Ambiguous loss of home: Syrian refugees and the process of losing and remaking home

• Published in: Wellbeing, space and society Vol. 4; p. 100136
• Main Authors: Bunn, Mary, Samuels, Gina, Higson-Smith, Craig
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Displacement; Grounded theory; Humanitarian; Place; Qualitative research; Humanitarian; Qualitative research; Grounded theory; Displacement; Place
• ISSN: 2666-5581; 2666-5581
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wss.2023.100136

•Home is a multidimensional concept closely tied to identity and social relationships, which can include though transcends physical place and is temporally enduring in nature.•The ambiguous loss of home process model offers an alternative framework for conceptualizing multidimensional loss experiences for refugees following war and forced migration and in the context of displacement.•Ecological, integrative, place-based policies, interventions and services may support greater social stability for refugees. This constructivist-interpretive study examines social-relational dimensions of change and loss following experiences of political terror, war and forced migration from the perspective of Syrian refugee men and women who were presently living in Jordan (n=31). A process model derived from the analysis theorizes four dimensions of ambiguous loss (safety and security, social connections and identities, connection to place, and dreams and imagined future) and to capture the cyclical process of losing and remaking a sense of home in displacement. Our findings underscore a more complex set of processes that remain outside the array of supports and services provided by many current practices and policies with displaced populations generally, and Syrian refugees specifically. Thus, the findings highlight the need for ecological, integrative policies, interventions and services that support refugees’ attempts to remake the multifaceted and stable phenomenon that is home as they transition into new communities.