“God helped us”: resilience, religion and experiences of gender-based violence and trafficking among African forced migrant women
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Authors
Pertek, Sandra Iman
Issue Date
2022-05-04
Type
Article
Language
en_US
Keywords
Resilience , Coping , Faith , Religion , Sexual , Gender , Intersecting , Violence , Trafficking , Migration , Refugee
Alternative Title
Abstract
In this article, I explore how faith and religion shaped the resilience of forced migrant women subjected to intersecting gender-based violence (GBV) and trafficking. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, I draw upon interviews with 11 Christian and 4 Muslim displaced survivors of 10 African nationalities temporarily residing in Tunisia. I first outline the experiences of intersecting violence to understand what displaced survivors were resilient to, and then describe faith pathways to resilience, sometimes with spiritual struggles and unmet religious needs. I delineate ways in which personal prayers and cooperating with God enabled all but one survivor to cope with exploitation and perilous journeys toward imagined refuge. I offer insights for practitioners working with forced migrants on the move and highlight the importance of spiritual support for displaced survivors who are religious. I discuss the findings and offer implications for future research and practice.
Description
Citation
Pertek, S. I. (2022). “God Helped Us”: Resilience, Religion and Experiences of Gender-Based Violence and Trafficking among African Forced Migrant Women. Social Sciences, 11(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050201
Publisher
Social Sciences