Refuge Without Refuge: Displacement, Gender Violence, and the Politics of Belonging Among Refugees in Europe and Turkey : A Comparative Study of Sudanese Displacement in France and Syrian Displacement in Turkey
Course Overview
This seminar opens with a core question at the heart of contemporary debates about displacement: what becomes of “protection” when its legal form fails to secure safety, dignity, or a sense of belonging in practice? Through the experiences of Sudanese refugees in France and Syrian refugees in Turkey, the seminar examines the persistent gap between the formal architecture of asylum and the lived realities it is meant to address. Despite differences between the two political contexts, both groups face a similar contradiction: legal protection is formally granted yet remains tenuous, delayed, or inaccessible in everyday life. Throughout the seminar, this tension is captured in the notion of refuge without refuge.
Rather than treating asylum systems or humanitarian programs as neutral administrative mechanisms, the course approaches them as moral and political fields that shape how displaced people are categorized, evaluated, and compelled to navigate their lives. These institutions influence not only material conditions but also how refugees understand themselves and how they are understood by
others.
The seminar draws on sociology, anthropology, and social work, employing Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts: capital, field, habitus, and symbolic violence, and Javier Auyero’s sociology of waiting as analytical tools for interpreting everyday life under displacement. These frameworks help illuminate the effects of legal uncertainty, bureaucratic delay, gender-based and symbolic violence, transnational family obligations, and the strategies people develop to endure and adapt within precarious environments.
*This course may be applied toward the Consortium’s Certificate in Gender Studies.
Seminar Leaders
Dr. Mawahib Hassan
Research Fellow
Amman, Columbia University
Mawahib Khalil M. Hassan is a Columbia Global Emerging Scholar at the Columbia Global Center in Amman and a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Her research examines forced migration and gender-based violence, currently focusing on how social and economic capital has helped displaced Sudanese communities in Turkey survive and adapt since the 2023 war, building on her PhD work on Syrian refugee women’s experiences with intimate partner violence.
Hisham Bilal
Ph.D. Candidate
Middle East Technical University
Hisham Bilal is a sociologist and social anthropologist with over 20 years of experience researching forced migration, legal precarity, and social integration in conflict-affected contexts. Currently hosted as a scholar in exile under France’s PAUSE Program, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Middle East Technical University, where his research examines asylum systems, belonging, and social networks among Sudanese refugees in France.
Syllabus and Readings
Course Schedule
MONDAY, OCT 5
Week 1: What Does “Refuge Without Refuge” Mean?
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Zetter, R. (2007). “More Labels, Fewer Refugees.” Journal of Refugee Studies. (20 pages)
Further Reading:
- UNHCR Global Trends 2024: Executive Summary
MONDAY, OCT 12
Week 2: Capital, Field, Habitus: A Bourdieusian Framework
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Bourdieu, P. (1986). “The Forms of Capital.” (18 pages)
- Schapendonk, J. (2020). “Navigating the Migration Industry.” (Introduction + Conclusion: 1 page)
MONDAY, OCT 19
Week 3: Gender, Violence, and Displacement
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Tastsoglou and Freedman (2025). “Gender-based and intersectional violence in migration and refugee contexts: A contextual global approach” (16 pages)
- UN Women (2020). “Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies.” (3 Pages: 7-10)
MONDAY, OCT 26
Week 4: Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Precarity and Everyday Life
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Erdoğan, M. (2024). “Syrians Barometer 2023: Key Findings.” [Executive Summary] (~10 pages)
- Kaya, A. (2019). “Urban Refugees and Everyday Precarity in Turkey.” (4 pages – pp. 5–9)
MONDAY, NOV 2
Week 5: GBV Among Syrian Refugees in Turkey
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Cankurtaran and Albayrak (2019). “From Syria to Turkey: being a woman”. (8 pages – pp. 9–17)
- Hassan and Cankurtaran. (2022). “Barriers to Reporting Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) By Syrian Women Refugees: A Case Study of Syrian Women Refugees in Turkey” (10 pages)
MONDAY, NOV 9
Week 6: Sudanese Displacement Before and After 2023
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- UNHCR/IOM (2024). Sudan Situation Update. (8 pages)
- Assal (2023). War in Sudan 15 April 2023: Background, Analysis and Scenarios.[Intro & Ch. 4] (8 pages)
Further Reading:
- Grabska, K. (2014). “Gender, Home & Identity: Nuer Refugees in Cairo.” (10 pages)
MONDAY, NOV 16
Week 7: The Architecture of Waiting: Bureaucracy, Time, and Power
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Auyero, J. (2012). “Patients of the State“. [Intro & Ch. 1] (12 pages)
- Wolde Tefera and Gamlen (2025). Theorizing experiential time in refugee migration: speed and duration. [Introduction & Conclusion] (4 pages)
Further Reading:
- Cabot, H. (2019). “The business of anthropology and the European refugee regime.”
MONDAY, NOV 23
Week 8: The French Asylum System: Moral Economy and Bureaucratic Citizenship
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Fassin, D. (2013). “The Precarious Truth of Asylum.” (15 pages)
- CNDA Annual Report (2023): Sudan Section. (4 pages)
MONDAY, NOV 30
Week 9: Humanitarianism, Care, and the Politics of Aid
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- De Lauri, A. (2016). The Politics of Humanitarianism. Power, Ideology and Aid [Intro & Ch.1] (12 pages)
monday, dec 1
Week 10: Agency, Integration, and Towards Refugee Justice
Hosted on Zoom
Suggested Readings:
- Ager, A. & Strang, A. (2008). “Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework ” (18 pages)
Further Reading:
- Rajaram, P.K. (2002). “Humanitarianism and Representations of the Refugee.” Journal of Refugee Studies. (18 pages)
Certificates of Satisfactory Completion
Participants who attend 8 out of 10 complete seminar sessions are eligible to receive a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion signed by the Dean of The New School for Social Research.