Agency, structure, and reflexivity in displacement: The experience of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Germany

This article, based on 18 months of fieldwork in Lebanon and Germany, proposes a theoretical conceptualization of the interactions between agency, structure, and reflexivity in displacement. The research on which this paper is based looks at Syrian displaced families and explores the specificities of refugees’ agency. I argue that the specific conditions within which Syrian refugees act in Lebanon and Germany make them experience a suspended life. This condition is expressed by the concept of ‘liminality’, which functions as a non-structure and creates a framework in which alternative dimensions of agency and reflexivity can be exercised.