Not Born a Refugee Woman : Contesting Identities, Rethinking Practices

Not Born a Refugee Woman is an in-depth inquiry into the identity construction of refugee women. It challenges and rethinks current identity concepts, policies, and practices in the context of a globalizing environment, and in the increasingly racialized post-September 11th context, from the perspective of refugee women. This collection brings together scholar_practitioners from across a wide range of disciplines. The authors emphasize refugee women’s agency, resilience, and creativity, in the continuum of domestic, civil, and transnational violence and conflicts, whether in flight or in resettlement, during their uprooted journey and beyond. Through the analysis of local examples and international case studies, the authors critically examine gendered and interrelated factors such as location, humanitarian aid, race, cultural norms, and current psycho-social research that affect the identity and well being of refugee women. This volume is destined to a wide audience of scholars, students, policy makers, advocates, and service providers interested in new developments and critical practices in domains related to gender and forced migrations.

Maroussia Hajdukowski-Ahmed is a Professor at McMaster University who teaches in the French Department, the Women’s Studies Program, and at the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition. As a principal investigator of the McMaster Research Centre for the Promotion of Women’s Health, she conducted studies with immigrant and refugee women, co-authored Women’s Voices in Health Promotion and published essays on dialogism, participatory research, culture and mental health, and on exilic women’s narratives.

Nazilla Khanlou is Associate Professor at the LSB Faculty of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, and is the upcoming inaugural Ontario Women’s Health Council Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research at York University. She has received major peer-reviewed grants from federal and provincial research funding agencies, and conducted policy informing research (Status of Women Canada). She has published numerous articles, books, and reports on youth, immigrant health, and mental health promotion.

Helene Moussa has had extensive experience as an educator, researcher, and administrator, as well as in policy and organizational development, networking, and advocacy. Her last position before her retirement was with the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland as executive secretary for uprooted people with regional responsibilities with partners in the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific.