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Lebanon's eastern borders are a particularly understudied region of the country. This area is home to a number of refugee communities (Palestinian and Armenian) as well as recently settled and displaced Bedouin from the June 1967 war. This tribal community is both invisible in some regards and prominent in others. Barred from citizenship for many y...
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... they create azlam [clients] in every village; every representative finds himself a group that would work for him in the elections. (Interview RK15, 2008) The physical boundaries erected in the early twentieth century had an enormous effect on the Bedouin movement and livelihoods. In the early twenty-first century, the emergence of symbolic boundaries as a result of the growing political activism within the Bedouin communities in eastern Lebanon is changing the Bedouin landscape through the construction of 'new' layers within their composite identities. ...
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Citations
... For example, Allen Johnson and Timothy Earle (2000) did not find a place for the tribe in their progression of socio-political forms from "the family-level group" to "the local group" to "the regional polity". However, the socio-political forms identical to what was described by Service as the tribe and exemplified by him (Service 1978(Service [1958: 111-217) can be found in many historical and geographical settings, which include, for instance, ancient, medieval and modern Eurasia, Africa and the Americas (e.g., Barth 1959;Boehm 1983;Chatty 2010;Chatty et al. 2013;Elsie 2015;Evans-Pritchard 1940;Hart 2000;Hickerson 1962;Hoebel 1960;Irons 1975;Oberg 1953;Tait 1961;Tapper 1983;etc.). These societies cannot be identified with bands or village communities (because they comprise more than one community), chiefdoms (as they have an entirely different type of political leadership), or, naturally, with states. ...
Aside from complexity measured in levels of political integration, societies as systems of social institutions have another fundamental characteristic that can be called a “basic principle of societal organization.” The principle of organization a society embodies depends on the way its institutions are arranged with respect to one another. Two basic principles can be distinguished: heterarchy—the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or can be ranked in different ways (as coined by Crumley), and its opposite, homoarchy,—a condition in society in which relationships in most contexts are ordered mainly according to one principal hierarchical relationship. Homoarchy and heterarchy represent the most universal “ideal” (generalized) principles and basic trajectories of socio-cultural organization. There are no universal evolutionary stages: cultures can be (generally) heterarchical or homoarchical having an equal level of complexity. A culture can change its basic organizational principle without transition to another complexity level. Alternativeness also exists within each of the types. So, the heterarchy—homoarchy dichotomy runs throughout the whole of human history: it is observable on all levels of social complexity in all historical periods and culture areas, including the globalized world of our time. Transformations in the ways social institutions and their sets, societal subsystems, are ranked (homoarchically or hetrarchically) on the one hand and changes in the overall cultural complexity on the other are two different, largely unrelated processes.
... Although the literature on social support and solidarity among refugees of conflict across different disciplines has highlighted the importance of identity (Chatty, Mansour, & Yassin, 2013;Curley, 2009;Moulin, 2010;Palmgren, 2013), the present paper is the first to shed light on the process of support and the central role of shared social identity in these mechanisms. Other studies described the emergence of shared identity among refugees without exploring its role in social support dynamics or providing a quantitative analysis of this process (e.g., Moulin, 2010). ...
In spite of the harsh conditions that refugees of conflicts experience for many years in exile in developing countries, there is evidence showing that refugees of conflict help each other. This study aimed to explore one possible mechanism underlying such support and sought to answer three main research questions: do refugees share an emergent identity that facilitates support among them (similar to people affected by disasters)? Does this identity-based support impact on their health? If so, does this positive impact help to mitigate the negative effect of exile stressors on refugees’ health? We carried out two questionnaire surveys among Syrian refugees, first in Turkey (n = 234) and then in Jordan (n = 156). The data were analysed using path analysis to test hypotheses and build a theoretical model. We found evidence suggesting a process of shared social identity-based support among the refugees. We found that general health of refugees to be predicted mainly by stress, but we also found that collective efficacy has a positive association with health, which suggests a buffering effect. These results shed light on the process of social support among refugees of war and suggest the role of shared identity, which can have a limited buffering effect on the health of the refugees, though not enough to fully mitigate the negative effect of secondary stressors. However, we suggest that such a process can be utilised as base for interventions that approach refugees of war as a group (i.e., at community rather than individual level).
... Indeed there had been a long and complex political history between Syria and Lebanon and close ties between communities in both countries. They have shared an officially undefined and thus unresolved border, and cross border identities and movements back and forth have been common since the birth of both states (Chatty, Mansour, & Yassin, 2013;Kaufman, 2013). Such intimate and complex relations translated into unconditional hospitality by the Lebanese towards the Syrians for a time. ...
