Enhancing food-related agency in refugees and asylum seekers: A driver to resilience and regenerative empowerment

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Onorati
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Research Action ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

The paper argues the importance of food in the contexts of "forced migration" and the promising impact of enhancing food-related capabilities on refugees' em-powerment and social inclusion. To support the argument, the Author presents a pilot project based on research-action and providing food training for 39 refugees hosted in Piedmont. The research findings show that a participatory approach to training that values prior culinary learning, and the use of narrative interviews elic-iting food stories, may favour empowerment and social inclusion. Recovering food-related agency within refugees' unfinished journeys contributes to an em-powerment going beyond a sedentarist model of integration, namely a one-way and singularly place-bound demand of adaptation. Food agency is a basic enti-tlement that proves to be a major source of well-being for forced migrants, as well as a regenerative occasion for both healing ‘refugee gaps', and providing a more sustainable approach to resources.

scholarly journals The expected well-being of urban refugees and asylum-seekers in Johannesburg

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Greyling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Urban Refugees ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The influx of asylum-seekers and refugees from across Africa into democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influences the expect well-being of this unique group. Expected well-being is an important determinant of both the decision to migrate and the choice of a country of destination. Knowledge about this determinant therefore informs refugee policies. The results show that only a few of the factors found in the literature explaining the expected well-being of voluntary migrants also explain the expected well-being of forced migrants. However, a number of factors found in the literature that explain the subjective well-being and well-being in general of refugees and asylum-seekers also went towards explaining the expected well-being of this group. These factors include: government assistance, culture, the time spent in South Africa, economic factors, crime, refugee status, reasons for leaving the home countries and the number of people staying in a house in the receiving country. The findings of this study emphasise the differences between forced and voluntary migrants and highlight the factors that influence the expected well-being of forced migrants. These in turn shed light on migration decisions and the choice of destination countries.

scholarly journals An Ethnographic Perspective of Well-Being, Salutogenesis and Meaning Making among Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Gambia and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 324
Author(s):  
Brianne Wenning
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Research on refugees and asylum seekers largely focuses on the negative impacts that forced migration has on well-being. Though most individuals do not experience poor long-term mental health because of forced migration, less attention has been given to what factors promote positive well-being. Using an ethnographic approach, I elucidate how the concept of salutogenesis can be applied to African refugees and asylum seekers living in the greater Serrekunda area of the Gambia and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom. Specifically, I explore what resources impact on the sense of coherence construct and its three components—comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness—and how these are embedded in everyday discussions and understandings. In total, I spent twenty months conducting ethnographic fieldwork between the two sites and conducted forty individual interviews. Amongst my interlocutors, the three most common resources that people spoke positively about, particularly as it relates to meaning making, are work, education and religion. Further research in this area is crucial in order to identify, promote and strengthen those factors facilitating positive well-being amongst those who have been forcibly displaced.

scholarly journals Forced Migration, Social Exclusion and Poverty: Introduction

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham R. Davidson ◽  
Stuart C. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

AbstractThis special issue of the journal, which is part of a global research initiative on psychology and poverty reduction, focuses specifically on the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers. Application of contemporary constructions of relative poverty and social exclusion to understanding asylum and humanitarian refuge emphasises the relative financial and social disadvantages experienced by many of these forced migrants, which may lead subsequently to them having negative experiences of resettlement and poor mental health and overall wellbeing. We argue that governments need to be cognisant of the poverty pitfalls of forced migration and to examine carefully their policies on social inclusion to ensure that current and future humanitarian and climate change refugees arriving on their shores are not forced into relative poverty.

scholarly journals Tragic and Heroic Moments in the Lives of Forced Migrants: Memories of Political Asylum-Seekers in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Refuge ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest A. Pineteh ◽  
Thecla N. Mulu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Political Asylum ◽  
Discursive Space ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
At Home

This article examines the memories of a group of Cameroonian asylum-seekers in South Africa, analyzing personal accounts of memories of fear, suffering, and pain as well as resilience and heroism during their forced migration. The article argues that the legitimacy of applications for asylum often depends on accurate and consistent memories of specific life-threatening episodes at home and during migration. Drawing on theoretical conceptions such as construction of memory, autobiographical memory, and politics of storytelling, this article teases out how personal memories of asylum-seekers provide a discursive space to access and understand the asymmetries of seeking political asylum in post-apartheid South Africa.

