How does Coethnicity with Refugees Shape their Reception? Evidence from Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

How does coethnicity shape host attitudes toward refugees? Existing research often assumes that refugees who share the ethnic or cultural background of host populations will face less backlash. We test this assumption in Pakistan, where both refugee and host communities include substantial Pashtun populations. Drawing on original survey experimental, observational, and qualitative data, we find that while coethnicity increases refugee acceptance on average, this result masks sharp internal variation. Coethnic hosts who live in provinces where they are ethnic minorities are far more likely to express inclusive attitudes than those living in their ethnic homeland. The impact of coethnicity therefore depends on local context: in settings where ethnic identity is politically salient and shaped by marginalization, coethnicity with refugees can carry both instrumental and symbolic value. These findings complicate standard assumptions about the primacy of cultural threat and underscore the need to attend to subnational variation in refugee-host dynamics.