March 2019 - March 2021
The proposed study applies a feminist analysis to interrogate how the refugee-run organization unfolds as site wherein gender struggles play out. We examine community practice conducted by refugee-run organizations addressing gender and women’s issues, and to develop a more nuanced understanding of the processes and power dynamics enacted. In preliminary studies, we have identified five gender-based issues addressed by refugee-run organizations that commonly have male leadership: gender-based violence, sexual harassment, women’s empowerment, sexual trauma, and gender roles. Drawing upon intersectionality theory, we examine the process of gendering as intersected with issues of citizenship/ refugee status, as well racialization, that complicate or reinforce particular social locations in society and workplace. We investigate how refugee-run organizations enact the diverse socialization process through which gender and refugee/citizenship status play in the lives of refugee women.
