“My World Is Upside Down”: Transnational Iraqi Youth and Parent Perspectives on Resettlement in the United States

ABSTRACT

The U.S. war with Iraq led to the displacement of millions of Iraqis, many of whom have resettled in the United States as refugees. We explore the challenges Iraqi families face after resettlement, with a particular focus on the agency of refugees and challenges/opportunities of familial social reproduction in a transnational context. We conducted 181 qualitative interviews with 38 Iraqis (11 youth, 27 adults) and 5 service providers. Our findings highlight the importance of exploring refugee agency and illuminate how the interplay between structure and agency in transnational contexts is a useful framework for understanding transformations around social roles.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugees
• resettlement
• youth
• agency
• gender
• families
• transnationalism
• social reproduction

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all of the refugee and undergraduate student participants and to acknowledge the contributions of Suha Amer, Ebtisam Ali, Azhar Al-Jarry, Amber Eichstadt, Tricia Gunther, Carmen Lowry, Patrik Nkouaga, Danielle Parker, Natalie Roche, Kathryn Vadnais, Sanaa Yaqoob, and Stephanie Zarrasola.

Funding

This study was supported by funding received by the fourth author from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Research Allocation Committee, University of New Mexico Department of Pediatrics Research Committee, University of New Mexico Signature Program in Child Health Research, and the National Institute on Minority Health & Health Disparities (R01MD007712) and involved partnership with the University of New Mexico departments of psychology and anthropology.

Note

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of research participants.