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Women, Asylum and Resistance: A Feminist Narrative Approach to Making Sense of Stories

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Feminist Narrative Research

Abstract

Drawing on Economic and Social Research Council funded research that I conducted with women seeking asylum in the UK and taking a feminist narrative approach, I examine the narratives told about people seeking asylum and look at some of the ways women seeking asylum construct their own stories. Inspired by the stories of the women in this study and drawing on nuanced concepts of ‘resistance’, this chapter offers a narrative framework of resistance for better making sense of storytelling. I suggest that adopting a feminist narrative approach can allow us to make sense of how and why women might tell their stories in relation to particular dominant narratives. Central to this chapter is the assertion that feminist narrative approaches to research should not merely listen to women’s stories but rather explore the opportunities and constraints of narratives that might liberate or limit the stories told.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the women who participated in this research and shared their different stories of resistance. I would also like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) for their financial support (ES/H011803/1) for the research on which this chapter is based.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

    Kate Smith

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  1. Kate Smith
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  1. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

    Jo Woodiwiss

  2. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

    Kate Smith

  3. University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom

    Kelly Lockwood

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Smith, K. (2017). Women, Asylum and Resistance: A Feminist Narrative Approach to Making Sense of Stories. In: Woodiwiss, J., Smith, K., Lockwood, K. (eds) Feminist Narrative Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48568-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48568-7_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-48567-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-48568-7

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