The emerging intersectional performative gender of displaced Syrian women in southeast Turkey

This article explores the interconnection between intersectionality and gender performativity. It aims to understand how the interplay between multiple identities based on gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion and sexuality contributes to shaping different forms of gender performativity within the context of Syrians’ displacement in Turkey. The article presents an analysis of interview data collected from 40 Syrian refugee women living in three southeast Turkish border cities: Gaziantep, Mardin and Sanliurfa. The research used the method of personal narrative interviewing to explore changing gender practices in the context of displacement. It is argued that the emerging gender performativity of Syrian refugee women is shaped by the intersecting of their multiple identities; the interconnection between the past and the present experiences of these identities; and the different effects of identity practices over time and place on women’s lived experience and social relations.