Media coverage of refugees often focuses on exceptional stories of vulnerability, threat, or success, leaving the everyday lives of most refugees largely unseen. Yet most refugees do not live in the West, but in countries neighbouring conflicts, often in large refugee camps such as Kakuma in Kenya.

The Refugee Stories project offers a scientifically grounded, data-driven portrait of life in such a camp. Drawing on extensive survey and interview data, the project followed nine refugees from different income groups to provide a more representative picture of camp life. Moving beyond stereotypes, it explores Kakuma as a complex micro-society with its own economic and social dynamics.

Refugee Stories is a partnership between a team of refugee film-makers and academics at the University of Oxford.

The project includes:
1. An academic book: Humanizing Data: Representative Storytelling in a Refugee Camp, forthcoming at Oxford University Press.
2. A documentary film (60′): Refugee Stories: Voices from Kakuma, which premiered at Docville 2026.
3. A interactive website: https://www.refugee-stories.com/, which provides detailed information about the project.