The emerging intersectional performative gender of displaced Syrian women in southeast Turkey

Abstract

This article explores the interconnection between intersectionality and gender performativity.It aims to understand how the interplay between multiple identities based on gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion and sexuality contributes to shaping different forms of gender performativity within the context of Syrians' displacement in Turkey. The article presents an analysis of interview data collected from 40 Syrian refugee women living in three southeast Turkish border cities: Gaziantep, Mardin and Sanliurfa. The research used the method of personal narrative interviewing to explore changing gender practices in the context of displacement. It is argued that the emerging gender performativity of Syrian refugee women is shaped by the intersecting of their multiple identities; the interconnection between the past and the present experiences of these identities; and the different effects of identity practices over time and place on women's lived experience and social relations.

Gendered Power Struggles beyond the Male-Female Dichotomy

“…The concept of inter sectionality was developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw to highlight that a singular level of analy sis that fails to capture the complex combinations of intersecting power has detrimental effects: 'when one discourse fails to acknowledge the significance of the other, the power relations that each attempts to challenge are strengthened ' (1991: 282). Intersectional analysis means that 'women' are not seen as a homogenous group, rather intersecting oppressions shape their experiences (Al-Ali and Pratt 2009;Mohanty 1988;Muhanna-Matar 2022).…”

Exploring Syrian Refugees’ Access to Medical and Social Support Services Using a Trauma-Informed Analytic Framework

“…The majority of the intersectionality and trauma literature regarding Syrian refugees has focused on issues that women and LGBTQ individuals have confronted in their host countries [43,[59][60][61][62]. As we note below, we were not able to interview female farm workers and doing so might have shed light on certain cultural structures intersecting with gender roles among our interviewee families.…”