Women, Asylum and Resistance: A Feminist Narrative Approach to Making Sense of Stories

Drawing on Economic and Social Research Council funded research that I conducted with women seeking asylum in the UK and taking a feminist narrative approach, I examine the narratives told about people seeking asylum and look at some of the ways women seeking asylum construct their own stories. Inspired by the stories of the women in this study and drawing on nuanced concepts of ‘resistance’, this chapter offers a narrative framework of resistance for better making sense of storytelling. I suggest that adopting a feminist narrative approach can allow us to make sense of how and why women might tell their stories in relation to particular dominant narratives. Central to this chapter is the assertion that feminist narrative approaches to research should not merely listen to women’s stories but rather explore the opportunities and constraints of narratives that might liberate or limit the stories told.