Publications

Abstract

Since 2017, more than one million Rohingya have been forcibly displaced from their country of birth, Myanmar. While most of the displaced Rohingya are currently living in refugee camps along the Myanmar–Bangladesh border, thousands have continued their journeys in search of safety across the Andaman Sea, especially to Malaysia, but also Thailand and Indonesia. During these journeys, many endured prolonged stays at sea. Smugglers who organised these passages tried to extort higher payments from their clients’ families before proceeding with the passage. More importantly, governments of potential destination countries prevented the boats from disembarking leading to prolonged periods of strandedness at sea. While land transit situations have received substantial academic attention, interest in maritime transit settings has lagged behind. This article relates progressive ideas of place-making found in the refugees studies literature to scenarios of prolonged and forced stuckedness at sea and puts forward the argument that those Rohingya kept on boats inhabit a ‘non-place’, a space that denies them the opportunity to live in and maintain any sort of organic community. This article shows how Southeast Asian transit and destination countries have exploited the sea for its anti-place-making potential for maritime refugees such as the Rohingya and created carceral seascapes for the boats they travel on. This recent development entails dangerous precedents that can be exploited in exercising (extra-territorial) exclusions.

Citation: Hoffstaedter, G. & Missbach, A. (2024). Graves beyond the waves: enforced strandedness and the impossibility of place-making in the Andaman Sea. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(8), 2063–2077. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2110457

This article is available here.

Abstract

Refugee Studies have extensively documented agency and community formation in camps and in urban settings but lack empirical insights into social organisation during dangerous border crossings. This paper addresses this gap by examining social dynamics aboard Rohingya refugee boats crossing the Andaman Sea. Drawing on survivor interviews, we investigate how refugees develop survival strategies and form temporary social arrangements under extreme maritime constraints. We introduce the concept of contingent collectivities to highlight the social formations that emerge from survival imperatives rather than voluntary association, capable of rapid mobilisation yet prone to dissolution when individual survival overrides collective solidarity. The Andaman Sea’s vast distances, unpredictable state responses, and absence of rescue infrastructure create unique conditions where boats avoid authorities, knowing interception often means pushback rather than rescue. Our findings contribute to Refugee Studies in a twofold way: empirically by paying attention to previously ignored survival strategies and theoretically by extending community formation concepts to maritime displacement contexts.

Citation: Missbach, A., & Hoffstaedter, G. (2026). Deadly sea passages: navigating risks and uncertainties aboard Rohingya refugee boats. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 52(5), 1157–1177. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2578388

This article is available here.

You can find the Blog Post here.

Citation: Hoffstaedter, G., Missbach, A., Lewa, C., & Ramadhanil, E. (2026). Rohingya boats: Out of mind but still coming. In: The Interpreter - Lowy Institute, published 09.02.2026. Available at https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/rohingya-boats-out-mind-still-coming

 

You can find the Blog Post here.

Citation: Hoffstaedter, G., Missbach, A. (2026). New Routes, No Change: Rohingya Escapes from the Bangladesh Refugee Camps. In: The Diplomat, published 16.02.2026. Available at https://thediplomat.com/2026/02/new-routes-no-change-rohingya-escapes-from-the-bangladesh-refugee-camps/