Identity Politics and Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Implications for Higher Education

Abstract

Identities and identity politics play a significant role in the lives of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Using empirical qualitative research with focus groups as the primary research method, this article is a critical investigation into the ways in which Syrian refugees in Lebanon are simultaneously politicized through their everyday lived experiences yet depoliticized through humanitarian policy and practice. In particular, the article explores how the politicization/depoliticization dichotomy impacts Syrian refugees’ access to and experiences within higher education opportunities made available for them in Lebanon. The article argues that humanitarianism’s inattentiveness to intersectional identities and social hierarchies of power has often resulted in physical and psychological educational exclusions and reinforced existing inequalities and fissures/divisions between different groups of refugees. In this way, higher education for refugees has often fallen short of its potential to transform lives.