Continuum of Success: A Case Study of Colombian Refugee women in Canada

1. Continuum of Success: A Case Study of Colombian Refugee women in Canada Marleny Munoz, MA, Ph.D. University of Manitoba Canada The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development Commitment to Action Conference Stockholm, Sweden July 8th-12th, 2012

2. Background • Women’s victimization is the salient representation of women in war and armed conflict zones • Limited literature concerning the agency of these same women

3. Purpose To explore the mechanisms by which Colombian women war survivors, who were internally displaced in Colombia and are now living in Canada as refugees, exercised agency to learn and build knowledge and transcend the limitations of their situations. In particular, how they made use of this knowledge to restore their lives and succeed in a new society.

4. Women and War

5. Research Process

6. Victimization was depicted as… • the incapacity of the women to take action in specific situations due to dominant guerrilla groups becoming local authorities. • reactive agency in order to survive and about the courage it took to take such action. • reactive agency was also discussed in terms of acting as the next person would.

7. Women had lingering fears in the asylum zone… • fear of not been able to remain the person they were back in Colombia • “Yes, I am afraid of not being able to be as productive here as I was in Colombia. It is not the fear of losing belongings but to lose purpose in life and to work only to generate income but not able to work in the field in which I have knowledge, practice and skills, just to be able to use my brain.” (Camelia)

8. Continuum of Success

9. English Language Communication • Indicator: Correlation between English communication and English work environment • 3 women achieved high level of success • 3 women achieve some success • 11 women achieved low level of success • Conclusion: There is need to develop more flexible approaches to help refugee women to learn English as an strategy to remove them from conditions associated with victimization.

10. Good Life • Definition: “a conduct of life which allows to individuals to realize their potential.” (LeBmann et al, 2011 p.17 • Indicator: Correlation between status of the employment and perception of well being • 6 women achieved high level of success • 2 women achieved some level success • 9 women achieved low level of success • Conclusion: One third of the women are doing what they would like to do in terms of employment. They also perceive themselves of doing very well.

11. Resources (other than ESL) • Indicator: Correlation between the ability to access resources and their satisfaction with entitlement • 4 women achieved high level of success • 7 women achieved some level of success • 6 achieved low level of success • Conclusion: although the women appreciate having access to resources and entitlements, some still have strong feelings of humiliation in terms of this indicator.

12. Family & Community • Indicator: Correlation between high family connection and integration into community • 8 women achieved high level of success • 6 women achieved some level of success • 3 women achieved low level of success • Conclusion: The need to further study the relationship between family size and gaps in services regarding refugee integration into Canadian society and family reintegration.

13. Possibilities • Definition: “…where the future begins to be discerned in the form of visible patterns interwoven into the text of the actual” (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2000, p.11 • Indicator: Correlation between security and hope • 13 women achieved high level of success • 4 women achieved some level of success • Conclusion: Helping women to build a sense of hope and security maybe the strongest approach to exercising agency in refugee women.

14. Conclusion • The indicators located near victimization may be examples of social suffering or reactive agency. The indicators near agency may be more affirming aspects of expected well-being that lies in the future. • These indicators do show evidence of the women restoring their lives in the new society, that they have not continued to be simply victimized by the armed conflict, and that they are active agents of change. • They also show the success of these women in terms of the mechanisms for knowledge and learning.

15. The Future • Inquire into various aspects and connotations of the term and use of ‘agency’. • Test the ‘Continuum of success’ and the five indicators with other groups of refugee women. (i.e. Winnipeg)

16. References • Clarke, A. E. (2005). Situational analysis: Grounded theory after postmodern turn. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. • Cooperrider, D., & Whitney, D. (2000). A positive revolution in change: Appreciative inquiry. In D. L. Cooperrider, P. F. J. Sorensen, D. Whitney & T. F. Yaeger (Eds.), Appreciative inquiry: Rethinking human organization toward a positive theory of change. Champaign, Illinois: Atipes Publishing L.L.C. • LeBmann, O., Otto, H. E., & Ziegler, H. (2011). Introduction: Closing the capability gap and renewing social criticism. In O. LeBmann, H. E. Otto & H. Ziegler (Eds.), Closing the capabilities gap: Renegotiating social justice for the young.Oplanden: Barbara Budrich Publishing. • Rozmarin, M. (2011). Creating oneself: Agency, desire and feminism transformations. Bern, Swizerland: Peter Lang, International Academic Publishers. • Stringer, R. (2009). Rethinking the critique of victim feminism. In E. Faulkner & G. MacDonald (Eds.), Victim no more: Women's resistance to law, culture and power. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.

17. Thanks! munozm@cc.umanitoba.ca