Appendix 1.1

Intersectionality of struggles

Description

Below is the real-life story of Pavo (pseudonym), an Iraqi immigrant who escaped from her country to live in Turkey. This story is compiled by Busra Polat, based on her interview with Pavo, as part of the Social Justice in ELT project. Carried out by Dr. Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart and Dr. Adnan Yılmaz between 2018–2022 and funded by the US Embassy in Ankara/US State Department, this project aimed to develop pre-service language teachers’ capacity to teach for social justice. This is a shortened version of her original story, but the language is kept more or less the same to accurately represent her work in this book. Readers should proceed with caution as the content presented in this story could be triggering for past trauma and may lead to an emotional experience.

Pavo's story

I was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1992. Thankfully, in Basra I never had to face traumatic issues due to the wars or commotions since it was mostly in Baghdad. I was safe and not safe at the same time. I was raised in a religious family like most of the families in Iraq. And just like any other family, we had our own issues. My father has always been angry with himself, with us, and literally with everything on this earth. Domestic violence has always been a part of our lives since I can remember. We assume that the reason why he turned out to be like this was that his father used to treat him the way he treated us.

I used to define myself as ‘religious’ or ‘a believer,’ but after everything I had been through I honestly have lost my faith in God and in everything else. During my teenage years, I discovered who I am, knowing that I would never be accepted neither in this family nor in this country. There was a female writer who wrote about a group of terrorists who would kill the girls that defend or even talk about equality, freedom, or anything they were against. One day, as this writer was about to step out of her car to go to the supermarket, a man shot her in the head three times.