https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715218760382 International Journal of Comparative Sociology 1–19 © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0020715218760382 journals.sagepub.com/home/cos IJ CS Refugees and citizens: Understanding Eritrean refugees’ ambivalence towards homeland politics Milena Belloni University of Antwerp, Belgium Abstract This article revisits ambivalence as a protracted state which does not simply develop as a result of the migration experience but stems from overlapping levels of normative inconsistency. Drawing from my ethnography of Eritreans’ everyday life in the homeland and abroad, I analyse their attitudes of patriotism and disenchantment through an ambivalence lens. Their ambiguous attitudes are arising from national and transnational Eritrean state policies and are further complicated by their role as ‘political refugees’ in host countries. My informants’ ambivalence stems from them embodying more than one role (i.e. patriots, family breadwinners, refugees from and citizens of their homeland), from contradictory expectations pertaining to the same role (i.e. young citizens in Eritrea) and from clashing implications of being members of two different social systems (i.e. the destination country and the country of origin). Thus, Eritreans’ political loyalties and actions are characterised by a state of ambivalence throughout their migration process. Despite its peculiar characteristics, this case study sheds light on the complexity of ambivalence, as more than a temporary condition, for migrants and refugees in particular. In the current scenario of emigrant states’ transnational governance, protracted ambivalence is likely to mark the attitudes of an increasing number of people on the move as both refugees from and citizens of their country of origin. Keywords Eritrean refugees, ethnography, homeland politics, refugee status, sociological ambivalence Introduction While I was in Addis Ababa researching Eritreans’ migration trajectories and aspirations (2013), I used to share a flat with Violetta, a 27-year-old doctor, who had, a few months prior, fled from Eritrea. The flat was located in a neighbourhood with a high concentration of Eritrean refugees and Violetta spent most of her time visiting our neighbours or having other Eritreans coming over for tea. One night, Violetta came home angry. As she told me, during the visit, the conversation centred on a newly released popular song 1 by Yohannes Tikabo, ‘Hadnetna’ – ‘our people’, in Tigrinya, the Corresponding author: Milena Belloni, Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies, Department of Sociology, University of Antwerp, Lange Niewstraat 55, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium. Email: milena.belloni@uantwerpen.be 760382COS 0 0 10.1177/0020715218760382International Journal of Comparative SociologyBelloni review-article 2018 Review