Searching for Tomorrow-South Sudanese Women Reconstructing Resilience through Photovoice
Abstract
Experiences of refugees have rarely been described through the concept of resilience because of them dealing with the challenges of flight, exile, forced migration, and resettlement. Researchers were approached by eight South Sudanese refugee women resettled in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were interested in exploring alternative notions of resilience through reflection, dialogue, and action. Using Photovoice, a technique that employs still photography and text captions, participants of this study used aesthetic expression to deconstruct and reconstruct notions of resilience. Faith and spirituality, circles of support, and the global community were the key overarching themes describing participants’ resilience process which enabled participants to survive their past, foster support in the present and harness hope for the future. At each stage, we also identified supporting factors and threats to resiliency. In conclusion, we suggest that resettlement service providers need to foster the resiliency in their programmes.
Notes
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Key recommendations
Practitioners who work with refugees must interrogate their own pre-conceptions of resilience and how those pre-conceptions influence their expecations for refugees; Individual members of refugee communities are capable of defining their own needs; Important for refugees to have opportunities to connect to their past instead of being pushed to “move forward”
Key populations
Refugee women
Key findings
South Sudanese refugee women identify their own definition of resilience which includes: faith and spirituality, circles of support, and global community; Participants identify that resilience is an iterative process – cyclical rather than linear.
Gaps identified
There is a need to re-evaluate how “resilience” is understood by resettlement practitioners and consider the experiences and capacity of refugees themselves to define resilience
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
Participating women had been living in Canada from 3–13 years at the time of the study
Open-access – No
Community organizations