What does it mean to be a queer refugee woman? Collective self‐discovery of lived experiences through trauma and agency

Queer refugees occupy a marginal space within refugee narratives. They appear to be more tolerable for the hosting country as their queerness signifies modernity, yet they are excluded from the refugee community itself symbolising the clash of cultures. There is no space of belonging in the queer community either due to potential racism. Additionally, narratives are mostly male‐centric.

My research is focused on the lived experiences of queer refugee women. Taking the point of departure in my personal story and moving to stories of other women, I view them through the lens of trauma theory and concepts of agency. Placing particular focus on the life after, I question whether the discovery and embrace of the multiplicity of new refugee identity still remains ongoing for them and whether in a new (presumably) safe home, queer refugee women may be still coming to terms with  oppression, discrimination or violence.

Tina Dixson is a PhD candidate in SLLL. Tina has a strong record of engaging with the UN human rights treaties such as CEDAW and the UN programmes such as UNHCR through participating in the development of the Global Compact on Refugees. Tina is also a co‐founder of the Queer Sisterhood Project, a peer‐run support and advocacy group for queer refugee women in Australia.