee camp contexts, Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, this paper demonstrates how language policies are always deeply political in nature. In refugee contexts in particular, language policies in education reflect and reproduce existing power dynamics that can exclude refugees from decisionmaking processes about their own future. In Kakuma, language issues in education are decided by the international humanitarianism regime based on efficiency and costeffectiveness over the linguistic rights of the refugee community. Even when refugees are in control in the Thai-Myanmar refugee camps, decisions over the language of instruction are still political choices that serve to exclude many people. Introduction In the midst of a new global educational agenda that seeks to ‘leave no one behind’ in equal access to quality education, education for refugee children and youths has emerged as a key area of concern for international humanitarian and development actors (Education Cannot Wait, 2017; Education Commission, 2016; Global Education Monitoring [GEM] Report, 2018) . Recent policy discourse and practice in this area also signals a growing recognition that language is a central issue in refugee education, whether in pre-resettlement, post-resettlement, or repatriation settings (Dryden-Peterson et al., 2018; Chopra & Dryden-Peterson, 2015) . However, language policies in refugee education still appear to be predominantly treated as an apolitical, technical issue, where language competency and literacy is simply an instrumental tool to access more education and a better future. This paper is a comparative case study of language-in-education policies in two refugee camp contexts, Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and the various refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, drawing on a review of the scholarly and grey literature on education in these contexts. With an explicit engagement with power dynamics in language planning in education, this paper highlights how language choicesand policies in education are always deeply political in nature. In particular, in Kakuma Refugee Camp, language issues in education are largely invisible with a de facto language policy that derives from the larger agenda of integration into the Kenyan national education system. These decisions, made mainly by the international humanitarianism regime, point to an apolitical style of policy-making that privileges © 2021, Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Current Issues in Comparative Education 23(1), 15-30. Le efficiency and cost-effectiveness over the linguistic rights of the refugee community. This in itself is also a political move as it reproduces an unequal power hierarchy with international aid agencies at the top and refugees at the bottom. However, even when refugees are in control of language-in-education policies such as in the Thai-Myanmar refugee camps, decisions over the language of instruction are still political choices that serve to exclude many people. Though the nature of the power elite and their particular agendas differ between these refugee camp contexts, issues of language in education in these contexts are always tied to power, inclusion and exclusion, and contestation over what should be the future for refugees. Given how language cuts across all dimensions of the human

FAQs

What is the main argument about language-in-education policies in refugee camps?

Language-in-education policies are deeply political. They reflect and reproduce power dynamics that can exclude refugees from decisions about their own future.

How does the paper compare refugee education contexts?

It compares Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya with refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, drawing on a review of scholarly and grey literature.

Why does the paper emphasize political deliberation in refugee education?

Because language planning affects empowerment and development, prioritizing inclusive decision-making helps elevate linguistic rights and involvement of community stakeholders.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