Chronotopes of home and dislocation: recognising the lived experiences of refugees

Abstract

ABSTRACT Forced migrants are often presented in public and private discourse from a reductive perspective focusing solely on their vulnerability and their status as refugees, without acknowledging other aspects of their identity and life history. This article investigates how refugee-background participants in qualitative research interviews drew on the chronotopes of home to construct a narrative of origin that foregrounded diverse aspects of their identity and emphasised their lived experiences in a fuller sense. In their narratives, participants contested representations of their home countries and of historical events, as well as representations of themselves, to challenge reductive identity constructions. Further, the narratives suggested that while widely known, mass-mediated chronotopes may assist in initial orientation to a location and event or time period, these generally provide a limited, and sometimes a highly contestable, representation of reality.