When the “vulnerable” talk back: subjective responses and individual experiences of young refugees

In the context of international protection and reception, an increasing amount of interest has been given to the assessment of vulnerability among forced migrants in order to provide special provisions and guarantees to ‘vulnerable refugees’. However, a common definition of vulnerability does not exist. The systematisation of individuals’ experiences in pre-defined bureaucratic categories risks ignoring the contextual and contingent nature of migrants’ vulnerability, the subjective and biographical differences among those considered vulnerable and the agency of each individual facing conditions of vulnerability. Thus, in the context of the H2020 project MIMY, this paper proposes to explore the experiences and feelings of the people living in an apparent condition of vulnerability. Based on in-depth interviews with young adults who obtained refugee status in Luxembourg but still live in ‘temporary’ reception centres, the current study wants to move beyond the bureaucratic vulnerability label, questioning the relationship between structural, contingent and material conditions of vulnerability and the subjective experiences and responses of the active agents who occupy them. Additionally, bringing the stories and perspectives of young refugees living in Luxembourg to the forefront, the study points to the variability of vulnerability at the individual level in the context of integration. We propose to analyse such plurality of stories through the lens of agency and temporality, as the unique product of past personal experiences, current situations of difficulty and conditions of(in)security (based on the interrelationship between obstacles and resources) and individual future perspectives and feelings of self-efficacy

The phenomenology of ‘vulnerable’ refugees: subjective experiences at the intersection between the individual and the structural

The notion of vulnerability permeates current public discourses, political debates and policy instruments around migration and international protection. In this context, vulnerability can be seen as another policy category part of the ‘migration apparatus’, which is often treated as a trait of an individual or group based on physical or innate characteristics (such as disability) or situations encountered in the country of origin or transit (such as experiences of violence) (Flegar, 2018). On one hand, some scholars have criticised such individualization of vulnerability, calling attention to the socio-political structures of inequality and exclusion which produce conditions of structural vulnerability (Brown et al., 2017). On the other hand, others criticised the reifying and normalizing effect of the vulnerability label, calling attention to the heterogeneous experiences and the agentic power of the individuals within the labelled group (Clark, 2007). The current paper proposes to contribute to this debate by exploring how the individual and the structural meet in the subjective experiences of young migrants, who may be categorized as vulnerable. Drawing from 15 semi-structured interviews with young adults who received refugee status but still lived in temporary reception centres in Luxembourg, conducted in the framework of the H2020 project MIMY, this study aims to reflexively engage with the vulnerability category by capturing their subjective understandings and experiences. The results of the thematic analysis illustrate the different ways in which our participants interpret, emotionally process, and negotiate the tension and ambivalence between structural inequalities, contingent challenges, and personal goals in building their lives in Luxembourg

The causes and consequences of vulnerability for young refugees building a life in Luxembourg: a critical phenomenological analysis

In the context of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, the assessment of vulnerability has become a key tool to direct limited resources and assistance within a state of emergency. Its use in international aid and reception has been criticized as promoting the individualization of vulnerability rather than focusing on the socio-legal structures that create conditions of vulnerability. Yet, shifting the focus on the structural determinants of vulnerability risks ignoring the agentic power and subjective conditions of individuals within a ‘vulnerable’ group. Drawing from this debate, the current study proposes to focus on the phenomenological level as the space where the tension between structural constraints, contingent conditions, individual characteristics and subjective understandings plays out and where not only the causes but also the consequences of vulnerability may be more readily visible. The study focuses on a group of refugees who is in a particularly vulnerable position in the context of Luxembourg: young adults, who have obtained refugee status but still live in temporary reception centres. Drawing from 15 semi-structured interviews, the analysis set out firstly to explore how this group of young people understands and experiences vulnerability in their everyday lives. Secondly, adopting a critical phenomenological lens, their experiences are examined in their relation to the systems of inequalities permeating discourses and structures on migration and integration, including frameworks of emergency and crisis, and to their subjective views, ambitions and previous experiences. Finally, our participants’ reactions to these challenging experiences and their potential consequences for their future in the country are discussed

Vulnerability and the subjective future imaginaries of young refugees living in reception centres in Luxembourg

