About
Our vision
Our vision is a world where forcibly displaced people are empowered, protected, and their voices are heard.
Our mission
We conduct research to illuminate the challenges faced by forcibly displaced individuals regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, and gender identities, and explore the survival strategies they use to navigate the liminal conditions of forced displacement. Our work involves examining gendered patterns and drivers of survival strategies and their sexual and reproductive health and mental health repercussions. Our research spans five countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, and Switzerland.
Liminality /ˈlɪmɪn(ə)l·ity/
Liminality describes a state of being at a threshold or in a phase of transition between phases. In a forced displacement context, inter-structural liminality catapults people into prolonged periods of uncertainty about their legal status. They are separated from friends and families, and often in a protracted legal limbo. They remain out of place, with the idea of obtaining a new social and legal status a persistent preoccupation. Their legal rights, health, and security are all contingent and fleeting. To move between what was to what could be, displaced people are forced to navigate the liminal states and create strategies to survive.
The Liminality Research Consortium aims to capture the experiences of displaced people in their liminal states. Structural drivers can often create liminal positions that worsen socioeconomic and health conditions. In our research, we examine the challenges forcibly displaced people face during these overlapping liminalities and the strategies they use to meet the basic needs, including access to food, health, housing, and security, or realize their aspirations survive during their migration journey and in the host countries.
Context
In forced displacement, refugees, asylum seekers, and those in refugee-like situations experience severe challenges arising from intersecting liminalities. Food, housing, and income insecurity, family separation, social exclusion, are often compounded by xenophobia, homo- and transphobia and exacerbated gender inequalities. Despite heightened needs in these challenging conditions, individuals often encounter barriers and limited access to essential health care and social protection.
Research
Led by our research consortium, Survival Strategies and Health Repercussions is the first multi-country, multi-disciplinary study on forced displacement which explores the sexual and reproductive, as well as mental health impact on displaced populations. The international research consortium examines transactional sex engagement and situations leading to exploitation and abuse, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Objectives
Through our collaborative research, shedding light on the diverse gendered experiences of individuals enduring forced displacement, our goal is to influence policies and programs. We seek to enhance the circumstances of forcibly displaced people by improving their access to relevant health and social services, ultimately contributing to the overall improvement of their health and well-being.
