Spatial and transformative dimensions of recent Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugee family settlement in Australia

Refugees are a controversial and politicised aspect of Australia’s immigration policy. Adopting Karl Polanyi’s social economics approach (Castles, S. 2015. “International Human Mobility: New Issues and Challenges to Social Theory.” In Social Transformation and Migration: National and Local Experiences in South Korea, Turkey, Mexico and Australia, edited by S. Castles, 3–14. London: Palgrave Macmillan; Polanyi, K. 2001. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press) that focuses on transformation, the article explores how the lives of 233 recent Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan refugee families have been transformed by settlement in metropolitan and regional Australia. Utilising quantitative and qualitative data from a 2018–2021 longitudinal study, the article explores how refugee families experience and respond to settlement challenges. The key focus is on refugee agency and the sometimes-contradictory outcomes that accompany the transformation in their lives. Despite their constraints–lacking financial, human, social and linguistic capital–the key focus is on the constrained decisions of refugee families and the ways that their family life is transformed in Australia.