Vulnerability is a term often discussed in relation to the movement and settlement of refugees. In policies and practices of reception, vulnerability is used as a tool to direct services and aid toward ‘vulnerable refugees’ but also to justify increasingly hostile migration policies toward those who are not deemed ‘vulnerable enough’. Yet, as a concept a systematic definition of vulnerability is missing and multiple understandings are often implicitly employed in scientific literature and policies. Thus, the objective of the current study was to explore how vulnerability, articulated as an embedded, multi-layered and dynamic analytical concept, may aid our understanding of the lived experiences of a group of potentially ‘vulnerable’ migrants, based on contextual conditions. Specifically, the talk will examine how conditions of structural, situational and experiential vulnerability may affect the subjective future imaginaries of young adults (18-30) who obtained refugee status in Luxembourg but still live in ‘temporary’ reception centres. Data were drawn from 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in the context of the H2020 project MIMY and were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. The results suggest that limited future educational and employment opportunities promote the structural vulnerability of this group, yet different levels of awareness and types of reactions to these limitations emerged. Moreover, episodes of discrimination, even if sporadic, can create conditions of situational vulnerability which strongly affected their future imaginaries. Finally, looking at the future some participants reported conditions of experiential vulnerability accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and difficulties in picturing their future. In conclusion, despite subjective differences in experiences and reactions, the precarious and disadvantageous position young refugees hold in the country, combined with their isolation in reception centres, promoted the vulnerability of this group and did have an impact on their outlook, plans, and ability to achieve their goals in the future.MIM

Atlas of Migration - 2019

The Atlas of Migration is a reference book providing a snapshot of migration and a knowledge base for policymakers, stakeholders, businesses, researchers and the general public. It provides insights on migration up to 2018 for all EU Member States and 160 non-EU countries.JRC.E.6-Demography, Migration and Governanc

Double transition of young migrants in Luxembourg: vulnerable, resilient and empowering integration trajectories in the period of youth

peer reviewedMigrant integration trajectories have become more complex, open, uncertain, and continuously changing, over time. For young migrants, their integration endeavour intersects with their process of transition to adulthood, a double transition that poses additional challenges. Recent theoretical perspectives such as “liquid integration” aim at focusing on the dynamic, processual, and temporal nature of migrant integration. The present article focuses on the dynamic interplay of obstacles and enablers that, over time, interact to construct complex, often non-linear, and open-ended integration and coming of age trajectories of young migrants (aged from 18 to 30 years) coming from outside the European Union (EU) to EU countries. Empirical results from the H2020 MIMY (Empowerment through liquid Integration of Migrant Youth in vulnerable conditions) research project in Luxembourg will be presented. In order to address the goal of the research, qualitative data were gathered by means of N = 38 interviews with young migrants with different migratory paths, characteristics and experiences, and specifically included: young migrants from non-EU Portuguese-speaking countries (N = 16), refugees living in reception centres (N = 15), migrants who since arriving in Luxembourg have become publicly visible (N = 7). Content analysis of the interviews allowed a twofold purpose: (1) capturing the unfolding of intersectional integration obstacles that over time play a decisive role in the building of conditions of vulnerability of the double transition under analysis; (2) capturing the multidimensional resources that interactively build up to give rise to resilient and empowering integration and coming of age experiences. The identification of decisive multidimensional obstacles and resources present in the integration endeavour during the process of coming of age allowed us to capture differentiated routes of vulnerability, on the one hand, and resilience/ empowerment on the other. Key ingredients of both vulnerable and more resilient and empowering integration and coming of age trajectories are identified as well as their relational dynamics, enabling to address key challenges for the resilience and empowerment of young migrants in the process of negotiating their transition to adulthood amidst their integration challenges in the Luxembourgish society.11. Sustainable cities and communitie

Through the eyes of vulnerability: transforming a buzzword into an analytical category for the study of migration

