A Feminist Dialogic Encounter with Refugee Women

ABSTRACT This study sought to examine (1) how refugee women who have experienced violent displacement manage the resettlement process and negotiate new identities in unfamiliar settings, and (2) explore ways in which social work practice can be involved in refugee womens lives more effectively and sensitively in accordance with feminist dialogism. Although extensive research on violent displacements exists, little is known about the women fleeing sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Self-reported effects of violent displacement on women and how to address its consequences adequately have yet to be given much attention in social work research. My dissertation pioneers a theorization that builds bridges across knowledge systems by mediating between European and certain aspects of African perspectives to facilitate the resettlement of traumatized and vulnerable refugee women from the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Informed by a feminist dialogical approach to qualitative research, my dissertation presents a detailed analysis of ten in-depth, loosely structured interviews with eight participants in addition to my extensive field notes. As power shifted from my voice, the researchers, to the diverse voices of the participants, the process necessitated the adoption of a qualitative approach. I make the case for an approach that views the world as multi-voiced and takes into account participants perspectives, transcends fixed assumptions and embraces points of view that embody collective voices.

A feminist dialogical approach to social work research and practice regards the face-to-face encounter as a site of ethical responsibility towards the other. Such a theorization implies that the relationship between self and other underscores responsibility as central to a justice oriented practice. Using Bakhtins concept of otherness and Levinas infinite other, I created dialogic spaces to foreground my ethical responsibility to the other. Notions of the infinite other and otherness allowed me to pay attention to silent voices while acknowledging the limitations of my conceptions and knowledge claims. The proposed approach is well-suited to working with diverse communities that include various underrepresented others such as the African other, woman as other and the refugee other from the Great Lakes region. The methodology can also be used to understand peculiar experiences of displacement and identity reconstruction for women who fled other non-European conflict zones, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, which shares many characteristics with the Great Lakes region.

ABSTRACT This study sought to examine (1) how refugee women who have experienced violent displacement manage the resettlement process and negotiate new identities in unfamiliar settings, and (2) explore ways in which social work practice can be involved in refugee womens lives more effectively and sensitively in accordance with feminist dialogism. Although extensive research on violent displacements exists, little is known about the women fleeing sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Self-reported effects of violent displacement on women and how to address its consequences adequately have yet to be given much attention in social work research. My dissertation pioneers a theorization that builds bridges across knowledge systems by mediating between European and certain aspects of African perspectives to facilitate the resettlement of traumatized and vulnerable refugee women from the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Informed by a feminist dialogical approach to qualitative research, my dissertation presents a detailed analysis of ten in-depth, loosely structured interviews with eight participants in addition to my extensive field notes. As power shifted from my voice, the researchers, to the diverse voices of the participants, the process necessitated the adoption of a qualitative approach. I make the case for an approach that views the world as multi-voiced and takes into account participants perspectives, transcends fixed assumptions and embraces points of view that embody collective voices.

A feminist dialogical approach to social work research and practice regards the face-to-face encounter as a site of ethical responsibility towards the other. Such a theorization implies that the relationship between self and other underscores responsibility as central to a justice oriented practice. Using Bakhtins concept of otherness and Levinas infinite other, I created dialogic spaces to foreground my ethical responsibility to the other. Notions of the infinite other and otherness allowed me to pay attention to silent voices while acknowledging the limitations of my conceptions and knowledge claims. The proposed approach is well-suited to working with diverse communities that include various underrepresented others such as the African other, woman as other and the refugee other from the Great Lakes region. The methodology can also be used to understand peculiar experiences of displacement and identity reconstruction for women who fled other non-European conflict zones, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, which shares many characteristics with the Great Lakes region.