This paper explores how the ad hoc and uneven implementation and enforcement of policies in the context of the Global South particularly in situations of large-scale refugee crises creates forms of waiting and precarity amongst refugees. This exploration is initiated by questions about how states in the Global South manage mass displacements of people whilst adhering to the principles of non-refoulement, a customary international law forbidding countries from forcibly returning refugees to conditions that may endanger their lives. How is this complicated in situations where states are not party to the Refugee convention and where refugee crises become protracted? How does this then lead to immobilizing refugees and compelling them to wait? I focus on the practices of the Lebanese state in response to the Syrian refugee crisis that has continued on from 2011. Lebanon has changed its regulations and decisions towards the large number of Syrians living in the country over the course of the crisis whilst adhering to the principle of non-refoulement. However, the policies enacted by the government are arbitrarily implemented and enforced at different scales of governance creating legal anxieties and immobilities for Syrians in the country. I draw on the work of critical legal and political geographers to argue that the ad hoc nature of the law, creates a fragmented landscape of mobility for Syrians, exacerbating conditions of precarity and poverty and, importantly, colonizing their futures.
... A good example of identity-based solidarity is found in Lebanon in the case of undocumented Bedouins who don't have access to the official citizen-based health care system; in this case, the tribal social networks offered health care support (cash money hand-outs, loans, payment for medical bills, transportation and calls for blood donation) that extend across the Syrian borders (Chatty, Mansour, & Yassin, 2013). Another example comes from Thailand where Vietnamese social networks offered the refugees agency in spite of the policy constraints (Palmgren, 2013). ...
The aim of this paper is to examine the psychosocial needs and stressors among refugees of conflicts in developing countries, and their group-based social support mechanisms. A systematic literature search of peer reviewed journal articles (n = 60 articles) was carried out using the following factors: type (refugee); cause (conflicts); location (developing countries). As refugees move towards a prolonged urban displacement phase, needs and stressors become different than those of the acute phase. Daily stressors affect far more people than are affected by PTSD, but many psychosocial support interventions focus simply on the latter. Positive effects of social support on the mental health of displaced people are established; the process is not clear, yet group processes and identities seem to be important. We therefore suggest that the social identity approach can be applied to understand the emergence of a common refugee identity and its role in empowerment through activating social support networks.
... In Lebanon today, about two-thirds of all Bedouin in the country are unrecognised and without nationality. The attempts of the Bedouin leaders and their constituencies to regularise their presence in Lebanon have resulted in a confusing array of identification categories; at the same time these various nationality 'statuses' are emerging as clearly of great political significance in Lebanon's contemporary consociational form of governance (Chatty et al. 2013). ...
... For some Bedouin this has meant the transformation from a mobile lifestyle to a more settled existence cultivating barley and other crops while managing a dwindling herd of sheep. In the 1970s, trucks and other motor vehicles came to replace camels as beasts of burden (Chatty 1986(Chatty , 2013 making some Bedouin even more mobile than in the past. ...
This paper examines the persistence of tribal identity and authority and the increasingly public self-representation of Bedouin in the Badia of Syria and the Bekaa of Lebanon. It sets out the significant challenges to Bedouin tribal identity and authority over the past three decades.
The paper argues that, despite the formal annulling of the Bedouin tribes' legal status in Syrian law in 1958 and the 'silenced' legal status of most Bedouin in Lebanon, tribal identity and the authority attached to traditional leaders continues to exist.
Background:
Migrants who have been forced to leave their home, such as refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons (IDP), are likely to experience stressors which may lead to mental health problems. The efficacy of interventions for mental health promotion, prevention, and treatment may differ in this population.
Objectives:
With this overview of systematic reviews, we will map the characteristics and methodological quality of existing systematic reviews and registered systematic review protocols on the promotion of mental health and prevention and treatment of common mental disorders among refugees, asylum seekers, and IDPs. The findings from this overview will be used to prioritise and inform future Cochrane reviews on the mental health of involuntary migrants.
Methods:
We searched Ovid MEDLINE (1945 onwards), Ovid Embase (1974 onwards), Ovid PsycINFO, ProQuest PTSDpubs, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, NIHR Journals Library, CRD databases (archived), DoPHER, Epistemonikos, Health Evidence, 3ie International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, and PROSPERO, to identify systematic reviews of mental health interventions for involuntary migrants. We did not apply any restrictions on date, language, or publication status to the searches. We included systematic reviews or protocols for systematic reviews of interventions aimed at refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons. Interventions must have been aimed at mental health promotion (for example, classroom-based well-being interventions for children), prevention of mental health problems (for example, trauma-focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder), or treatment of common mental disorders and symptoms (for example, narrative exposure therapy to treat symptoms of trauma). After screening abstracts and full-text manuscripts in duplicate, we extracted data on the characteristics of the reviews, the interventions examined in reviews, and the number of primary studies included in each review. Methodological quality of the included systematic reviews was assessed using AMSTAR 2.
