Título
Pathways to alienation?: a study on the refugee experiences of a group of young Syrian women through the lens of alienation
Autor
Nural, Yusuf
Resumo
en
Turkey hosts the world’s largest number of refugees with just over 2.9 million Syrians as of
April 2017, out of which nearly half are children and teenagers. Having been provided free
access to education, healthcare, lawful residence and protection from involuntary refoulement,
family reunification and formal employment, Turkey has undoubtedly been demonstrating a
great support for Syrians. Though, the vast majority of Syrians in Turkey are still living in
urban, peri-urban and rural areas under poor housing conditions and struggling to generate
income and secure their access to welfare benefits. There are still hundreds of thousands Syrian
children out of school and only a very small minority of Syrian youth are enrolled in higher
education.
With these adversities in mind, this study aimed at analysing and gaining an understanding into
the lives of a group of Syrian refugee girls and young women in Turkey, from their perspectives,
by using the concept of alienation which is mainly represented by social isolation and
powerlessness variants. Accordingly, the research questions focused on: what factors prevent
them realising their wishes and desires at time of interview and in their futures; and their
perceptions as to the changes in their relationships with their peers, family and the surrounding
community members after their displacement. Addressing these issues were considered
important since the course of the conflict in Syria and Turkey’s reception policies showed that
Syrians are not guests anymore, as they were considered at the outset by the Turkish authorities.
Therefore, their lack of socioeconomic adaptation in Turkey and social isolation from their
acquaintances and social milieu and the majority society would amount to a large number of
marginalized and detached group of Syrians in the long term.
The empirical data of this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with ten
Syrian young women between 17 and 21-years-old. The sample is biased towards females since
they have traditionally been secluded in the middle eastern countries including Syria, which
motivated this study to reach them. Findings show that, complex interplay of previously
established gender norms, male originated safety concerns, and structural and financial
deficiencies hamper participants’ power and control over their educational opportunities and
freedom of movement and deprives them from meaningful social interactions outside of their
domestic spheres. Besides this, their opportunities to have meaningful, supportive, warm and
dependable relationships were found to be impaired with loss of or separation from their peers
and family members; a lack of Turkish language competency, a lack of quality family time and
lastly, weak ties among Syrians.
It is contended that, alienation is a useful concept to understand their refugee experiences from
a different point of view, yet it is fundamental to revisit it in relation to adolescence, gender,
social norms and refugees for future research. Lastly, this study advocates for culturally
sensitivity and a holistic approach in social work practice and points out the needs of language
training, education and employment opportunities, and safe and accessible social and
recreational facilities for Syrian girls and young women in Turkey.