Syrian Women Refugees: Coping with indeterminate liminality during forcible displacement

Sophie Alkhaled,Innan Sasaki

doi:10.1177/01708406211040214

Sophie Alkhaled, Innan Sasaki

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406211040214

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Journal: Organization studies	Publication Date: Sep 29, 2021
Citations: 29	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Lancaster University, University of Warwick

Abstract

This paper examines how forcibly displaced people cope with prolonged liminality through identity work. Our paper is based on a longitudinal multiple case study of women refugees who fled Syria and experienced liminality in Amman-Jordan, the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan and the United Kingdom. We contribute to the liminality literature by demonstrating how forcibly displaced people respond to extreme structural constraints and maintain cognitive control over their sense of self during liminality with an end date that is unknown. We develop the concept of liminality by illustrating how the actors were pushed into a state of ‘indeterminate liminality’ and coped by co-constructing it through three forms of identity work – recomposing conflicting memories, reclaiming existence and repositioning tradition. This enabled them to stretch the boundaries of indeterminate liminality, symbolically restore their familiar past and narratively construct a meaningful future.

Highlights

Forcible displacement, defined as ‘the coerced movement of people and their families away from their homes escaping war, civil war, violence, ethnic cleansing and human-made and natural disasters’ (International Organization for Migration, 2019), has become all too prevalent in today’s world
Through problematising liminality as a structurally imposed condition (Howard-Grenville et al, 2011), our study extends the concept of liminality as we argue that the forcibly displaced are left in a state of ‘indeterminate liminality’ – understood as a liminal state into which actors are forcibly entered, and their agency is structurally constrained until an unknown end date, leaving them to experience seemingly never-ending uncertainty
We argue that deepening this understanding is crucial to unpack how forcibly displaced actors cope with liminality, as the liminal spaces such as detention centres and refugee camps tend to force refugees to endure coping with liminality for long periods without a precise end date (Wimark, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

Forcible displacement, defined as ‘the coerced movement of people and their families away from their homes escaping war, civil war, violence, ethnic cleansing and human-made and natural disasters’ (International Organization for Migration, 2019), has become all too prevalent in today’s world. Actors in perpetual liminality tend to have less control over the ambiguous social structure, leaving them to engage in identity work that remains unresolved (Beech, Gilmore, Hibbert, & Ybema, 2016; Daskalaki & Simosi, 2017). We argue that this pressure becomes even more exaggerated with forcibly displaced actors, making it harder for them to maintain cognitive control through identity work, as they are pushed into a seemingly never-ending state of liminality, and lack agency beyond normative agentic constraints to end it. It is crucial to understand: How do forcibly displaced people cope with liminality through identity work?

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