Published: March 9, 2018

Shae Frydenlund standing in front of riverShae Frydenlund was awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) grant to support her dissertation research project titled "Rohingya Refugees, Translocality, and the Gendered Labor Geography of Urban Revitalization".

This doctoral dissertation project examines the role of refugee women in the revitalization of American cities. It offers a new approach to analyzing how urban revitalization and emerging processes of gentrification are inextricably linked to both refugee women’s unwaged labor in resettlement cities in the U.S. and the unwaged labor of women relatives living in displacement in their home or intermediary countries. This multi-sited research project opens up new possibilities for understanding how refugee remittances flow from the Global South to the United States. This project will directly benefit society by enhancing understandings of the relationship between refugee women and urban economic development. This research project promotes teaching, learning, and knowledge-sharing between diverse groups through collaborative partnerships with refugee community organizations. Its findings will be shared with municipal governments and nonprofit refugee service organizations to contribute to the formulation of more effective, inclusive, and equitable refugee resettlement policies. 

Refugee woman standing and wearing pink garbRows of makeshift housing with plastic sidewalls and metal roofs