scholarly journals Research into the psychological well-being of young refugees

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie Lau ◽  
Trang Thomas
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
Political Opinion ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Status ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Interest in the psychological well-being of refugees and asylum seekers has steadily grown in recent years. Latest estimates indicate there are 32.9 million people of concern to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2006). A refugee is defined as being in that position because of a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion, and who is consequently outside and unable to return to his or her country. The status of ‘refugee’ is contrasted with that of a person seeking asylum, whose experiences may be similar but who is not formally determined in the same way.

scholarly journals An Ethnographic Study of Deaf Refugees Seeking Asylum in Finland

Societies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Sivunen
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Asylum Procedure ◽  
Positive Effect

Deaf asylum seekers are a marginalized group of people in refugee and forced migration studies. The aim of this paper is to explore and highlight the experiences of deaf asylum seekers in the asylum procedure in Finland. The data come from linguistic ethnographic methods, interviews, and ethnographic observation with 10 deaf asylum seekers. While living in the reception centers, the study participants have faced a range of linguistic and social challenges. The findings show that language barriers appeared from day one after the participants’ arrival in Finland. The investment and initiatives of deaf volunteers played a crucial role for deaf asylum seekers in their access to and participation in Finnish society. In addition, receiving formal Finnish sign language instruction had a positive effect on their well-being. Drawing on content analysis of deaf asylum seekers’ experiences, I argue that greater awareness, recognition, and support of deaf asylum seekers are needed in the Finnish asylum system. I conclude this paper with a discussion of and suggestions for a better asylum system for deaf individuals.

Human Mobility in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Zahra Babar
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Complex Patterns ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Between the two poles of moving purely out of choice or moving because one has no other option but to leave, there are a variety of circumstances and nuanced motivations that lie somewhere in the middle. No matter what the personal or circumstantial drivers and reasons that propel it, migration on an annual basis occurs for millions of people. The term “migration” is itself used to describe varied and complex patterns of human mobility that occur internally within a state or region, as well as those taking place across borders, internationally, and trans-continentally. Migration can be applied to the categories of people moving as a result of their own agency, voluntarily, and as an individual or familial choice. It can also be used to describe the categories of those having to move by force or under duress, and this includes the mobility experiences of forced migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum-seekers.

Migration

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Ronald Labonté ◽  
Arne Ruckert
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Irregular Migrants ◽  
Migratory Path ◽  
Health And Well Being

Migration, the movement of people from birthplace to other-place, whether within their own borders or internationally, is one of globalization’s leitmotifs. The scale of migration has risen rapidly in recent decades, some of it the ‘pull’ of opportunities in other countries, but much of it the ‘push’ of poverty, unemployment, conflicts, and environmental degradations that make life unlivable for many. Migration can improve the health and well-being of migrants, and the remittances sent home by overseas émigrés can contribute to domestic poverty reduction in the countries they leave. But forced migration, migrant exploitation, and increasing barriers to the lesser-skilled irregular migrants or asylum-seekers most able to benefit by moving abroad have given rise to new global imperatives to ‘manage migration’ ethically and effectively. Both men and women may be vulnerable to exploitation along the migratory path, but women face additional gendered discriminations in the risk of assault and trafficking.

scholarly journals A Descriptive Study of the Schooling and Higher Education Reforms in Response to the Refugees’ Influx into Greece

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ourania Tzoraki
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Higher Education Reforms ◽  
Final Destination ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Since 2015, a large number of migrants (refugees and asylum seekers) from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa have arrived in Greece and continued their onward journey to western European countries where they settled. As various European Union (EU) countries have later blocked the flow of migrants from Greece to their final destination, thousands of them have been trapped in Greece, confined in overcrowded, temporary camps (known as “hot spots”) and awaiting the processing of their asylum application. The current article examines the response of the Greek educational institutes (primary, secondary and tertiary levels) to the recent migrant influx, with ultimate goals to integrate, educate, and assist them. The number of refugees and asylum seekers living in Greece is estimated to be 58,000 (2018 data) with 22,500 children among them. Their schooling inclusion follows the plan 111, “Refugee Education Host Structures (REHSs)”, as initiated by the Greek Ministry of Education in 2017. Students’ leakage range is still high (10–40% at elementary school and 45–56% at high School). The disruption in their life results in the lack of regular attendance. Greek universities responded to the challenge of the refugee influx, especially the University of the Aegean (UAeg), which is located on the eastern Mediterranean migration route. The UAeg’s response plan focuses on four areas: (a) to provide education to refugees; (b) to conduct research on the refugee phenomenon and migration processes; (c) to increase local citizens’ awareness and improve social inclusion toward the migrants; and (d) to develop technologies to improve daily life in the refugee camps. These actions are significant toward the social inclusion and cohesion of refugees and the further improvement of their daily life.

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