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This paper looks at how humanitarian
policies of protection encourage the
development of informality in refugee
camps, particularly informal housing. I
look at four urban camps in and around
Beirut: Mar Elias, Burj al-Barajneh,
Shatila, and Dbayeh. Through interviews
with the early inhabitants of these places,
I attempt to piece together a history of
building shelter among the refugees. I
argue for the application of the concept
of “informality” to the study of refugee
settlements by showing how political and
economic conditions that humanitarian
protection produces compel refugees to
engage in informal practices much like the
urban poor. These informal practices also
become crucial to refugee identity and for
surviving, as well as for negotiating forms
of governmentality in ways that are both
similar to and different from the urban poor.