Au-delà du sens commun : reconsidérer la vulnérabilité de femmes réfugiées en provenance de Syrie détenant la responsabilité principale du soutien de leur famille au Québec et au Liban
This Master’s thesis in Social Work focuses on the experiences of refugee women coming from Syria, who are holding the main financial and caring responsibility of supporting their family in Quebec/Canada and in Lebanon. Women who hold this responsibility in exile are often seen as being de facto vulnerable by organizations that are in charge of the global management of forced migration, although what women experience concretely in these situations remains unclear (Freedman, 2017). Despite being a corner stone of the refugee protection system, vulnerability doesn’t appear to be defined beyond common sense    conceptions - to be susceptible to harm. A transnational feminist approach (Mohanty, 2003; Zeweri, 2017; McLaren, 2017) is at the core of the analysis of the “life story” interviews that were conducted with 12 women holding the main responsibility of supporting their family (5 in Quebec, 7 in Lebanon). More specifically, their testimonies were analyzed through the conceptual lens of ambivalent vulnerability (Oliviero, 2016) in order to document their experiences, as well as to reconsider the notion of vulnerability beyond its common sense assumptions. The women who participated in this research were undoubtedly facing various forms of violence and marginalization, but they also turned out to be exposed to a series of transformative opportunities and experiences inscribed in the continuity of their life trajectories (Oliviero, 2016; Grace, 2018; Zeweri, 2017).  The impact of forced migration on family dynamics was at the core of their testimonies and was chosen as the main theme used to illustrate the wide spectrum of their experiences through a scientific article (to be submitted). They said they felt responsible to take action to support and to protect their family members and themselves, implying that they don’t only have to do so, but that they also feel like they can also do something to face the conditions of their life in exile. Their testimonies diverged from representations of their vulnerability, focusing mainly on victimization and socio-economic precarity. This research shows that the acknowledgment of the polysemic character of their realities should be put at the core of academic, humanitarian and political representations of refugee women’s experiences. It could thus inform the development of protection and support practices anchored in solidarity, as well as full respect of refugee women’s humanity and dignity.
Refugee women Responsibility of supporting the family Vulnerability Transnational feminism Life stories Syria Lebanon Quebec