Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Global Governance

Program Name/Specialization

Global Social Policy

Faculty/School

Faculty of Arts

First Advisor

Dr. Jenna Hennebry

Advisor Role

Supervisor

Second Advisor

Dr. Stacey Wilson-Forsberg

Advisor Role

Committee Member

Third Advisor

Dr. Bree Akesson

Advisor Role

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Andrea Brown

Advisor Role

Internal/External Examiner

Abstract

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of African women refugees from the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes (EHAGL) region resettled in Ontario, Canada, with particular focus on the complex intersections of trauma, resilience, and healing within global refugee governance. It asks: How do the gendered and spatial dynamics of refugee protection and Canadian settlement systems sustain structural violence against African women refugees, and how do their transnational experiences challenge and reshape dominant frameworks of care, well-being, and institutional response?

Through a multi-scalar analysis—macro (legal governance frameworks), meso (institutional actors), and micro (women’s narratives)—the study explores how trauma is shaped, silenced, and contested across the forced migration trajectory: pre-flight, during flight, and post-flight. Central to this research is the Trauma and Epistemic Justice of Displacement (trauma-EJD) framework, which integrates Black feminist and decolonial epistemologies with a rights-based approach to center African women refugees’ voices, knowledge systems, and lived realities. Situated within the broader landscape of forced migration and global refugee governance, this research foregrounds the invisibility and hyper-visibility of African women refugees, and the epistemic erasure of their experiences within dominant systems.

Methodologically, the study weaves the trauma-EJD framework into a relational and reciprocal ethnographic approach. Ethnographic fieldwork that included 52 in-depth interviews (34 women refugees and 18 key informants and stakeholders [KIS]), combined with legal governance instruments analysis, reveals systemic erasures, gendered violence, racialized gatekeeping, and fragmented care within global refugee governance. In contrast, African women refugees’ testimonies illuminate practices of resistance, spiritual resilience, and collective healing, grounded in culturally rooted understandings of ‘ustawi wa’ and the continuity of ethics of care across borders and time.

The findings articulate the spatio-temporal dynamics of trauma and displacement, offering a re-theorization of care and justice rooted in African women’s lived experiences within global refugee governance. The dissertation calls for structural transformation at global, regional, and national levels—toward trauma-responsive and justice-centered approaches that affirm African women refugees’ epistemic dignity. The trauma-EJD framework offers a roadmap for reimagining refugee governance rooted in dignity, relational care, and lived knowledge.

Convocation Year

2025

Convocation Season

Fall

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