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1 – 10 of 882Rania Mohammed Abdel Abdel Meguid
This paper aims to present a critical appraisal of Ghassan Kanafani’s short story “The Child Goes to the Camp” using the Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin and Rose (2007) in an…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a critical appraisal of Ghassan Kanafani’s short story “The Child Goes to the Camp” using the Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin and Rose (2007) in an attempt to investigate the predicament of the Palestinians who were forced to flee their country and live in refugee camps as well as the various effects refugee life had on them.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Appraisal Theory, and with a special focus on the categories of Attitude and Graduation, the paper aims to shed light on the plight of refugees through revealing the narrator’s suffering in a refugee camp where the most important virtue becomes remaining alive.
Findings
Analysing the story using the Appraisal Theory reveals the impact refugee life has left on the narrator and his family. This story serves as a warning for the world of the suffering refugees have to endure when they are forced to flee their war-torn countries.
Originality/value
Although Kanafani’ resistance literature has been studied extensively, his short stories have not received much scholarly attention. In addition, his works have not been subject to linguistic analysis. This study presents an appraisal analysis of Kanafani’s “The Child Goes to the Camp” in an attempt to investigate how the author’s linguistic choices are key to highlighting the suffering of the Palestinians, especially children, in refugee camps.
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Ragnhild Dybdahl, Torgeir Sørensen, Hans A. Hauge, Kjersti Røsvik, Lars Lien and Ketil Eide
There is substantial research on the experiences, needs and well-being of unaccompanied refugee adolescents, but less is known about existential aspects of their lives. The…
Abstract
Purpose
There is substantial research on the experiences, needs and well-being of unaccompanied refugee adolescents, but less is known about existential aspects of their lives. The purpose of the current study is to explore existential meaning-making among unaccompanied refugee children.
Design/methodology/approach
The informants in this study are young unaccompanied refugees (n = 30) living in Norway, and young Norwegians (n = 46). The authors undertook a secondary analysis of in-depth qualitative refugee interview data and a quantitative analysis of questionnaire data from Norwegian informants.
Findings
Both the refugee youths and the Norwegian youths expressed that social relationships and connections to others were most important for meaning. Moreover, both groups emphasized the importance of relatedness and generativity, i. e. commitment to worldly affairs beyond one’s immediate needs. The main differences between the two groups were related to the significance attached to religion and to loneliness.
Research limitations/implications
The comparison between the two groups is only possible to some degree. Secondary analyses have some limitations, as well as strengths.
Practical implications
The findings may be useful for supporting young refugees, as they provide insights into less-studied aspects of their lives.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in the focus on and broad interpretation of meaning, of secondary data analyses, and of comparisons between youths that are refugees versus non-refugees.
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Samaneh Khademi, Caroline Essers and Karin Van Nieuwkerk
This article develops an innovative multidisciplinary conceptual framework in the field of refugee entrepreneurship by combining the theory of mixed embeddedness with the concepts…
Abstract
Purpose
This article develops an innovative multidisciplinary conceptual framework in the field of refugee entrepreneurship by combining the theory of mixed embeddedness with the concepts of intersectionality and agency. Focusing on the phenomenon of refugee entrepreneurship, this conceptual framework addresses the following questions: how is entrepreneurship informed by the various intersectional positions of refugees? And how do refugees exert their agency based on these intersecting identities?
Design/methodology/approach
By revising the mixed embeddedness approach and combining it with an intersectional approach, this study aims to develop a multidimensional conceptual framework.
Findings
This research illustrates how the intersectional positions of refugees impact their entrepreneurial motivations, resources and strategies. The authors' findings show that refugee entrepreneurship not only contributes to the economic independence of refugees in new societies but also creates opportunities for refugees to exert their agency.
Originality/value
This conceptual framework can be applied in empirical research and accordingly contributes to refugee entrepreneurship studies and intersectionality theory.
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Anna-Mara Schön, Shahad Al-Saadi, Jakob Grubmueller and Dorit Schumann-Bölsche
The purpose of this paper is to present the initial results of the Camp Performance Indicator (CPI) system to illustrate the importance of self-reliance of refugee camp dwellers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the initial results of the Camp Performance Indicator (CPI) system to illustrate the importance of self-reliance of refugee camp dwellers with regard to infrastructure and service investments.
Design/methodology/approach
Data, derived from a field trip to Zaatari in autumn 2016 and thorough literature research, were taken to develop a new CPI system. The findings from the literature research were merged with available camp data to validate each other.
Findings
Self-reliance is a fundamental human right and anchored in the UN sustainable development goals. Yet, presented findings reveal that even in one of the most modern refugee camps in the world – Zaatari – the level of self-reliance is rather low. However, organisations and humanitarian logisticians can influence self-reliance by identifying clearly where challenges are.
Research limitations/implications
Data from a diverse range of reports were extracted. As most of these reports lack reliable and comparative quantitative data, the limitation of the study must be taken into account. So far data were only validated on one case study. To develop the tool further, more data need to be taken into account.
Originality/value
To this point, there is no performance measurement tool available focusing on self-reliance of encamped refugees. In addition, no academic research has measured the interrelation between the level of investments in infrastructure and services and the improvement of the lives of camp residents, especially regarding the level of self-reliance.
