‘I Find Comfort Here’: Rohingya Women and Taleems in Bangladesh’s Refugee Camps

Abstract

Abstract This article draws on feminist ethnographic research to examine Rohingya refugee women’s place-making activities through the case of the taleem—a women’s prayer space—as a site of identity, home and belonging in the refugee camps outside of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The findings suggest that, as a space for religious activity and prayer, taleems hold important meanings for Rohingya women in three ways: in the social relations—bonds and friendships—it creates; through religious observance as a coping strategy; and providing a sense of collective identity and belonging in displacement by evoking positive memories of ‘home’.