Making Camp

This chapter surveys the diverse spaces that refugees inhabited in Britain, from military bases to stately homes to prisons. It traces the varied prehistories of the refugee camp, from detention camps in South Africa to plague and famine camps in India, and internment camps in Europe. Specific elements of camp architecture—from barbed wire to the Nissen hut—gave rise to unique physical and social experiences. The built environment of refugee camps was also deeply connected to narratives about British mobility and displacement. Shifting expectations about homes and homelessness for Britons shaped refugee housing. Refugee camps were a largely unseen, unrecognized element in crafting the physical environment in which Britons and others lived.