Agency, structure, and reflexivity in displacement: The experience of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Germany

This article, based on 18 months of fieldwork in Lebanon and Germany, proposes a theoretical conceptualization of the interactions between agency, structure, and reflexivity in displacement. The research on which this paper is based looks at Syrian displaced families and explores the specificities of refugees’ agency. I argue that the specific conditions within which Syrian refugees act in Lebanon and Germany make them experience a suspended life. This condition is expressed by the concept of ‘liminality’, which functions as a non-structure and creates a framework in which alternative dimensions of agency and reflexivity can be exercised

Relocation of Syrian refugees entailing informal secondary mobility in Europe

Relocation of Syrian refugees entailing informal secondary mobility in Europe Today’s cross-national mobility of refugees is bounded to EU’s hospitality, protection and border control policies. In particular, the programme of relocation, which has come to an end in 2017, has supported refugees’ movement and resettlement between Member States, but it has also failed in avoiding people’s risky journeys across borders. Syrian refugees, who are relocated mostly from Greece, imagine their life and their social and educational development in the countries of Northern and Central Europe, where they have solid social networks and multiple possibilities to be successfully included into the labour market. Southern and Eastern European countries are considered “undesirable countries of relocation”. Yet, findings show that refugees’ needs, expectations and skills are not elements of discussion between sending and receiving States of relocation, nor a real commitment towards their social and labour market integration is taken. Insecurities created by those lacunae trigger insecurity towards the future, which bring about informal movements and secondary migration within a framework of insecurity. This study is the result of a qualitative research conducted in 2017 through semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugees, social workers and experts. It lies on the assumption that when security of protection is high, refugees’ mobility is bounded, when insecurity towards the future overcomes security of protection people undertake informal movements and secondary migration within a framework of insecurity

Traiettorie di ricostruzione e negoziazione delle relazioni di genere nella migrazione forzata: l’intimità tra le famiglie siriane in Libano

Abstract (italiano) L’articolo esplora l’impatto della migrazione forzata sulle relazioni di genere tra le famiglie siriane in Libano e si propone di analizzare alcune delle trasformazioni che hanno interessato le relazioni intime delle famiglie rifugiate. Si concentra in particolare su come donne e uomini in esilio ricostruiscono l’intimità attraverso l’uso della resilienza come dimensione di agentività (agency). Le domande di ricerca a cui l’articolo risponde sono: qual è l’impatto della migrazione forzata sull’intimità? Come vengono ricostruite le relazioni intime nella migrazione forzata? Basandosi su uno studio etnografico svolto in Libano tra il 2017 e il 2019, questo articolo propone una lettura delle traiettorie di ricostruzione e negoziazione delle relazioni di genere attraverso il concetto di resilienza. Dai risultati di questo studio emerge che la resilienza come dimensione di agentività permette di mettere in pratica tecniche di negoziazione attiva e creativa delle relazioni e di ricostruzione dell’intimità nella migrazione forzata

International human rights frameworks in relation to national family reunification policy and administrative practice

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Interpretare e costruire mondi: pratiche inclusive a varie latitudini

Il contributo delle discipline umanistiche si rivela oggi più che mai essenziale per poter leggere e interpretare la complessità del mondo contemporaneo. Le molteplici crisi che hanno segnato la storia moderna e contemporanea hanno fatto (ri)emergere pericolose narrative di esclusione che intellettuali ed artisti si sono sentiti chiamati a decostruire. A fronte di diverse forme di marginalizzazione, pratiche di censura e di disuguaglianza sociale, la produzione culturale e artistica ha tentato di (ri)costruire nuove forme di solidarietà e di offrire nuove prospettive di miglioramento comune. Il numero 2/2022 della rivista DIVE-IN – An International Journal on Diversity and Inclusion contiene otto contributi, uniti dal fil rouge dell’inclusione, che offrono una interessante panoramica dei tentativi di (ri)costruzione che si articolano in diversi campi espressivi a varie latitudini geografiche e tematico-disciplinari

Cross-national and Transnational Lives of Refugees: "Bounded Mobilities" of Syrians and Eritreans in Europe

