MEJRS 2(2) Methodological Challenges in the Study of Forced Migration: Trauma, Resilience, Religion and the Problem of Trust in the Context of the Syrian Diaspora in Turkey (original) (raw)
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As the 9th year of the Syrian Civil War rages on, this paper explores the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and post-traumatic growth (PTG) among Syrian refugees in Turkey, with the aim of determining the role of coping styles in this community that displays increasing PTG levels, while controlling for the religiosity factor. 805 Syrian refugees completed self-reported surveys which measured trauma exposure, PTSD, PTG, coping styles, religiosity, and other demographics. PTSD scores revealed high clinical concern for 83% of the study population, with moderate levels of concurrent PTG. When compared with emotion-focused coping styles, utilising problem-focused coping mechanisms (PFCs) predicted greater PTG. Besides PFCs, the intensity of intrusion symptoms, level of exposure to prewar traumatic experiences, and strength of religiosity also provided predictive power of the model; determining the direction of PTG. Results indicate the importance of coping styles as-predictors of PTG. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the contexts of religiosity, turning to religion as a coping mechanism, and active coping strategies in advancing our understanding of what PTG really entails. The reported rates pose concern and must be considered within the response of host countries' immigration policies.
Role of Religion in Forced Displacement: The Case of Syrian Alawites in Turkey
Turkey's migration policies are determined by the Geneva Convention of 1951 with a geographical limitation. Although religion does not constitute a place in this agreement, we see that the reality is different. The aim of this paper is to understand whether Alawite refugees from Syria face different treatments or not. Most of the literature analyzes the role of religion either as a facilitator or as an obstacle to adaptation. In the situation of Syrian Alawites in Turkey, we see that both of the mechanisms are on display. They experience exclusion because of their religion. At the same time, faith-based organizations provide them benefits. In this case study, elite-interviews will be conducted with some officials from Alawite communities and civil society organizations related to migration issues to understand the role of religion in the experiences of Syrian Alawite refugees.
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How and to what extent does religion play into the life-rupturing experiences that characterize forced migration? This article provides a novel look at how issues of religion and identity (re/de)constructions are entangled with the Syrian refugee crisis and mirrored in the diverse experiences relating to a sample of Syrian refugees now residing in Norway. The study aims to delve more deeply into the Syrian scene of war as a determinant backdrop to the Syrian refugee crisis, thereby tracing the intersection of religion in people’s experiences of conflict, displacement, and refugeehood. It argues for a lived dimension approach when analysing the variable ways in which empowering and disempowering aspects of religion cut into their migration trajectories. Additionally, it applies a theoretical lens derived from existential anthropology to explore how narrative negotiations veer between chaos, crisis, and disruption, on the one hand, and resilience, hope, and restitution, on the other. The study reveals an ambiguous empirical reality in which the nexus between religion and forced migration involves highly contradictory identification processes. Furthermore, it provides vivid polyvocal testimonies on how Syrians have navigated the liminal in-betweens of vulnerability and agency in their escape from Syria as well as during their journeys of displacement into refugeehood.
THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS AND NETWORKS IN THE SYRIAN INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN TURKEY
Epiphany - Journal of Transdiciplinary Studies, 2023
This study examines the potential impact of religious organisations and networks on refugee integration processes. It focuses on the experiences of Muslim Syrian refugees in Turkey to address the questions of how pre-war religious networks and institutions evolve during forced migration and what types of functions they carry out in the refugees’ integration in Turkey. The study adopts the integration theory of Alastair Ager and Alison Strang (2008) as an analytical framework. Drawing from ethnographic research -combining in-depth interviews with document analysis-the study proposes three findings. First, Syrian religious communities seek to institutionalise and maintain their networks during their international migration process. Second, religious institutions and networks serve as a sanctuary for refugees. By participating in religious organisations and networks, refugees have accumulated their socio-cultural capital and gained advantages in accessing aid and public services. The feeling of belonging provides them partial psychological comfort and coping opportunity against the trauma of war and migration and a means for attributing meaning to the hardships they experience. Third, while religious education is the primary function of these institutions and networks, they also serve as social bridges and linkage points between the host community and refugees. Finally, the study provides some findings of the limitations of networks, including the risk of emergence of parallel lives, social closure, and marginalisation. The findings contribute to the growing scholarship on refugee integration in the immediate host countries as well as migration and religion nexus. Keywords: International migration, Syrian refugees, integration, religious institutions and religious networks.
The overall purpose of this study was to achieve a contextual understanding of war and displacement stressors and coping mechanisms among urban refugee families from Syria living in Istanbul. This study was informed primarily by Walsh’s family resilience framework and Weine’s Family Consequences of Refugee Trauma empirical model. Qualitative family interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 30 Syrian refugee families from the Çapa and Esenler neighborhoods of Istanbul. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and Atlas/ti software. The analysis identified a total of 21 war and displacement stressors for families across three categories: 1) Surviving war and border crossing; 2) Living as urban refugees, and; 3) Parenting children in refuge. The analysis also identified a total of 16 coping mechanisms for families across four themes: 1) Flexible and reciprocal family organization; 2) Hopeful family beliefs and communication; 3) Staying connected with family in Syria and in exile, and; 4) Making the best of living in a new country. These findings underlie the need for several practice and policy priorities including: 1) Increasing the number of children attending Turkish schools and decreasing child labor; 2) Incorporating faith into psycho-social and mental health interventions, and; 3) Developing family focused interventions conducted by community- based lay providers that draw upon empirical models of family stressors and coping.
