Activating and Actualizing the Third Space in Syrian Diasporic Realities: An Autoethnographic Interpretation

This essay, part of a larger study, speaks to the Syrian Diaspora’s lived reality in Canada, a complex topic that delves into issues of dislocation, displacement, loss, exile, identity, resilience and a desire for belonging (Alatrash, 2019; 2020). The study seeks to better understand these issues and the lived experience and human condition of the Syrian Diaspora in Canada. I engage autoethnography as a research methodology and as a method as I think and write from my own personal experience as a Syrian immigrant so that I could better understand the Syrian refugee’s lived experience (Alatrash, 2019). My research participants were three Syrian refugee families in Calgary, in addition to myself as an autoethnographer. As I autoethnographically analyzed, presented, and interpreted the stories of the three families, I identified a number of themes (Alatrash, 2019; 2020); this essay addresses one of these themes: On creating new possibilities: Activating and actualizing the Third Space (Alatrash, 2019).