Since 2011 half of Syria’s population has been forced to flee its homes. Much research has focused on the macro-level challenges and post-conflict reconstruction plans. In this article, I focus on the micro-level by examining the dialectic of “humiliation” and “dignity” as a dynamic that shapes and transforms Syrian refugees’ identities through sustained interaction, and sometimes through struggle, with others, who can be pro-regime or pro-opposition Syrians, or pro-refugees or anti-refugees in hosting countries. Methodologically, I use an interpretive approach which focuses on context-specific meanings and their relation to power, seeking multifaceted understandings of refugees’ lived-experience. This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and ordinary language interviews conducted in the United States, and semi-structured, open-ended interviews with Syrians in Germany and Turkey. I show that researching participants’ meaning-making in their own settings reveals the dynamics of humiliation and dignity as dialectically interwoven in specific situational contexts and shaped by refugees’ lived-experience in both the country of origin (in the past) and the hosting country (in the present).

中文翻译：

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尊严与羞辱：叙利亚难民之间的认同形成

自2011年以来，叙利亚一半的人口被迫逃离家园。许多研究集中在宏观层面的挑战和冲突后重建计划。在本文中，我将通过考察“屈辱”和“尊严”的辩证法来关注微观层面，这种辩证法通过持续的互动，有时通过与其他人的斗争（有时通过斗争）来塑造和改变叙利亚难民的身份。政权或反对派叙利亚人，或收容国的反对难民或反难民。在方法论上，我使用一种解释方法，着眼于特定于上下文的含义及其与权力的关系，寻求对难民生活经历的多方面理解。这项研究基于在美国进行的人种学田野调查和普通语言访谈，并且采用半结构化，在德国和土耳其对叙利亚人进行的不限成员名额采访。我表明，研究参与者在自己的环境中的意义揭示了屈辱和尊严的动态，这是在特定情况下与环境进行辩证性交织的，并且受难民在原籍国（过去）和收容国的居住经历的影响（在现在）。