FACTORS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONCEPTUALISATION OF REFUGEES (Faktory a dosledky konceptualizacie utecencov)

The paper deals with the various factors involved in, and the consequences of, conceptualizing refugees. The paper is based on empirical data from the field research in Gabcikovo, where there had been a refugee camp. The author focuses on historical, social, cultural and political factors to explain how people conceptualize a refugee and how these factors interact with ethnic and racial essentialist representation. One of the factors shown by the author is the ethnic and racial classification of refugees. The main aim was to show that there are several factors constituting the concept of refugee. Liminality of refugees is discussed and the consequences of such a conceptualization are shown in this paper.