ABSTRACT
Based on empirical data of a broader study on forced migration and organized violence, this chapter gives voice to refugees by presenting and analyzing their biographical narrations. Between the Scylla of approaching them only as passive victims and the Charybdis of celebrating them as free social actors it focuses on the impact of (organized) violence on the life course and biographies of forced migrants. Grounded on biographical-narrative interviews with 17 forced migrants in Turkey from Afghanistan and Syria it aims to understand and explain forced migration as a longer-term and iterative social practice, where experiences and preferences must be managed in specific social entanglements under specific conditions of socialization, expectations, and resources. For doing so, we first shed light on the state of research and develop some guiding assumptions; we then present our conceptual frame, understanding of (organized) violence and forced migration, and the methodology of gathering and analyzing biographical narrations; further we describe the life courses of the 17 interviewed forced migrants in the context of organized violence and analyze some experienced and narrated life histories. Finally, we discuss limitations of the study and proposals for further research.
