Ways and limits of articulating, negotiating, and recognizing refugees' experiences of violence in the context of massive state violence in Syria
The Research Project
Considering protracted armed conflicts such as in Syria, this dissertation focuses on a new group of actors in the research field of transitional justice: international refugees. Syrians in exile find themselves in a complex position between the individual challenges of (1) finding their way in the German arrival society, (2) dealing with and processing (past) individual suffering, and (3) the ongoing concern for family members or friends who remain exposed to (future) experiences of violence and oppression.
While there is already extensive literature on approaches to transitional justice (Simić, 2020), such as truth and reconciliation commissions, criminal tribunals and other strategies for coming to terms with the past, even in this established academic field, the contributions from the diaspora and their involvement are generally underrepresented and have so far been little theorized (Koinova & Karabegović, 2019). Moreover, all these approaches require, almost by definition, an end to violence. However, for internationally displaced persons of protracted conflicts, this is often years away, or, as in ongoing dictatorships, completely unforeseeable. This results in the need to consider (new) strategies to articulate and negotiate their experiences and, ideally, processes to recognize their suffering and the violence they have witnessed.
The doctoral project aims to investigate ways and limits of articulating, negotiating and recognizing these past individual and ongoing collective experiences of violence. It takes a cultural-psychological perspective and draws on diverse types of qualitative data, ultimately intending to develop a typology for dealing with past individual, but ongoing collective experiences of violence exemplified by Syrian refugees living in Germany.
What I need the IRB for
The topic of forced migration out of Syria is inherently international, as the experiences of the heterogeneous Syrian diaspora transcend national borders and require an internationalized research approach. The IRB grants me the flexibility to react to the rapidly changing nature of my research topic and adapt to the pace and spontaneity of the population to engage with.
Further, the IRB enables me to follow the invitation to the Centro de Estudios sobre Genicidio (CEG) in Buenos Aires (Prof. Feierstein). In line with the CEG’s aim to "question some ethnocentric prejudices about the way of analyzing and understanding genocidal social practices" (CEG, 2023), I look forward to getting to know literature, theories, and approaches that go beyond the canonized mainstream research often employed in (English-language) violence research.
IRB funded activities
Conference participation: 2nd International Conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology, 26-28 June 2024, University of Milan-Bicocca
The IRB enabled me to participate in the 2nd international conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology in Milan. At this first in-person conference during my doctoral studies, I not only presented my current doctoral research but also chaired the panel on "refugee trajectories in uncertain times". This helped me to get in touch with like-minded scholars and learn a lot about their research as well as the various qualitative research approaches employed in this field.
Conference Participation: 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association “Tension, Trust and Transformation”, 27 - 30 August 2024 in Porto, Portugal
Thanks to the IRB, I was able to attend the 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association titled “Tension, Trust and Transformation” from 27 - 30 August 2024 in Porto. My oral presentation on the topic “In (Biographical) Limbo: Ways and Limits of Articulating Past Individual but Ongoing Collective Experiences of Violence” was placed in the panel “Compassion and Suffering”, chaired by the Research Network “Biographical Perspectives on European Societies”. Therefore, the discussion of my research mainly targeted the biographical effects of the ongoing state violence in Syria on exiled members of Syrian communities living in Germany.
The overall positive feedback that my concept of “biographical limbo gives shape to the difficulties, tensions and incoherencies regarding the narrative ways of connecting time and space” was very helpful and encourages me to continue working on detailing this notion throughout my PhD.