Bourdieusian capital, habitus and field: Iraqi migrants’ networking strategies in the Lebanese and Finnish host societies

In this research, I study Iraqi migrants and their religious, cultural and social capitals pertaining to Bourdieu’s forms of capital and the networking strategies they employ to enhance their positions in the national field of a host society. These migrants largely belong to the refugee category or the refugee-like category e.g. asylum seekers.The field research regarded two host societies one qualified as a transit society and the other as a settlement society. The first phase of field research done in Lebanon studied temporary settled Iraqi refugees, focusing on their social networks and the impact of their religious affiliation and their cultural background on their migratory choices and on their present situation in the Lebanese society, essentially in Mount-Lebanon governorate. While the second phase done in Finland observed Iraqi migrants who currently reside in the city Turku and surrounding areas, highlighting the networking strategies they use in the process of integration within the Finnish community, with emphasis on their various religious affiliations and cultural backgrounds. Bearing in mind that Iraqi refugees in Lebanon are mostly in a transitional phase since they are in a state of waiting, the Lebanese and Finnish contexts can be quite dissimilar in terms of legal status and in terms of integration and adjustment in the host society.