The Migration Conference 2017 hosted by Harokopio University, Athens from 23 to 26 August. The 5th conference in our series, the 2017 Conference was probably the largest scholarly gathering on migration with a global scope. Human mobility, border management, integration and security, diversity and minorities as well as spatial patterns, identity and economic implications have dominated the public agenda and gave an extra impetus for the study of movers and non-movers over the last decade or so. Throughout the program of the Migration Conference you will find various key thematic areas are covered in about 400 presentations by about 400 colleagues coming from all around the world from Australia to Canada, China to Mexico, South Africa to Finland.Today’s forced migration flows arriving to Europe are utterly nonlinear, multi-directional and unsteady. Forced migrants do not move through a one-directional path from a sending country to a receiving country. Rather, they move across several international borders and are forced to stop in different geographic areas before reaching their final destination. Even once people arrive to Europe, their journey is not completed. The EU immigration laws, reception policies and system of distribution of asylum seekers among member States, force people to redesign their migration path along the way and to experience a multiple displacement. Within this context, this study examines two inter-related aspects of today’s forced migration, which are worth to be studied in correlation – cross-national (im)mobility of refugees and transnational mechanisms arising among forcibly displaced people. The literature on transnationalism has largely neglected and understudied refugees, or it has only focused on their political activities (Al-Ali et al., 2001) as a diaspora. Starting from the assumption that migrants approaching Europe today are involved in what we call mixed flows, I assume that forcibly displaced people, just as economic migrants, undertake transnational activities which are able to affect those left behind. Mobilisation of transnational information and social remittances, such as transmission of knowledge, skills and values can also contribute to later reconstruction (Ragab et al., 2017) and reconciliation. Cross-national displacement and “bounded mobilities” (Gutekunst et al., 2016) of refugees are contrived by EU hospitality, protection and border control policies. In this sense, the article gives an interpretation of means of allocation provided by Europe for forced migrants. In particular, it focuses on the schemes of resettlement (the transfer of displaced persons in need of international protection from a third country to a member State), relocation (the transfer of persons in need of international protection among member States), and humanitarian corridors (promoted by private and public institutions as an alternative measure of allowing safe transit of persons in need of protection). Tracing the experience and migration path of two of the largest refugee groups forcibly approaching Europe today – Eritreans and Syrians, I will develop my analysis by exploring how cross-border (im)mobility entails transnational mechanisms. Eritreans and Syrians are two very different communities, as for migration path, type and causes of migration. Yet, they have something in common – a nationality with a EU-wide average asylum recognition rate of 75% or higher and a bounded mobility in which they exist. These two communities move across several international borders and experience an intra-regional migration before undertaking an extremely risky international journey to Europe. The high rate of recognition gives them favoured access to asylum in many European countries. Though, the “regime of mobility” (Glick-Schiller et al. 2012) in which they live, limit their possibilities to cross borders and entails further challenges and displacements. This paper is the result of an analysis of literature on mobility and transnationalism as well as a qualitative study conducted in 2017 through semi-structured interviews with migrants, social workers and experts, in Italy, France and Germany. It lies on the idea that when people’s mobility is bounded, they move their ideas, values and cultural heritage instead

From Insecurity to Secondary Migration: “Bounded Mobilities” of Syrian and Eritrean Refugees in Europe

This paper seeks to analyse Syrian and Eritrean refugees' mobility experience across European borders, in a framework of mobility and insecurity. Drawing on the conflict model of migration, the paper focuses on the effects of migration and asylum policies when these are not in line with refugees’ needs and aspirations. We argue that when the asylum system does not meet with those expectations, insecurity brings into play secondary movements, which occur in a framework of irregularity. The considerations behind this article are motivated by the empirical evidence that both Syrian and Eritrean refugees undertake irregular secondary migration, whilst being within a protection system that most of the times satisfies their asylum claims. This paper is the result of a qualitative research conducted in 2017 through observation, in-depth interviews with Syrian and Eritrean refugees, and consultations with experts and practitioners in Italy, Greece, Germany and Lebanon

Educational challenges of Syrian children in Lebanon. The role of non-formal education in enhancing school attainment

Tuzi I. Educational challenges of Syrian children in Lebanon. The role of non-formal education in enhancing school attainment. Transnational Education Review. 2023;1(1):29-42

Forced Migration and Gender Relations: The Impact of Displacement on Masculinity among Syrian Refugees

This paper aims at exploring the impact of forced migration on masculinity among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. It contributes to the debate about gender and forced migration by focusing on the particular dimension of the Syrian displacement in Lebanon – its protracted temporality. I argue that when Syrian refugee men lose their role as providers in displacement, they also lose their “space” in the public sphere, while they do not gain a new one in the private sphere. In displacement, individuals are often forced to rethink themselves and their relationships in a new social field, where gender roles and identities can be transformed. Yet, if they are constantly reminded that they cannot be permanent residents of the host country, and at the same time they are offered no alternative, they end up living in a suspended state. Drawing on Bourdieu’s epistemology, I argue that Syrian males’ habitus in Lebanon is “suspended” because the specific dimension of displacement prevents them from facing the crisis through reflexivity. In fact, they cope by attempting to reaffirm their masculinity through forms of protest

Estella Carpi (2018). Specchi scomodi. Etnografia delle migrazioni forzate nel Libano contemporaneo

Tuzi I. Estella Carpi (2018). Specchi scomodi. Etnografia delle migrazioni forzate nel Libano contemporaneo. Mondi Migranti. 2020;3:193-199