Turkish Refugee College Students’ Perceptions of Resilience and How They Impacted Their Educational Experiences

• In Event: Understanding and Navigating Political Contexts Through Advocacy

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study sought insight into Turkish refugee college students’ perceptions of how resiliency impacted their educational experiences in the U.S. The findings of this study identified the factors that allowed the participants to become resilient despite the injustices, human rights violations, and persecutions imposed on them by the Erdoğan regime after the July 15, 2016, coup attempt. The findings revealed that the events of the 2016 coup attempt infiltrated and became the dominating factor that influenced their personal and educational decisions. The resiliency of these students helped them to transform their traumatic experiences into motivation to rise above adversity and proliferate their academic success.

Authors

• Kristina Andrews, Lindsey Wilson College

• Hasan Aydin, Florida Gulf Coast University