(Dis)Placement as a Recurring Event over the Life Course: A Pilot Study Using Life History Calendars among Resettled Syrian Refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand

Yara Jarallah, The University of Waikato

This paper shows the results of a project that piloted the use of Life History Calendars (LHCs) as an alternative methodology for forced displacement from war to generate both quantitative and qualitative data. Piloted among a small sample of resettled Syrian refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand (n=40) across three settlement sites (Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin), it shows the potential and pitfalls of leveraging such an approach among people seeking refuge. Rather than a distinct event that marks their displacement at a single point in time, this paper shows how individuals experiencing displacement will fall into and out of categories of ‘internally displaced’ ‘forced migrant’, ‘stateless’, ‘refugee’, ‘resettled former refugee’ etc over their life course calling into question the use of those categories as static binaries. Further, it sheds light through autobiographic narratives on individuals own experiences and interpretation of transitions and how they shape and are shaped by their environment and other actors. While contingent on a big sample size for its quantitative modelling potential, LHCs nevertheless, show migration more broadly as a continuum rather than a binary/static category, and when its qualitative potential is utilised, it brings to light individuals own experiences of transitions and refuge along this journey.

Keywords: Migrant Populations and Refugees, Data and Methods, Longitudinal studies , Mixed methods research

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