Building on work in international migration, my dissertation makes a unique contribution to an emergent stream in the migration literature paying special attention to temporality as a distinct phenomenon of the migratory process. Specifically, it investigates the ways in which forced migration not only affects individuals’ movement across space, but also influences their experiences with time in the host country in which they settle. I do so using the case of resettled Syrian refugee mothers and teenagers in Canada, who are part of what is arguably the most prominently discussed refugee community at present. I use a range of qualitative methods: in-depth interviews including visual-elicitation techniques, focus groups, and participant observation.

 

My research agenda principally builds knowledge on temporality and identity in migration across three strands. In one strand, I examine how mothers and teenagers conceptualize their futures upon resettlement in Canada, and how these conceptualizations interact with past and present experiences of displacement, asylum, and resettlement. The second strand focuses on issues related to refugees’ integration process and sense of belonging in the host country across time. In the final strand of research, I explore methodological innovations in migration studies that emphasize retrospective and prospective narratives. Overall, my research agenda sheds light on new and innovative ways to study immigrants’ and refugees’ identity-formation and integration processes through a focus on the experience and navigation of time across geographic spaces. 

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My research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and appeared in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism.