Framing the “Refugee Hunter”: Gender and Nationalist Perspectives on Border Vigilance in Bulgaria

Ilieva, Kristina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6503-5034 (2022) Framing the “Refugee Hunter”: Gender and Nationalist Perspectives on Border Vigilance in Bulgaria. Conflict and Society, 8 (1). pp. 90-105. doi:10.3167/arcs.2022.080106

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Abstract

In this article, I explore the construction of the “refugee crisis” from the perspective of border vigilantes in Bulgaria. Drawing on ethnography in Harmanli, a border town with a refugee camp, the article explores how the identity and agency of the “refugee hunter” emerged. I argue that the gendered identity of the “refugee hunter” combines a national feminized victim and a vigilant masculinized protector. The masculinized protector patrols the Bulgarian-Turkish border in order to defend the victimized national community from the immigrant Other and the nongoverning state. The article illustrates that the refugee hunter identity has produced a new mode of hegemonic masculinity, where immigrant men and women are constructed as criminals, while men’ border patrols as heroic.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Border; Harmanli; Nationalism; Masculinity; Refugee hunter
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Society and Learning
Depositing User:	Kristina Ilieva
Date Deposited:	05 Dec 2023 15:17
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2025 15:45
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/13532

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