University of Kentucky doctoral candidate MaryBeth Chrostowsky, under the guidance of Dr. Monica L. Udvardy, will investigate the gender effects of asylum and post-repatriation experiences of involuntary migrants. The research will be carried out among Dinka migrants who originated in Bor, South Sudan, but experienced two different asylum environments: Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya and Khartoum, in the north of Sudan. This comparative framework will allow her to determine if alterations to gender norms and relations that occurred during asylum are the result of different asylum environments and if these alterations remain intact after migrants are repatriated.
The researcher will undertake 12 months of field research in Bor, South Sudan. She will conduct 56 semi-structured interviews to investigate the causes of change to gender norms and relations during asylum and after return. The interviews are designed to examine the gender relations and norms of male and female Dinka and the strategies these Dinka women used to engage with gender inequality during three phases of the forced migrant experience: 1) prior to departure, 2) during asylum, and 3) post-repatriation. Information obtained in the interviews will be triangulated with data on observed behavior recorded through participant observation and a time allocation study.
Existing gaps in repatriation research and theory results in refugee policy and humanitarian assistance that fails to meet the needs of returning forced migrants. Missing from current repatriation policy is the recognition of the gendered elements of repatriation. This research directly addresses this need by examining and establishing 1) the primary causes of change to gender norms and relations during asylum and after return, and 2) the strategies women use to deal with gender inequality during asylum and after return. By addressing these current gaps in repatriation literature, this research will expand the current limitations of migration theory and improve current repatriation and post-conflict reconstruction policy and intervention projects. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.
