S.M. (S M) Musa MSc

S M Musa
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
ERIM PhD Candidate
Field: Strategy & Entrepreneurship
Affiliated since 2018

PhD Track Making a Life on the Margins: An Ethnographic Account from Kutupalong

Drawing on a 48-month ethnography of the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp in this dissertation, I first present a dialectic theory of institutional totalization, the process through which organizations come to control the totality of their members' lives. I show that totalization also propels bootstrapping behavior amongst the inmates, the patterning of which changes in response to the totalizing environment of the camp. I discover three types of bootstrapping: marshalling, indigenizing, and potentiating, which each represent a specific reaction to a distinct phase of the totalizing process. Bootstrapping creates openings for institutional resistance, which coalesces with the securitization efforts of the institutional authorities. The oppositional forces of authoritarian encroachment and institutional resistance dialectically co-determine the evolution of the total institution that enmeshes them both. Totalization creates opportunity structures for refugees who relate to both the authorities and the refugee community by propagating social stability and institutional continuity. 

 

Secondly, I zoom in on necessity entrepreneurship (NE) as an organizing strategy for marginalized populations; I explore the social implications of necessity entrepreneurship and introduce an ethnographic theory explaining how necessity entrepreneurship leads to the formation of endemic institutions characterized by social cooperation and mutual recognition. These institutions fulfill the fundamental human need for social inclusion by providing a context where participants feel valued, engage in community care, and find gratifying opportunities for social participation. While endemic institutions contribute positively to necessity entrepreneurs' lives and beyond, they also have a darker side, fostering shame, socio-economic divides, and exclusionary dynamics that contribute to social and income inequality.

 

Finally, I reflect on my ethnographic fieldwork conducted within the Kutupalong refugee camp. Within this reflective analysis, I delineate the various opportunities, challenges, and overarching insights that emerged from the unique experience of conducting ethnography within a community marked by vulnerability and extreme precarity. This reflection not only encapsulates the intricacies of the research process but also sheds light on the broader implications of studying and understanding marginalized communities, offering valuable perspectives on the dynamic interplay between researcher and researched in such challenging contexts.

Keywords
Total Institutions, Refugee Camps, Institutional Totalization, Necessity Entrepreneurship, Endemic Institutions, Ethnography
Time frame
2018 -

Publications

  • Academic (5)
    • Musa, SM. (Accepted/In press). How Necessity Entrepreneurship Shapes Social Structure and Inclusion: An Ethnographic Account from Bangladesh’s Kutupalong Refugee Camp. In Proceedings of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, August 4-8, 2023

    • Musa, SM. (Accepted/In press). What if Tomorrow Never Comes? Chimeric Agency and Total Institutions in the Postmodern Era. In Proceedings of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, August 5-8, 2023

    • Musa, SM. (2022). Does Necessity Entrepreneurship Really Alleviate Necessity? An Abductive Study of Entrepreneurial Activities in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp. In Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, proceedings of the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Baylor, Texas, June 1-4, 2022.

    • Musa, SM. (2022). Social Inclusion through Necessity Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Account. In Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, proceedings of the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Baylor, Texas, June 1-4, 2022.

    • Musa, SM. (2021). Life in Limbo: Identity Bootstrapping in a Refugee Camp. In Proceedings of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting (virtual), August 3-7, 2021. (Vol. 2021) https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2021.14892abstract

  • Internal (1)
    • Musa, SM. (2024). Making a Life on the Margins: An ethnographic account from Kutupalong. [Doctoral Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam]. Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR).

  • Academic (4)
    • Musa, SM. (2023). Enacting Social Inclusion and Exclusion through Necessity Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Account from Kutupalong.

    • Musa, SM. (2023). Making a Life on the Margins: An Ethnographic Theory of Identity Bootstrapping in a Total Institution. Advance online publication.

    • Musa, SM. (2023). Does Necessity Entrepreneurship Really Alleviate Necessity? An Abductive Study. Advance online publication.

    • Musa, SM. (2023). What if Tomorrow Never Comes? Chimeric Agency and Total Institutions in the Postmodern Era.

2024
June
13

Address

Visiting address

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
3062 PA Rotterdam

Postal address

Postbus 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands