Already home to an established Afghan American community, the Washington D.C. metropolitan region has seen a further increase in the number of Afghan refugees since the Fall of Kabul in 2021. This study explores the perceptions of mobility among Afghan refugee women as they resettle in their new communities. Through semi-structured interviews and a cognitive mapping exercise with nine women, this study reveals that barriers to daily mobility stem from lacking literacy and English language proficiency and from not possessing a driver's license—leading to restrictions in their desired mobility. The following themes surfaced through thematic analysis: reliance on social networks, a desire for third places and sense of independence and freedom. This study hopes to shed light on the lived experiences of Afghan women, an underrepresented population in mobility studies. The findings from this preliminary study also seek to inform cities with larger refugee populations to consider refugees in planning and design decisions. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning / Already home to an established Afghan American community, the Washington D.C. metropolitan region has seen a further increase in the number of Afghan refugees since the Fall of Kabul in 2021. Because refugees don't have a car upon arrival, daily travel is a challenge. This study explores the perceptions of transportation mobility among nine recently resettled Afghan women in their new community of Northern Virginia through maps and interviews. Mobility is movement between an origin and destination and also the meaning behind the movement. This study reveals that barriers to mobility stem from lacking literacy and English language proficiency and from not possessing a driver's license. The following themes surface through analyzing and identifying patterns from the maps and interviews: reliance on social networks, a desire for communal places (referred to as third places) and sense of independence and freedom. This study hopes to shed light on the lived experiences of Afghan women, an underrepresented population in mobility research studies. The findings from this preliminary study also seek to inform cities with larger refugee populations to consider refugees in planning and design decisions.

This study attempts to better understand gender relations in the process of resettlement among families of Afghan forced migrants in Turkey. In addition it tries to gain an insight into whether those gender relations have been changed by this migration. In order to ascertain these possible changes a field study including participant observation, in depth interviews and interviews with experts was conducted in a city in Central Anatolia to which Afghan migrants are assigned. Since 2007 Afghan asylum-seekers represent a new event in Turkey. They have admitted the right to seek asylum in Turkey very recently. Furthermore, as their population has risen to become the third largest of the non-European asylum seekers in Turkey / there is a need for more research about them and the associated issues. The research findings demonstrate patterns of changes concerning gender relations. Changes can be explained by using the concepts of liminality. Those changes sometimes accommodated emancipation for women / alongside this the opposite occurred too. Liminality produced different patterns of gender relations.

This study presents general themes concerning identity preservation and identity formation among Afghan male refugees living in Sweden and who obtained Swedish citizenship. This study is based on an ethnographic survey of habits and practices of Afghan refugees living in Sweden who in a process of transition must adjust their previous values and expectations as they confront often hostile surroundings. While seeking to preserve their identity, their identity formations take place in the contextual realities and cultural influences existing in their host country Sweden. This study analyzes the narratives of Afghan refugees in Sweden to examine their sense of self. For the purpose of this research the definition of ‘identity’ is derived from the field of social psychology; specifically, the social identity theory. The social identity theory states that an individual’s self-concept is partially defined by the membership in a social group. The main finding of this research is that none of the men solely identify as Afghan. This is mainly because they left Afghanistan at a young age, encounter stereotypes and because Afghanistan is a fragmented and unsafe country. The hierarchy of salience theory and theories on multiple and hybrid identities are employed to demonstrate how they embrace different aspects of their identity at different times and in different situations. More specifically, the findings show that they embrace four strategies to do this: pragmatic, hybrid, religious and globalist. These four strategies show the hierarchy of salience.

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