A uniform front?: Power and front-line worker variation in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Autor: Blair Sackett
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Ethnography. 24:106-131
ISSN: 1741-2714
1466-1381
DOI: 10.1177/14661381221104288
Popis: Front-line workers, or street-level bureaucrats, who interact directly with clients, have significant discretion over clients’ lives. Drawing upon ethnographic observation in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya and interviews with aid workers, I argue that front-line workers are not a uniform group. I examine three types of front-line aid workers (international, national, and refugee), who work directly with refugee clients. Workers use day-to-day work practices to structure where, when, and how they interact with refugee clients. Yet, workers at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy are less equipped to use these practices. As a result, they are vulnerable to increased criticism and accusations of corruption from co-workers and are uniquely affected by criticism from the refugee client community. By examining their day-to-day work practices, this paper illuminates how inequalities in power among workers contribute to differences in work practices and vulnerability in workplace interactions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE