Time and Topos in Migratory Trajectories: Mapping Memory and Lived Experiences of Religion Among Syrian Refugees in Norway

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter addresses the interconnection of religion and displacement in a conflict-induced Syrian refugee context. After more than a decade of bloodshed and undissolved war, an unprecedented displacement crisis has led Syrians to comprise one of the largest refugee populations in Europe and elsewhere. Little research has discerned the complex role that religion, identity, and belonging play in shaping migratory patterns and experiences among Syrian refugees. Not least have these dimensions been absent concerning the ways in which lived experiences of religion inform both real and imaginary forms of temporal and spatial displacement contexts. In order to adequately capture the multidimensional and (dis)empowering aspects of religion in Syrians’ migratory experiences, this chapter argues for applying a dynamic trajectory lens in which the parameters of time and space are both experientially and existentially acknowledged. The research shows how trajectories embrace pivotal experiences spanning flight, refugeehood, and exile as multiple and overlapping migratory paths and horizons. Furthermore, it explores trajectories as mirroring a hybrid assemblage of memory practices through which the symbolic language of metaphors is narratively conveyed. By focusing on the spatiotemporal metaphors of utopia, dystopia, and heterotopia, this research thus attempts to map the storied landscape of Syrian refugee trajectories; an ambiguous realm in which religion, identity, and belonging fluctuate between both backward-looking as well as future-oriented processes.