Assistant Professor Cultural Studies department Faculty of Social Sciences Allameh Tabataba'i University
10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
Abstract
This ethnographic study, adopting a qualitative and interpretive approach, examines the everyday experiences of Afghan migrants along the Iran–Turkey–Europe migration route. It analyzes their movement not merely as a response to poverty or war, but as a form of resistance against exclusionary structures. Data are drawn from migrants' narratives through thematic analysis and interpreted using Giddens’ theory of structuration, alongside theoretical concepts of structural violence (Galtung) and agency. The findings reveal that the suspended legal and social status in transit countries such as Iran and Turkey places migrants in conditions of instability and everyday violence. Under these circumstances, mobility emerges as a conscious and strategic practice aimed at reconstructing agency, human dignity, and individual as well as collective identity. Migrants challenge constraining structures through informal social networks, unconventional routes, and narrative construction of their experiences. Furthermore, gender and ethnicity—particularly in the case of women and the Hazara minority—shape the experience of suspension and modes of mobility in unequal ways. This article interprets movement not simply as geographical displacement, but as a "dispersed social movement" and a meaningful act of resistance against dominant orders, highlighting the need to redefine concepts of migration, refuge, and return within a human-centered and critical framework.
MIRZAEI, H. (2026). Mobility as Resistance:
Afghan Migrants’ Strategies in the Face of Prolonged Displacement. Journal of Sociology of Lifestyle (SLS), (), -. doi: 10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
MLA
MIRZAEI, H. . "Mobility as Resistance:
Afghan Migrants’ Strategies in the Face of Prolonged Displacement", Journal of Sociology of Lifestyle (SLS), , , 2026, -. doi: 10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
HARVARD
MIRZAEI, H. (2026). 'Mobility as Resistance:
Afghan Migrants’ Strategies in the Face of Prolonged Displacement', Journal of Sociology of Lifestyle (SLS), (), pp. -. doi: 10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
CHICAGO
H. MIRZAEI, "Mobility as Resistance:
Afghan Migrants’ Strategies in the Face of Prolonged Displacement," Journal of Sociology of Lifestyle (SLS), (2026): -, doi: 10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
VANCOUVER
MIRZAEI, H. Mobility as Resistance:
Afghan Migrants’ Strategies in the Face of Prolonged Displacement. Journal of Sociology of Lifestyle (SLS), 2026; (): -. doi: 10.22034/sls.2026.69283.1585
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