Newcomer women in Canada often encounter gendered resettlement barriers, including social isolation, caregiving demands, and limited access to culturally inclusive recreation, which can negatively affect wellbeing and belonging. This community-engaged study explored how physical activity (PA) can shape newcomer women’s sense of belonging during resettlement. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we analyzed semistructured interviews with 10 newcomer women. We found that PA fostered social connection, confidence, emotional well-being, and community participation, while cost, transportation, and caregiving constrained engagement. PA functioned as both a health behaviour and a pathway to belonging. Settlement services should provide accessible, culturally responsive, gender-sensitive PA opportunities.
This article examines the widely used but false claim that the word Kakuma, which is the site of a large refugee camp, means “nowhere” in Swahili. It traces the origin and spread of this false translation and how Kakuma has in fact long been “somewhere” for the Turkana people. “Nowhere” makes sense only by comparing Kakuma to “somewhere,” which in turn draws on long-standing hierarchies of traditional/modern or underdeveloped/developed. Thus, through the “nowhere” narrative, the region and Turkana people are consigned to pre-modernity. This study argues for a better understanding of from where narratives by and about refugees and host communities emerge, why they come to be accepted, and the impacts they might have.
