Afghan Refugee Women's Struggles of Adaptation in their Everyday Lives in the Canadian Context


Adela Kabiri, Memorial University

This research seeks to determine how Afghan women newcomer refugees in Canada navigate their experience of the change of cultural context from Afghanistan to the new host environment. The structure of Afghan families privileges the dominance of men and elders. Even before the 2021 crisis, Afghan women had already been facing pressures due to the prevailing laws in families that forced them to respect patriarchal decisions. Connell claimed that those benefiting from inequalities have an interest in defending them. Those who bear the costs are interested in ending them. Considering the context of the Afghan family and Connells claim, potentially, the cultural adaptation of Afghan women in the context of Canada may conflict with the interests of other family members. So, there is a possibility of cultural resistance in this case, when a family may create limitations for Afghan women in their social interactions in the Canadian context. Reconciling the new cultural context with expectations from their families can keep them in a long-term cultural shock that includes a flurry of emotions, including excitement, anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty. The U-curve theoretical model for cultural adaptation shows that migrants go through fairly predictable phases—anticipation, cultural shock, and adjustment—in adapting to a new cultural situation. However, the duration of passing each stage and how to pass it can be different among groups. Based on these strong cultural differences between Afghanistan and Canada. The cultural adaptation of Afghan women in Canada requires a reconceptualization of values, including gender stereotypes. Gender theorists demonstrate that gender constructs and performances are constituted in concrete, historically changing, and unequal social relationships. There are reasons for resistance and tangible barriers to the redefinition of concepts and cultural adaptation of Afghan women in Canada, which can put these women in particularly difficult situations that they must navigate in their daily lives. Newly arrived Afghan women in Canada faced strong patriarchy and traditionalism in their cultural experience. These limitations and inequalities existed not only at home but also in the social organizations they faced (such as school, medical care, and so on). Patriarchy and traditionalism may have been institutionalized in their own beliefs, too. They may be surprised to find judgment from their female Canadian counterparts despite the clear gender disparities that still exist in Canada. All these conflicting experiences make the process of cultural adaptation difficult for them and intensify and extend the cultural shock. Therefore, this research seeks to know how these women navigate the differences between their past cultural context and the host environment in Canada. Based on a qualitative approach, I will conduct semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 60 Afghan women newcomers to Canada (who arrived after August 2021) in the four biggest Canadian cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary) to understand how newly-arrived Afghan immigrant and refugee women in Canada navigate their cultural adaptation to a completely different context. The findings of this research will show the position of their collectivist, patriarchal, traditionalist, and religious culture in the adaptation process to the individualist, diverse, secular, and modern host environment.

This paper will be presented at the following session: