“… when I realised I was getting stronger!” A Research Project with women who had to take refuge and the attempt to develop CMW as a creative work of expression.
In the context of my psychosocial counselling practice with women who had to take refuge, the desire for a change in the relationship structure in a partnership context emerges. Aspects of agency and self-efficacy are directly or indirectly addressed in this context and often play an important role. The women describe the “change” often as a diffuse, seemingly fragile construct that is repeatedly discarded and/or addressed and (re)constructed in the further course of the consultations. In the context of my dissertation project, I would like to pursue this “construct of change” regarding questions of spaces, possibilities and agency.
The aim of my project is to show a holistic picture of women who have gone through a process of change through their refugee journey and also find themselves in a relationship that implies aspects of violence and coercion. The central question is: what role does the aspect of escape play for the women, and in the meaning of a family reshaping process. Finally they have to decide the question of remaining in the relationship or not, also in the additional sense of consenting to existing relationship patterns.
In ‘Women: Victims or Culprits?’ Frigga Haug explained women are not just victims, they are also actors of their own subordination. This is the foundation on which the Collective MemoryWork could flourish. “Collective Memory-Work is text work”, stated Frigga Haug. Within the framework of the doctoral project, I will investigate the applicability of the method of Collective Memory-Work with women who do not have a common written language. My thesis to be investigated in this context is: “Collective Memory -Work is not exclusively textual work, it is rather a creative work of expression.” In the context of the symposium I would like to discuss this project with the participants regarding its feasibility.