Main results:
The overview includes 23 systematic reviews and 15 registered systematic review protocols. Of the 23 published systematic reviews, meta-analyses were conducted in eight reviews. It was more common for the search strategy or inclusion criteria of the reviews to state that studies involving refugees were eligible for inclusion (23/23), than for asylum seekers (14/23) or IDPs (7/23) to be explicitly mentioned. In most reviews, study eligiblity was either not restricted by participant age (9/23), or restricted to adults (10/23). Reviews commonly reported on studies of diagnosis or symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or trauma (11/23) and were less likely to report on depression or anxiety (6/23). In 15 reviews the intervention of interest was focused on/ specific to psychological therapy. Across all 23 reviews, the interventions most commonly identified from primary studies were general Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy, and a range of different integrative and interpersonal therapies. Even though many reviews included studies of participants without a diagnosis of a mental health problem, they often assessed mental health treatments and did not usually distinguish between promotion, prevention, and treatment in the review aims. Together the 23 systematic reviews included 336 references, of which 175 were unique primary studies. Limitations to the methodological quality of reviews most commonly related to reporting of selection criteria (21/23), absence of a protocol (19/23), reporting of study design (20/23), search strategy (22/23), and funding sources of primary studies (19/23).
Authors' conclusions:
Gaps exist in the evidence on mental health interventions for refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons. Most reviews do not specify that internally displaced persons are included in the selection criteria, even though they make up the majority of involuntary migrants worldwide. Reviews specific to mental health promotion and prevention of common mental disorders are missing, and there is more evidence available for adults or mixed populations than for children. The literature is focused on post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma-related symptoms, with less attention for depression and anxiety disorders. Better quality systematic reviews and better report of review design and methods would help those who may use these reviews to inform implementation of mental health interventions.
Executive Summary
In October 2017, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) initiated a study to map the stateless population in the United States. This study sought to: Develop a methodology to estimate the US stateless population; Provide provisional estimates and profiles of persons who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness in the United States; Create a research methodology that encouraged stateless persons to come forward and join a growing network of persons committed to educating the public on and pursuing solutions to this problem; and Establish an empirical basis for public and private stakeholders to develop services, programs, and policy interventions to prevent and reduce statelessness (UNHCR 2014g, 6), and to safeguard the rights of stateless persons ( UNHCR 2014d ).
This report describes a unique methodology to produce estimates and set forth the characteristics of US residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. The methodology relies on American Community Survey (ACS) data from the US Census Bureau, supplemented by very limited administrative data on stateless refugees and asylum seekers. ¹
As part of the study, CMS developed extensive, well-documented profiles of non–US citizen residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It then used these profiles to query ACS data to develop provisional estimates and determine the characteristics of these populations.
The report finds that the population in the United States that is potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness is larger and more diverse than previously assumed, albeit with the caveat that severe data limitations make it impossible to provide precise estimates of this population. Stateless determinations require individual screening, which the study could not undertake. Individuals deemed potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness in this report may in fact have been able to secure nationality in their home countries or in third countries. They may also be on a path to citizenship in the United States, although nobody in CMS’s estimates had yet to obtain US citizenship.
According to CMS’s analysis, roughly 218,000 US residents are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. These groups live in all 50 states, ² with the largest populations in California (20,600), New York (18,500), Texas (15,200), Ohio (13,200), Minnesota (11,200), Illinois (8,600), Pennsylvania (8,200), Wisconsin (7,300), Georgia (6,600), and Virginia (6,500).
The report recommends ways to improve data collection and, thus, develop better estimates in the future. It also lifts up the voices and challenges of stateless persons, and outlines steps to reduce statelessness and safeguard the rights of stateless persons in the United States. As it stands, the paucity of reliable federal data on the stateless, the lack of a designated path to legal status for them under US law, and the indifference of government agencies contribute to the vulnerability and isolation of these populations.
This two-year study adopted a unique methodology to produce estimates and set forth the characteristics of US residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. The methodology relies on American Community Survey (ACS) data from the US Census Bureau, supplemented by very limited administrative data on stateless refugees and asylum-seekers.
As part of the study, the Center for Migration Studies developed extensive, well-documented profiles of non-US citizen residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It then used these profiles to query ACS data in order to develop provisional estimates and determine the characteristics of these populations.
The report finds that the population in the United States that is potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness is larger and more diverse than previously assumed, albeit with the caveat that severe data limitations make it impossible to provide precise estimates of this population. Stateless determinations require individual screening, which the study could not undertake.
The report recommends ways to improve data collection and, thus, to develop better estimates in the future. It also lifts up the voices and challenges of stateless persons, and outlines steps to reduce statelessness and to safeguard the rights of stateless persons in the United States. As it stands, the paucity of reliable federal data on the stateless, the lack of a designated path to legal status for them under US law, and the indifference of government agencies contribute to the vulnerability and isolation of these populations.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Middle Eastern geography has been dramatically transformed with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of new states. In the Middle East, the definition of territories remains problematic as shown by the permanence of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and national affiliations remain sometimes problematic, the Kurdish example being the most symptomatic. The analysis of migration and state building in the region contributes to give a non-static reading of boundaries and helps to understand the multiple meanings of the term (state borders, communautarian borders, categorizations processes, local variations of borders in places of settlement).
