"To Dream My Family Tonight": Listening to Stories of Grief and Hope Among Hazara Refugees in Australia

Abstract

This study is drawn from my Ph.D. research on experiences of grief and hope among Hazara refugees from Afghanistan as they resettle in Australia. Taken from four interviews conducted in Brisbane and Melbourne between 2004 and 2011, the excerpts trace the unfolding transitions of two brothers, Reza and Juma. They belong to an oppressed ethnic minority, the Hazara; the Taliban murdered their father and both of them faced persecution in Afghanistan. Alone, Reza fled by boat to Australia as a teenager in 2001. Meanwhile, Juma was captured and tortured in his homeland before finally finding safety in Australia in 2010, bereft as he left behind his wife and children. Across the Hazara refugee diaspora, a crisis of uncertainty continues long after resettlement.