Gender, forced migration and the life course: Syrian male perspectives on partner relationship (re)formation

This paper seeks to disentangle the gendered perspectives on partner relationships after forced migration. Whereas substantial research has focused on the perspective of women in a response to decades of gender blindness in migration research, we put forward the relevance of male refugees’ understanding of partner relationship dynamics. Hence the paper targets the lived experiences and perceptions of young Syrian men (18-35 years old) as gender- and partner roles are contested, re-produced or transformed in the context of societal change.

In order to capture the perspectives of these men, our study adopts a qualitative life course perspective to flesh out the interplay of micro- and macro processes in which partner relationship attitudes and behaviour are defined. We draw from narrative interviews, themed around core principles of the life course paradigm such as agency, linked lives, time and place, and life stage. These empirically rich data will be analysed using narrative analysis.

We see two main contributions of this paper. First, by scrutinising the different strategies Syrian men employ to negotiate and re-define partner relationship attitudes and everyday behaviour in the context of a new host society, the paper aims to expand on the life course literature in migration research by discussing new actors and new contexts. Second, the findings of this study will give insights into the gendered complexities of managing partner relationships in forced displacement by offering more nuanced understandings of power divisions within partner relationships.