Refugee Women’s Volunteering as Resistance Practices to Micro‐Aggressions and Social Exclusion in the UK

Carolynn Low and Bindi V. Shah
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Carolynn Low: Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton, UK
Bindi V. Shah: Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton, UK

Social Inclusion, 2023, vol. 11, issue 2, 69-79

Abstract: In an increasingly hostile environment for refugees in the UK and the “everyday bordering” that creates exclusionary effects for refugees and migrants, this article examines how refugee women of diverse backgrounds enact resistance practices through volunteering to challenge everyday microaggressions and social exclusion. We draw on in‐depth qualitative research with members of a support group for refugee women established by a local charity in England. We find that the support group not only allows the refugee women to foster a strong sense of solidarity in the face of everyday microaggressions; it also facilitates the women’s volunteering activities in the local community. Applying the concept of “differentiated embedding,” we argue that such activities enable these women to build wider social connections and skills for future employment and, crucially, develop emotional and linguistic resources to critique dominant exclusionary discourses and policies towards refugees through the idea of “contribution” and “giving back.” In so doing, we contribute to renewed interest in the concept of integration to highlight the agency of refugee women in creating differentiated embedding in a hostile environment.

Keywords: critical incorporation; differentiated embedding; hostile environment; integration; microaggression; racism; refugees; resistance; volunteering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v11:y:2023:i:2:p:69-79

DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i2.6309

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