Navigating Socio-legal Barriers: Syrian and African Refugees’ Approaches to Marriage Documentation in Egypt

Abstract

This study examines practices and attitudes toward marriage registration among refugee communities in Egypt, specifically comparing Syrian and African refugee groups. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction and social capital, it analyzes how socio-legal contexts, cultural norms, and structural inequalities shape refugees' engagement with formal marriage registration processes. Through qualitative analysis, the research reveals that Syrian refugees exhibit a higher tendency to seek formal marriage registration, reflecting their historical experiences with state institutions and formal documentation, as well as greater familiarity with Egyptian cultural norms surrounding marriage procedures. In contrast, African refugees, experiencing prolonged displacement, more reliance on informal community structures, and less familiarity with Egypt’s cultural and legal context, display a lower tendency to pursue formal marriage registration and greater difficulty in navigating the required procedures. The paper underscores the necessity of understanding marriage registration not merely as a bureaucratic process but as deeply intertwined with refugees’ cultural identities and historical experiences. It suggests that effective policy interventions must account for these nuanced socio-cultural realities to adequately address refugees’ documentation needs. Recommendations for future research include conducting comparative analyses across diverse refugee communities and longitudinal studies to capture evolving practices within displacement contexts.