Lessons learned: Palestinian refugees from Baghdad to Damascus

This article seeks to address the paucity of research on the Palestinian Iraqi community. Analysis of refugee narratives gathered at the Palestinian Iraqi Association community centre in Damascus reveals the dynamics of the refugee process in the context of local integration with the host community. It also considers the extent to which previous experience and memory of being a refugee acts as a social and cultural resource, helping to create a distinctive geography of exile and a means of bolstering welfare strategy. Mukhayim Yarmouk, a suburb of Damascus, provides the context in which social relations unfold, and where Palestinian Iraqi refugees renegotiate identity and space.