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Searching for Tomorrow—South Sudanese Women Reconstructing Resilience through Photovoice

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Abstract

Constricted definitions of resiliency have limited application to refugees who typically negotiate complex interpersonal, intercultural, historical, and geopolitical factors in order to overcome the challenges of flight, exile, forced migration, and resettlement. Researchers were approached by eight South Sudanese refugee women resettled in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were interested in exploring alternative notions of resilience through reflection, dialogue, and action. Participatory action research methodology was chosen to co-create knowledge as an alternative to Western-centric resiliency discourse. This approach prioritizes under-represented voices through democratic co-participation, reflecting the lived experiences of refugees through collaborative research strategies and maximizes the capacity of this minority population to meaningfully contribute to the academic discourse. Using Photovoice, a technique that employs still photography and text captions, participants used aesthetic expression to deconstruct and reconstruct notions of resilience. Six, monthly 3-h focus groups were conducted on topics pertaining to resilience during which still images were reviewed. Adopting a grounded theory approach, line-by-line coding and thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts were completed in order to respond to the research question. Faith and spirituality, circles of support, and the global community were the key overarching themes describing participants’ resilience process which enabled participants to survive their past foster support in the present and harness hope for the future. At each stage, supporting and protective factors and threats undermining resiliency were identified. In conclusion, recommendations for an enhanced conceptualization of resilience were made for resettlement service providers and those engaging with refugee populations.

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Acknowledgments

The first author was supported by a Canadian Institutes for Health Research Health Professional Student Research Award. We wish to thank the study co-researchers: Mary Bith, Nyanyiik Duob, Sara Kuol, Nyangier Mabil, Linda Malek, Nyoujok Migak, Elizabeth Mijak, Akur Teer for sharing their insights and experiences and making this research possible. We also want to express our appreciations for the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association for providing cameras, and Evangel Christian Assembly Calgary, who provided space for focus group meetings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kinbrace Community Society, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Erin Pearce

  2. Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Kathleen McMurray & Christine A. Walsh

  3. Community Activist Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Linda Malek

Authors
  1. Erin Pearce
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  2. Kathleen McMurray
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  3. Christine A. Walsh
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  4. Linda Malek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine A. Walsh.

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Prior to the study commencing, ethics approval was granted by the institutional ethics review board. All co-researchers provided written informed consent (through translation) and granted permission to use their names and photographs for the purposes of the study.

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Pearce, E., McMurray, K., Walsh, C.A. et al. Searching for Tomorrow—South Sudanese Women Reconstructing Resilience through Photovoice. Int. Migration & Integration 18, 369–389 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-016-0500-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-016-0500-2

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