Doctoral Dissertation Research: Refugees, Labor Markets and Urban Revitalization

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This doctoral dissertation project examines the role of refugee women in the revitalization of American cities. The doctoral student will examine how urban revitalization and gentrification in U.S. cities are linked to both refugee women's direct labor in these resettlement cities and the economic pulse generated by remittance flows from the labor of women relatives living in displacement cities in intermediary countries. The project will directly benefit society by investigating the relationship between refugee women and urban economic development in the U.S. It will also promote teaching, learning, and knowledge-sharing between diverse groups through collaborative partnerships with refugee community organizations. Project findings will be shared with municipal governments and nonprofit refugee service organizations to contribute to the formulation of more effective, inclusive, and equitable refugee resettlement policies. This dissertation project investigates how refugee women's labor and translocal linkages contribute to urban revitalization and gentrification in the U.S. through their subsidization of urban landscape transformation. The project's central questions are: (1) How does the focus on immediate and "full" employment by refugee resettlement institutions shape refugee women's practices of unpaid labor in their resettlement community? (2) How do refugee women in third country locations support refugees based in the U.S.? (3) In what ways do refugee women's translocal linkages, unpaid labor, and social reproduction practices subsidize urban revitalization and facilitate gentrification in their resettlement community in the U.S.? Using a variety of qualitative methodologies such as interviews, a survey, extended observation, photovoice, and textual analysis to investigate these questions via a case study of Rohingya refugees in the rapidly gentrifying city of Aurora, Colorado as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a displacement site from which many Aurora-based refugees come. This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an academic research career.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.