Citation

Jacobsen MH. Polit. Geogr. 2021; ePub: ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Butterworth-Heinemann)

DOI

10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102488

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the intimate entanglements of war and refuge. Situated within feminist political geography, I trace ways in which war is at play in refugees' journeys for safety and security. Drawing on ethnographic research with Syrian refugees living in Denmark, my research shows the intimate contours of war in ways that disrupt conventional boundaries and definitions of war in two critical ways. First, I show how the war in Syria reverberates in Syrians' lives in refuge. Second, I unpack how Denmark -- a country that is purported to be a place of peace and protection from war -- is experienced by Syrians as a place of war. Taken together these findings call attention to how refugees themselves draw on and articulate geographical imaginations and knowledges of war, violence, and safety as they try to make new lives as refugees. I argue that the existence of war in refuge necessitates rethinking a broader set of questions about war; including where war is, what counts as war, and who decides. In doing so, this article contributes to feminist political geographers and postcolonial scholars' efforts to unsettle and decolonize conventional understandings of war.

Language: en

Keywords

Critical refugee studies; Denmark; Feminist political geography; State violence; Syria; War