Living and leading between worlds: Voices of Lebanese nurse leaders navigating diaspora, conflict, and care

Abstract

Diasporic nurse leaders often navigate emotional and institutional complexities that remain invisible in dominant leadership models. The purpose of this paper is to explore how two nurse leaders in diaspora enact leadership amid trauma, displacement, and institutional erasure. This qualitative study employed a braided narrative methodology, drawing on intersectionality, transnational feminist theory, narrative inquiry, and trauma-informed leadership. Two first-person narratives were analyzed thematically through collaborative reflexive synthesis. Five interwoven themes emerged: diasporic double consciousness, ethical witnessing, guilt and gratitude, institutional invisibility, and embodied empathy. These themes reflect how diasporic leaders transform geopolitical grief into justice-driven leadership. Rather than neutrality or detachment, leadership is framed as trauma-informed, relational, and ethically rooted in cultural memory and moral proximity. This study advances decolonial nursing theory by centering Arab feminist thought, emotional labor, and transnational care, offering a framework for equity-centered and culturally attuned leadership.