Refugee Belonging

Displacement and resettlement can be a destabilizing experience for war-affected

families with important impacts on virtually every aspect of families’ socio-spatial environments including cultural norms, religious traditions, and support networks. Despite the importance of both the social and physical environments in supporting wellbeing and belonging among refugee families, programs and policies that assist in the resettlement of refugee families often do not explicitly address elements related to place.

A narrative review was conducted focusing on socio-spatial initiatives that help war-affected families to maintain their cultural identities and connections with their country of origin and establish a new sense of belonging in their communities of resettlement. This review underscores the potential of this focus for informing practice and policy considerations in pursuit of greater refugee family belonging and wellbeing in the global context of an emerging asocial society.