Older Refugees: Strategies in Dealing With Denied Recognition

Jurt, Luzia; Sperisen, Vera

doi:10.2478/sjs-2020-0012

Swiss Journal of Sociology

2020

DOI: 10.2478/sjs-2020-0012

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Older Refugees: Strategies in Dealing With Denied Recognition

Luzia Jurt

Vera Sperisen

Abstract: Until now the topic linking age and the moment of fleeing one’s country of origin have been of scientific interest only rarely. Older refugees have hardly attracted scientific attention. Qualitative interviews with older refugees show that Swiss integration policy is barely tailored to the needs and expectations of these persons and that they are affected by social exclusion. Therefore, older refugees have to develop their own strategies in order to participate in society and gain recognition.

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Cited by 2 publications

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More than a number: Exploring the impact of age(ing) on refugees’ experiences of arrival

Enßle-Reinhardt

2024

Journal of Refugee Studies

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Age(ing) as an intersectional category has seen only limited attention in refugee studies so far. Although research exists on the living situation and vulnerabilities of specific age groups, conceptual perspectives on how age(ing), as a factor of difference, plays out in refugees’ experiences of flight and arrival has been explored to a lesser extent. Drawing on qualitative research with fifty-three refugees who arrived in Germany since 2015 this contribution explores refugees’ experiences of arrival and their interrelation with their life courses. The analysis follows an intersectional life course perspective to unpack arrival experiences through the dimensions of key life events and their timing; locally and globally linked lives; categories of difference; as well as systems of domination and refugees’ agency. The contribution closes by proposing three conceptual considerations about how a focus on age(ing) can enhance a nuanced understanding of forced migrants’ living experiences.

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More than a number: Exploring the impact of age(ing) on refugees’ experiences of arrival

Enßle-Reinhardt

2024

Journal of Refugee Studies

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A voluntary-sector meeting place as a site for interpreting and ‘doing’ integration: a case of later-life Russian-speaking migrants

Asikainen

2023

CMS

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While a great deal of research has been conducted on implications of integrative policies targeted at migrants, later-life migrants and their relational and spatial negotiations and enactments of the policy-driven discourse of integration, and the dynamics under which it is interpreted remains understudied. Older migrants are presented as ‘special cases’ in the Finnish integration policy and are discussed mainly in relation to their social and health care needs. Integration is the model and aim for migrant settlements in Finland, however the aim to integrate possesses intrinsic value. Therefore, they need to make sense of what integration is for them in their everyday lives. This paper focuses on the interpretations and mundane enactments of ‘integration’ in a voluntary sector-organised meeting place for later-life Russian-speaking migrants in Finland. By comparing the views of different actors within the meeting place (steering group, organisers and attendees), the paper presents a nuanced understanding of the dynamics under which the later-life migrants negotiate their positions in the Finnish community of value, vis-à-vis the expectations of integration. The paper argues that ‘doing integration’ as a category of practice is an emergent feature in places where it is possible to negotiate integration as a lived experience. Drawing from participant observations, interviews, and applications and reports gathered in a meeting in the capital region of Finland, the paper foregrounds the lived and contested experiences of finding a sense of belonging in dialogue with the omnipresent discourse of integration. The paper concludes that the interpretations of the policy-driven discourse of integration are context-bound and negotiated in a set of relationships.

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Older Refugees: Strategies in Dealing With Denied Recognition

Cited by 2 publications

References 20 publications

More than a number: Exploring the impact of age(ing) on refugees’ experiences of arrival

More than a number: Exploring the impact of age(ing) on refugees’ experiences of arrival

A voluntary-sector meeting place as a site for interpreting and ‘doing’ integration: a case of later-life Russian-speaking migrants

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