2022- Conference- “Queering the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon through the Photovoice Method.”

 

Dr. Jessy Abouarab, a member of Oghma’s advisory board, presented her paper, “Queering the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon through the Photovoice Method,” at the Migration and Integration in the Middle East conference organized by the Società per Gli Studi sul Medio Oriente (SEsaMo) of the Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale in Milan, Italy.

 

The LGBTQ community within the Syrian refugee population is among the most vulnerable refugees in Lebanon. They face challenges with integration and acceptance, not only from within Syrian culture but also from an anti-Syrian stance due to the Syrian and Lebanese antagonistic histories, in addition to homophobia and xenophobia, among others.

 

To address the issue of their integration, Dr. Abouarab conducted her pilot work in cooperation with Oghma’s team using photovoice and a brief questionnaire as her research methodology. In her analysis, she addressed what the participants have experienced during their displacements and how double discrimination—being refugees and being LGBTQ—affects their physical and psychological lives.