Fifty million people in the world today are victims of forcedrelocation caused by wars and violence. Whole new countries arebeing created, occupied by Afghan refugees, displaced Columbians,deported Rwandans, exiled Congolese, fleeing Iraqis, Chechens,Somalians and Sudanese who have witnessed wars, massacres,aggression and terror. New populations appear, defined by their shared conditions offear and victimhood and by their need to survive outside of theirhomelands. Their lives are marked by the daily trudge ofdislocation, refugee camps, humanitarian help and the never-endingwait. These populations are the emblems of a new human conditionwhich takes shape on the very margins of the world. In this remarkable book Michel Agier sheds light on this processof dislocation and quarantine which is affecting an ever-growingproportion of the world's population. He describes the experienceof these people, speaking of their pain and their plight but alsocriticising their victimization by the rest of the world. Agier analyses the ambiguous and often tainted nature ofidentities shaped in and by conflicts, but also the process takingplace in the refugee camp itself, which allows refugees and thedeported to create once again a sense of community and of sharedhumanity.