Not Born A Refugee Woman

by Hajdukowski-ahmed, Maroussia; Khanlou, Nazilla; Moussa, Helene

• ISBN13: 9781845454975
• ISBN10: 1845454979
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

Not Born a Refugee Womanis an in-depth inquiry into the identity construction of refugee women. It challenges and rethinks current identity concepts, policies, and practices in the context of a globalizing environment, and in the increasingly racialized post-September 11th context, from the perspective of refugee women. This collection brings together scholar_practitioners from across a wide range of disciplines. The authors emphasize refugee women's agency, resilience, and creativity, in the continuum of domestic, civil, and transnational violence and conflicts, whether in flight or in resettlement, during their uprooted journey and beyond. Through the analysis of local examples and international case studies, the authors critically examine gendered and interrelated factors such as location, humanitarian aid, race, cultural norms, and current psycho-social research that affect the identity and well being of refugee women. This volume is destined to a wide audience of scholars, students, policy makers, advocates, and service providers interested in new developments and critical practices in domains related to gender and forced migrations.

Author Biography

Maroussia Hajdukowski-Ahmed is Professor of French and Women's Studies at Mcmaster University. As a principal investigator of the Mcmaster Research Centre for the Promotion of Women's Health, she has conducted participatory action research projects with immigrant and refugee women, co-authored Women's Voices in Health Promotion (1999) and published essays on dialogism, qualitative research, culture and mental health, and on exilic women's narratives.

Nazilla Khanlouis an Associate Professor at the LSB Faculty of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She has conducted extensive research in community-based mental health promotion in general, and mental health promotion among youth and women in multicultural and immigrant-receiving settings in particular. She has published articles, books, reports on youth, immigrant health, and mental health promotion. She is involved in knowledge translation to the public through media (television, radio, newspapers and magazines).

Helene Moussa has had extensive experience as an educator, researcher, and administrator, as well as in policy and organizational development, networking and advocacy. Her last position before her retirement in 1998 was with the World Council of Churches, Geneva Switzerland as executive secretary for uprooted people with regional responsibilities with partners in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. She has published numerous books, articles and book reviews on uprooted people and women refugees in particular, as well as on development, education and social & community services and is currently working as an independent consultant on forced migration.

Table of Contents

List of Tables, Maps, and Illustrations
Introduction	p. 1
Reconceptualizing Identities	p. 25
A Dialogical Approach to Identity: Implications for Refugee Women	p. 28
The Gender Relations of Home, Security, and Transversal Feminism: Refugee Women Reclaiming Their Identity	p. 55
Always "Natasha": The Transnational Sex Trafficking of Women	p. 67
Reconstituting the Subject: Feminist Politics of Humanitarian Assistance	p. 83
Challenging Methodologies: Challenging the Researcher	p. 97
Befriending Refugee Women: Refracted Knowledge and Shifting Viewpoints	p. 101
"Days You Remember": Japanese Canadian Women and the Violence of Internment	p. 113
War, Diaspora. Learning , and Women 's Standpoint	p. 135
Being a Writer on Women, Violence, and War	p. 150
Rethinking Practices: Creating Spaces for Agency	p. 163
The Representation of Refugee Women in our Research and Practice	p. 166
Refugee Youth, Gender, and Identity: On the Margins of Mental Health Promotion	p. 173
Pray God and Keep Walking: Religion, Gender, Identity, and Refugee Women	p. 180
"We Want to Talk , They Give Us Pills ": Identity and Mental Health of Refugee Women from Sudan	p. 196
Reviewing Policies: Taking Responsibility for the Rights of Refugee Women	p. 215
Protecting Refugee Women: UNHCR and the Gender Equity Challenge	p. 219
Social Protection of Refugee Women: Paradoxes, Tensions, and Directions	p. 228
The Gender Factor in Refugee Determination and the Effect of "Gender Guidelines"	p. 244
Pursuing National Responsibility in a Post-9/11 World: Seeking Asylum in Canada from Gender Persecution	p. 254
Notes on Contributors	p. 263
References	p. 270
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.