Abstract
In this article, I explore how faith and religion shaped the resilience of forced migrant women subjected to intersecting gender-based violence (GBV) and trafficking. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, I draw upon interviews with 11 Christian and 4 Muslim displaced survivors of 10 African nationalities temporarily residing in Tunisia. I first outline the experiences of intersecting violence to understand what displaced survivors were resilient to, and then describe faith pathways to resilience, sometimes with spiritual struggles and unmet religious needs. I delineate ways in which personal prayers and cooperating with God enabled all but one survivor to cope with exploitation and perilous journeys toward imagined refuge. I offer insights for practitioners working with forced migrants on the move and highlight the importance of spiritual support for displaced survivors who are religious. I discuss the findings and offer implications for future research and practice.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 201 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Social Sciences |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 May 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The University of Birmingham School of Social Policy’s PhD Scholarship.Islamic Relief Canada’s grant for project: “Developing a Faith Sensitive Psycho-Social Response to Trauma” covered fieldwork costs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- coping
- faith
- gender
- intersecting
- migration
- refugee
- religion
- resilience
- sexual
- trafficking
- violence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Gender Studies