Surviving Through Tactics: The Everyday Life of Syrian Refugees in Turkey
Poligrafi, 2021
The Syrian civil war and related migration affected Turkish border cities such as Antakya, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Gaziantep, and Kilis. In this study, we explore the tactics and strategies developed by Syrian asylum seekers in order to cope with the prejudices and negative perceptions about Syrians commonly shared by locals. The findings of our research are drawn from the in-depth interviews we conducted with more than one hundred refugees, locals, and staff members of different NGOs. Our arguments and conclusions in this article are also the result of observations made during several research trips and a thorough examination of news about refugees in local and national media. Our field research lasted from August 2014 to February 2015, but the substantial part of this study was conducted between January and February 2015.
Journal of Family Psychology, 2019
The overall purpose of this study was to achieve a contextual understanding of war and displacement stressors and coping mechanisms among urban refugee families from Syria living in Istanbul. This study was informed primarily by Walsh's family resilience framework and Weine's Family Consequences of Refugee Trauma empirical model. Qualitative family interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 30 Syrian refugee families from the Çapa and Esenlerneighborhoods of Istanbul. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and Atlas/ti software. The analysis identified a total of 21 war and displacement stressors for families across three categories: 1) Surviving war and border crossing; 2) Living as urban refugees, and; 3) Parenting children in refuge. The analysis also identified a total of 16 coping mechanisms for families across four themes: 1) Flexible and reciprocal family organization; 2) Hopeful family beliefs and communication; 3) Staying connected with family in Syria and in exile, and; 4) Making the best of living in a new country. These findings underlie the need for several practice and policy priorities including: 1) Increasing the number of children attending Turkish schools and decreasing child labor; 2) Incorporating faith into psycho-social and mental health interventions, and; 3) Developing family focused interventions conducted by community-based lay providers that draw upon empirical models of family stressors and coping.
Paradoxical Perceptions on Syrian's Forced Migration to Turkey: A case study on Istanbul Muhtars.pdf
As one of Syria’s neighbors, Turkey has become a refuge for more than 3.5 million forced Syrian migrants. Though many of them are living in Turkey’s border cities, in or around the refugee camps, many others have already dispersed to other cities. Among these cities, Istanbul has the largest Syrian community. Drawing on a qualitative field work in Istanbul’s neighborhoods, this study explores the Syrian migration to Istanbul and reports the attitudes towards this movement of the local neighborhood and village headmen, known as muhtars in the Turkish local administrative system. As the study shows, their attitudes towards forced Syrian migrants are paradoxical, marked both by feelings of disturbance, worry and uneasiness, and at the same time welcome and support. The study concludes by discussing historical and cultural reasons for these paradoxical attitudes by relating them to the understanding of hospitality in Turkish society to show how socio-psychological explanations of attitude formation towards Syria’s forced migrants seem more appropriate.
The overall purpose of this study was to achieve a contextual understanding of war and displacement stressors and coping mechanisms among urban refugee families from Syria living in Istanbul. This study was informed primarily by Walsh's family resilience framework and Weine's Family Consequences of Refugee Trauma empirical model. Qualitative family interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 30 Syrian refugee families from the Çapa and Esenler neighborhoods of Istanbul. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and Atlas/ti software. The analysis identified a total of 21 war and displacement stressors for families across three categories: 1) Surviving war and border crossing; 2) Living as urban refugees, and; 3) Parenting children in refuge. The analysis also identified a total of 16 coping mechanisms for families across four themes: 1) Flexible and reciprocal family organization; 2) Hopeful family beliefs and communication; 3) Staying connected with family in Syria and in exile, and; 4) Making the best of living in a new country. These findings underlie the need for several practice and policy priorities including: 1) Increasing the number of children attending Turkish schools and decreasing child labor; 2) Incorporating faith into psycho-social and mental health interventions, and; 3) Developing family focused interventions conducted by communitybased lay providers that draw upon empirical models of family stressors and coping.
Transformation of the Meaning of Loss Among Displaced Syrians: An Ethnography of a Community of Resilience, 2020
The war that started in Syria in 2011 has given rise to immense economic, political, social, cultural, and individual losses and reconstructions, and a large population of displaced people. Currently, there are over three and a half million Syrians registered in Turkey. Although the “open door policy” has paved the way of a new life for many displaced Syrians, many are still exposed to numerous challenges. Considering the experience of war and consequent losses as both traumatic and transformative, this research explores the individual and collective ways in which displaced Syrians in Istanbul deal with trauma and transform its effects through empowerment and solidarity. The thesis focuses specifically on how a community center, imagined as an “open space,” shapes the sense of home and creates a site of resilience among displaced Syrians. Based on ethnographic fieldwork between January 2019 and April 2020 at a local community center initiated by displaced Syrians in Istanbul, this thesis tries to explore individual and collective capacities of resilience in dire times.