Return as Social Interaction: Networks and Perceptions Among Yezidi and Christian IDPs from Ninewa Governorate
This study examines how social networks and perceptions influence return decision-making over time among internally displaced Yezidi and Christian populations from Ninewa Governorate. Using an innovative social network analysis design, comparative findings from three waves of data collection and analysis show that decision-making around resolving displacement is not an independent act taken solely within the household. Rather, it is a relatively social endeavor. Yezidi and Christian IDP communities’ willingness to return — and indeed actual return behavior — is shaped by their perceptions of material and social conditions in their places of origin and the networks they are embedded in. These findings are drawn from original data collected from 248 (out of an initial 317) participants, 70 of whom returned to their places of origin over the course of the study.
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