Snapshots of Syrian displacement: Re-evaluating humanitarian portrayals of resilience and vulnerability through photovoice

本研究将透过女性主义者对所有人都能产生知识与理论的理解，来评估具身知识的价值。为了实现这一目标，这种混合方法的调查将结合联合收割机的艺术生产与社会科学数据收集通过“photovoice”-一个参与性的行动研究技术，参与者拍摄照片，以记录他们的生活经验，并展示双方的优势和关注的社区（王和伯里斯，1997年）。这种非殖民化的研究方法允许参与者直接塑造研究（Dodman，2003），这可以作为对边缘化社区以损害为中心的研究的干预（Tuck，2009）。虽然photovoice越来越多地用于记录在第三国重新安置的流离失所者的经历，如美国和加拿大（见Miled，2020年和Saksena & McMorrow，2020年），但它尚未在约旦使用。首先，将向多个参与者群体（居住在同一住房单元/地区的个人）发放相机并拍摄照片，以反映他们在约旦作为叙利亚人的经历。接下来，每个小组将参加一个由两部分组成的焦点小组。在第一阶段，与会者将讨论照片，了解叙利亚人对流离失所的看法。这将揭示叙利亚人在多大程度上利用复原力或脆弱性框架，或者他们是否有其他方式来理解他们的流离失所、人道主义反应和他们的未来。然后，在第二阶段，将向参与者提供公开的3RP文件中描述叙利亚流离失所情况的照片和文字。与会者将被要求对这些材料进行反思，就叙利亚流离失所的人道主义描述及其与援助团体的生活经历提供反馈。参与者拍摄的照片和人道主义文件的这种比较反映了photovoice方法的创新扩展，包括对3RP出版物的批评性话语分析。对于这项调查，我将我的范围缩小到约旦，因为约旦政府和人道主义/发展行为体之间的密切合作导致了以尊重为中心的方案的广泛实施（难民署和联合国妇女署，2021年）。我将通过我以前与叙利亚社区和社区组织建立的实地关系找到感兴趣的参与者，因为我以前在约旦与叙利亚人进行过研究和基层项目实施经验。此外，这项研究将包括妇女和男子，因为严重缺乏调查约旦境内叙利亚男子关切问题的研究，特别是关于他们与人道主义方案的互动的研究（特纳，2019）。总体而言，这项研究将在发展研究和中东研究的社会科学领域内使用基于艺术的研究方法，以批判性地研究人道主义/约旦的发展论述和方案反映了叙利亚社区的愿望。这项研究可以为进一步开展针对具体情况的工作奠定基础，以便集中流离失所者的声音，并揭示全球人道主义系统在改善流离失所者的健康、福祉和社会关怀方面的普遍力量。我还将在一个可公开访问的网站上发表一份“替代人道主义报告”，该报告将采用传统人道主义出版物的格式，但包含本研究项目的照片、故事和调查结果。这将作为对自上而下描绘叙利亚生活经历的干预，同时倡导重新集中叙利亚的愿望，以指导未来的话语和政策。

This investigation will value embodied knowledge through the feminist understanding that all people can produce knowledge and theory. To achieve this aim, this mixed-methods investigation will combine artistic production with social scientific data collection through "photovoice" - a participatory action research technique where participants take photographs to record their lived experiences and showcase both the strengths and concerns of their community (Wang & Burris, 1997). This decolonial research methodology allows participants to shape the research directly (Dodman, 2003), which can act as an intervention against damage-centric research on marginalized communities (Tuck, 2009). While photovoice has been increasingly utilized to document the experiences of displaced individuals in third countries of resettlement, such as the U.S. and Canada (see Miled, 2020 and Saksena & McMorrow, 2020), it has not been used in Jordan. First, multiple participant groups (individuals living in the same housing unit/area) will be given cameras and take photographs to reflect their experiences being Syrian in Jordan. Next, each group will participate in a two-part focus group. In the first stage, participants will discuss the photographs, producing knowledge regarding Syrian perceptions of displacement. This will reveal the extent to which Syrians utilize resilience or vulnerability frameworks, or whether they have alternative ways of understanding their displacement, humanitarian responses, and their futures. Then, in the second stage, participants will be given copies of photographs and written passages depicting Syrian displacement within publicly available 3RP documents. Participants will be asked to reflect on these materials, providing feedback on humanitarian portrayals of Syrian displacement and their lived experience with aid groups. This comparison of participant-taken photographs and humanitarian documents reflects an innovative expansion of the photovoice methodology to include a critical discourse analysis of 3RP publications.For this investigation, I narrowed my scope to Jordan as the close collaboration between the Jordanian government and humanitarian/development actors has resulted in the widespread implementation of resilience-centric programming (UNHCR & UN Women, 2021). I will locate interested participants through my previously established on-the-ground relationships with Syrian communities and community-based organizations (CBOs), as I have prior research and grassroots-project implementation experience with Syrians in Jordan. Further, this research will include both women and men, as there is a critical lack of research investigating the concerns of Syrian men in Jordan, especially regarding their interactions with humanitarian programming (Turner, 2019).Overall, this research will use art-based research methodologies within the social science fields of Development Studies and Middle East Studies to critically examine whether humanitarian/development discourses and programs in Jordan reflect the desires of Syrian communities. this research can lay the foundations for further context-specific work aiming to centre the voices of displaced persons and reveal the power prevalent in global humanitarian systems to improve the health, well-being, and social care of the displaced. I will also publish an "alternative humanitarian report" on a publicly accessible website, which will utilize the format of a traditional humanitarian publication, but instead contain the photographs, stories, and findings of this research project. This will act as an intervention against top-down portrayals of Syrian lived experiences, while advocating for a re-centering of Syrian desires to guide future discourses and policies.