Exploring the Subjectivity of Rohingya Refugee Adolescent Girls in a Space of Healing and Uncertainty: What Feminist Stand Point Theory Can Offer

I am writing as a feminist academic and citizen of Bangladesh who is witnessing the plight of displaced Rohingya trying to find a place of respite and safety, the struggle of a host country to accommodate the largest refugee influx in its history and the hard work of national and international NGOS for the refugee community in the camps. The situation of Rohingya adolescent girls caught my attention due to their relative absence in research. 52 per cent of the displaced Rohingya population are women and, and among them, 55-60 per cent are children. In international humanitarian action, there has been an emerging consideration of age [pdf]. The reasons for this importance were made clear in a report by the Women’s Refugee Commission [pdf]: “adolescent girls—who account for an increasing proportion of displaced persons—are at a comparative disadvantage before, during and after crises. In countries where emergency personnel routinely respond to crisis, this transitional period between childhood and adulthood is also when girls begin to assume adult roles, but without key skills, capacities and networks that enable others to safely navigate forced displacement. Additionally, the risks in these contexts—rape, abuse, early marriage and abduction—are greater for adolescent girls compared to other population groups”. Taking this into consideration, most of the research projects on adolescent Rohingya girls have focused on the problems that they encounter in refugee camps. In this regard, their vulnerability and experience of extreme levels of violence before and during their journeys [pdf] have received extensive attention and have drawn humanitarian concern world-wide. I found that most of the research projects have dwelled heavily on the grim picture of the lives of Rohingya refugee girls for a good reason – to gratify a valid humanitarian concern.

However, I would like to propose that empirical research grounded in feminist standpoint theory would also be appropriate to enrich an understanding of the lives of Rohingya refugee adolescent girls and for developing holistic development interventions in the refugee camps. Feminist stand point theory places women’s perspectives and experiences at the center of analysis and utilises situated knowledge to develop alternative insights. This approach emphasises that the experiences of women are not homogeneous and attention to that diversity brings heightened insights into the nature of reality.  Feminist standpoint theory helps to weave these heterogeneous aspects to present broader, richer, more complex and multilayered feminist solidarity.

Refugee women have been often depicted as helpless, powerless, and objects of pity in discourse about refugees. In this respect, the grim depiction of Rohingya adolescent girls who have escaped massacres in Myanmar and reached the refugee camps in Bangladesh is not exceptional. Although adolescent girls feel relatively safer in the refugee camps of Bangladesh due to an absence of fear from state sponsored persecution, they still face the fear of early and forced marriage, sexual violence, lack of  hygiene and nutrition, and more importantly a lack of freedom of movement. According to one report, 75 per cent of adolescent Rohingya refugee girls do not have the ability to make decisions about their own lives due to social and cultural factors.   Another report states that the majority of adolescents aged 15 to 18 do not receive any kind of education in the refugee camps and are extremely vulnerable to child marriage, child labour, human trafficking, abuse and exploitation. Most research prioritises their problems in order to find pathways for interventions for empowerment.

However, there are also other parts in the lives of Rohingya adolescent girls which make them more than just burden to their host community. Humanitarian workers working in the camps witnessed that Rohingya adolescent girls participate in life skills and psycho-social training to heal past trauma and navigate their insecurities and vulnerability in the refugee camps.  There are also development projects that provide life skills and vocational training to Rohingya girls. Some Rohingya refugee girls are also doing better in higher education and participating in community development in the camps. Some are also receiving higher education in an International liberal Arts university located in Bangladesh. They have hopes, dreams, visions and aspirations to do something for their community. From my informal discussion with Rohingya girls and researchers, it became evident to me that there is heterogeneity among Rohingya girls on the basis of social and economic class, age groups, family relations and social capital. But the dominant narrative depicts Rohingya adolescent girls as a homogenous group, objects in need of humanitarian aid, life skills and the victims of trauma and abuse during and after their exodus. To challenge this dominant practice, feminist standpoint theory along with empirical evidence can help capture the dynamic subjectivity of Rohingya refugee girls, including both leadership potential and vulnerability and present useful insights to the NGOs working in the camps.

It is true that Rohingya adolescent girls bear the scars of trauma and memory of fear, persecution and displacement, but they can also be active agents in their lives and contribute to community development. In the refugee camps they navigate a space of both healing and uncertainty, with a hope to reclaim a new life in a foreign land. Their subjectivity emerges from encountering the memory of persecution and displacement, developing resilience and networks to address their gender-based vulnerabilities in the refugee camps and through exploring more favorable conditions for self-development and empowerment. In order to initiate a more comprehensive inquiry into the situation of Rohingya refugee girls, the voice of the adolescent girls should be at the center of analysis with proper emphasis on heterogeneity, individuality and particularity. Feminist standpoint theory can be the most relevant theoretical approach to capture the dynamic subjectivity of Rohingya refugees with rigour and depth.

In this regard, I would like to turn to Dorothy Smith. According to Dorothy Smith, an Insider’s knowledge and perspective about their experience can challenge the objectified knowledge of ruling and reductionist approaches to social reality. In Texts, Facts and Femininity Smith argues that we are differently situated in and through social  relations and that effects the way knowledge is produced. To construct a knowledge that values a non-dichotomous image of Rohingya refugee girls and their subjectivity, research needs to explore the multiple layers of experience and complex social relations in Rohingya camps from the perspective of the adolescent girls. This type of research will not only provide a kaleidoscopic vision of the lives of adolescent refugee girls, but also strengthen the effectiveness of the millions of dollars spent on project-based interventions and refugee centered development.