Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Living in Liminality: Experiences of Displacement Among Involuntary Refugees

凯斯西储大学的博士生Nadia El-Shaarawi在Eileen Anderson-Fye博士的指导下工作，将就尚未重新安置的难民如何理解他们流离失所的性质进行研究。这项研究将特别侧重于与难民互动的国际机构在形成难民理解方面的作用，以及这些理解对心理健康的影响。这项研究将在埃及开罗的伊拉克难民中进行。研究人员将运用社会科学的极限概念来理解开罗的难民在逃亡和重新安置等持久解决方案之间的不确定状态下是如何经历和创造意义的。该研究项目有三个目标：1)考察在开罗的伊拉克难民与国际机构和政策之间的关系；2)了解伊拉克难民如何应对影响他们在开罗生活的不确定性；3)调查难民构建和交流流离失所叙述的过程，以及这些叙述的构建对心理健康的影响(如果有的话)。研究方法包括参与观察法、民族志访谈法、叙事分析法和档案研究法。这一研究项目将有助于更好地了解难民的经历与他们在不确定情况下与国际机构的互动之间的关系。这项研究很重要，因为它结合了对难民主观体验的强调，以及对管理难民生活的机构和政策的探索。此外，该项目旨在促进关于难民健康和国际机构在强迫移徙中的作用的政策辩论。这项研究还将有助于社会科学家的教育。

Case Western Reserve University doctoral student, Nadia El-Shaarawi, working under the supervision of Dr. Eileen Anderson-Fye, will conduct research on how refugees who have not been resettled understand the nature of their displacement. The research will focus in particular on the role of the international institutions with whom the refugees interact in shaping refugee understandings, and the effects of these understandings on mental health. The research will be conducted among Iraqi refugees in Cairo, Egypt. The researcher will employ the social science concept of liminality to understand how refugees in Cairo experience and make meaning in a state of uncertainty between flight and a durable solution such as resettlement. The research project has three objectives: 1) to examine the relationships between Iraqi refugees in Cairo and international institutions and policies; 2) to understand how Iraqi refugees negotiate the uncertainty that pervades their lives in Cairo; and 3) to investigate the processes through which refugees construct and communicate narratives of displacement, and the effects, if any, of the construction of these narratives on mental health. The research methods used will include participant observation, ethnographic interviews, narrative analysis, and archival research. This research project will contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between refugees' experiences and their interactions with international institutions in a context of uncertainty. This research is important because it brings together an emphasis on refugee subjective experiences and an exploration of the institutions and policies that govern refugee lives. In addition, this project aims to contribute to policy debates about refugee health and the role of international institutions in forced migration. The research also will contribute to the education of a social scientist.