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R.K. Radhakrishnan, Emma Emily de Wit, Vandana Gopikumar and Joske G.F. Bunders
After being forced to flee their respective home countries, Sri Lankan Tamils and Rohingya refugees resettled in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This study attempts to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
After being forced to flee their respective home countries, Sri Lankan Tamils and Rohingya refugees resettled in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This study attempts to explore the extent to which the state has provided means for integration in the absence of refugee protection laws and citizenship.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research approach was used, including in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with participants from both refugee groups between 2019 and early 2020. A representative sample of male and female Sri Lankan Tamils, living in or outside government camps, in urban and rural areas, was included (total number = 75). Similarly, a representative sample of the Rohingya refugee community was included for this study (n = 44).
Findings
Despite constraints imposed by inadequate infrastructure, the study finds that Sri Lankan Tamils and Rohingyas both show to be progressively integrated in local society and have been capable of fulfilling some important basic livelihood needs, especially with regards to education. Some areas for improvement are identified as well, most urgently in terms of health and accommodation.
Practical implications
Other states in India, as well as in similar low-income countries (LICs), could learn from the current case study with regards to administering workable policies for small groups of refugees.
Originality/value
With minimal state facilitation and within the context of limited legal backing, refugee groups have somewhat managed to re-built their lives. This study identifies the threshold of requirements that make this achievement possible and suggests what more could be done to further advance the current state.
This paper aims at contributing to our understanding of how self-settled Syrian refugees (registered and non-registered) use informal practices to forge their non-political agency…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at contributing to our understanding of how self-settled Syrian refugees (registered and non-registered) use informal practices to forge their non-political agency and how this agency could be considered as political acts.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper was conducted per the qualitative data analysis (in-depth interviews and participant observation), attributed to the critical ethnographic approach, through which refugees’ everyday struggle is explored, additionally, that was incorporated with the analysis of Syrians’ Facebook groups and formal sources.
Findings
The research paper concluded that everyday struggle strategies are considered as political acts by acquiring rights that many self-settled Syrian refugees are stripped of by international humanitarian agencies and host government. Hence, registered and unregistered refugees equally forge what is called “informal citizenship” through their presence via a blend of agency forms ranging from hidden agency to explicit one and via their incorporating into the informal contexts, leading them to carve a position of semi-legality that help them to circumvent the formal structural hardship.
Originality/value
This paper endeavors to study how urban refugees as change agents can convert their illegal presence to “probably refugeeness” to unsettle the prominent recognition of them as illegal non-citizens in southern cities.
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Catalina Crisan-Mitra and Gregorio Martín-de Castro
This study aims to examine the entrepreneurship profiles of migrants and refugees relying on a neo-configurational approach that increases understanding of causal complexity…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the entrepreneurship profiles of migrants and refugees relying on a neo-configurational approach that increases understanding of causal complexity, equifinality and causal asymmetry patterns to high entrepreneurial intentions in the two groups.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method, the authors analysed 52 respondents – migrants and refugees. The findings show the existence of equifinality in which different configurations can lead to high and low entrepreneurial intentions, underlying that traumatic experiences have a major role in entrepreneurial intention. It also demonstrates that core conditions are associated with refugee’s configurations and causal asymmetry. The cross-sectional character of this research impedes the searching for a better causal relationship. The lack of studies that approach the subject of refugees makes it challenging to develop a robust theory in this sense.
Findings
The paper highlights five main configurations – two related to migrants’ profile and three related to refugees’ profile – that enable expanding the current knowledge and practices to better customize practices to increase entrepreneurial intention.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research using a configurational approach to explore migrant and refugee entrepreneurship intention profiles.
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Ali Dehghanpour Farashah and Tomas Blomquist
Migrants play an essential role in economic and societal outcomes of the host society, both as members of the workforce and as citizens. However, integration and finding…
Abstract
Purpose
Migrants play an essential role in economic and societal outcomes of the host society, both as members of the workforce and as citizens. However, integration and finding employment after migration remain critical issues. The purpose of this paper is to employ an evidence-based quantitative approach to identify migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective and to explore factors that influence employer perception of migrants.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses European Social Survey data that contain responses from managers in European countries in 2014 (n=2,828) and 2016 (n=3,014). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are used to analyse the data.
Findings
For managers, migrants’ commitment to the host country’s way of life is more important than their job skills, educational level and language proficiency. The effects of managers’ individual characteristics, including demographics, expectancies and personal values, on their general attitude towards migrants are also quantified.
Practical implications
The study’s outcomes can assist migrants to develop the qualifications most valued by employers, and allow policymakers to integrate the organizational perspective into policies and initiatives for integration of migrant labour.
Originality/value
Through HR practices, organizations significantly affect migrants’ career outcomes. Yet research on migrant workers from an organizational and managerial perspective is limited. This study identifies migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective. It also explores which individual characteristics most influence organizational decision-makers’ perception. Utilizing a cross-cultural and longitudinal data set provides a unique opportunity to generate generalizable findings.
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