The Role of Shared Social Identity in Mutual Support Among Refugees of Conflict: An Ethnographic Study of Syrian Refugees in Jordan
Alfadhli, Khalifah H. . 2018
In the midst of an unprecedented refugee crisis and the shortfall of aid organization resources, a shift toward utilizing the capacity for collective resilience in refugee communities could be helpful. This paper explores experiences of psychosocial social support among a community of Syrian urban refugees in Jordan, especially the kind of support that helps them deal with secondary stressors. We were specifically interested in the role of shared social identity as a basis of support and the sources of such shared identity. We conducted an 8-month ethnography that included observations and semi-structured interviews with 13 refugees. We found many examples of support among refugees, on both personal and collective levels. Some of this support was based on sharing the identity of “refugee” that stemmed from a sense of common fate. This is similar to the process identified in the literature on disasters. Psychological membership in the refugee group is stigmatic, but it can also lead to positive outcomes in line with the social cure perspective. However, we also found examples of support that were value-based or based on pre-existing interpersonal networks. Implications of the findings for models of group processes in stressful situations and the practical question of refugee support are discussed.
This chapter overviews an eight-months long ethnography with Syrian refugees in an urban setting near the northern borders of Jordan. The aim was to explore how crossing borders is not just a…
This chapter builds on previous chapters, on crowds (Chapter 15) and emergencies and disasters (Chapter 16), to show the relationship between the two. It describes a programme of research that has…