Summary The term vulnerability is a crucial part of our vocabulary nowadays. It has become a buzzword used to discuss a variety of topics and to reach different goals without being fully defined. When used in the context of migration, vulnerability can be instrumentalized in political discourses and policy frameworks governing migration, with severe consequences for migrant communities. In terms of academic research, while existing literature has critiqued vulnerability as a policy category, a systematic theoretical reflection on its boundaries and potential as an analytical tool in the context of migration is missing. The present dissertation aims to fill this gap, elaborating the concept of vulnerability in theoretical, empirical and methodological terms for the study of migration. The central contribution this work intends to make is conceptual. The project intends to promote a nuanced understanding of this notion beyond simplistic categorizations and to transform vulnerability from a buzzword into an analytical category. This goal is achieved in five consecutive steps. First, the thesis offers a critical conceptual analysis of the definitions and conceptualizations found in research and policies, and the negative consequences the use of this notion can have on migrant communities. Based on these considerations a proposal for a new conceptual model of vulnerability as an analytical tool for the study of migration is developed. The model conceived vulnerability as the product of multiple conditions (or layers) originating from different aspects of the context in which an individual is embedded and dynamically interacting with each other. Second, the analytical category of vulnerability is empirically implemented to study the lived experiences of a group of young refugees living in reception centres in Luxembourg. The analysis shows the complex system of conditions of vulnerability these residents face across their subjective temporal imaginaries and points to the individual variability of their subjective experiences. The third step of the project further develops this finding, comparing conditions of experiential vulnerability among the same group of participants to identify the elements shaping each subjective experience. The analysis yields three main components of experiences of vulnerability: positions, interpretations and (re)actions. Fourth, the concept of vulnerability is used in the preliminary evaluation of a participatory methodology. Considering the participatory experiences of a group of Peer Researchers who collaborated to a project on migrant youth, the paper reflects on how vulnerable conditions and positionalities may have affected them. The final chapter reflects on the project’s V contribution to previous literature, its limitations and possible future research avenues. Some final remarks on the possible societal relevance of the project conclude the dissertation. In sum, this work is rooted in a moral re-evaluation of vulnerability, challenging its negative connotations and paternalistic and patronizing rhetoric. The dissertation underscores the importance of considering vulnerability not merely as an inherent characteristic but as a product of complex interactions and dynamics within broader socio-political contexts. In doing so, vulnerability becomes a tool for exposing power structures, inequalities, barriers, constraints, and challenging lived conditions. Finally, through its inclusive and dynamic approach, this research showed the importance of recognizing the subjective experiences and agency of migrant residents, who interpret, negotiate and face vulnerable conditions

A conceptual model for understanding vulnerability in the context of migration

The notion of ‘vulnerability’ is as popular as it is fuzzy. Its increased prominence in social research and in political and humanitarian discourses on migration has led many scholars and practitioners to treat the concept as self-explanatory, without problematizing neither its conceptualization nor its use and possible negative societal and psychological consequences. Set within the framework of the EU-funded project MIMY (n°870700), investigating the processes of integration of young migrants in 9 European countries, this paper critically evaluates different conceptualizations and uses of vulnerability and proposes a new multilevel conceptual model for understanding vulnerability in the context of migration. Focusing on different levels of analysis, the model situates individuals and groups in the broader socio-political hierarchies and power dynamics that inevitably affect them (structural vulnerability), acknowledges how these systems are (re)produced in situated interpersonal relationships (situational vulnerability) and accounts for migrants’ biographical and psychological experiences of vulnerability. Focusing on the interrelationships between levels of analysis, the model highlights how macro conditions and definitions of vulnerability may affect individual experiences, through processes such as stigmatization, internalization of stereotypes, disempowerment, but also how individuals can actively negotiate their ascribed ‘vulnerability’ through processes such as resistance, mobilization and collective action

Resilience in the context of migration and flight

Im Rahmen von Migration ergibt sich insbesondere für Geflüchtete ein erhöhtes Risiko von ungünstigen Entwicklungen und Adaptationsverläufen, da sie nicht nur mit allgemeinen Herausforderungen der Anpassung an einen neuen kulturellen Kontext konfrontiert sind, sondern auch mit spezifischen Erfahrungen im Herkunftsland oder auf der Flucht, die potentiell traumatisch sein können. Dennoch zeigen sich signifikante psychische Beeinträchtigungen in der Folge nur bei einem Teil der Geflüchteten. Das Konzept der Resilienz, das in den letzten Jahren nicht nur in Bereichen der klinischen Psychologie, sondern auch in der entwicklungspsychologischen Forschung und verwandten Disziplinen zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen hat, scheint besonders fruchtbar, um solche interindividuellen Unterschiede im Umgang mit Flucht- und Migrationserfahrungen zu erforschen. Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die Arten der Migration und damit zusammenhängende Herausforderungen befasst sich der vorliegende Beitrag mit Resilienz im Kontext von Migration und Flucht, wobei eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit stark auf individuelle Faktoren fokussierten Konzeptualisierungen angestrebt und eine stärker systemische Sichtweise vorgeschlagen wird, wie sie auch neueren Ansätzen zur psychologischen Resilienz entspricht

Vulnerability in the context of migration: a critical assessment of its conceptualizations and uses

The notions of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘vulnerable group’ have increasingly gained prominence in academic literature, policymaking, humanitarian debates and everyday discourses on migration and asylum. Its popularity, not limited to this field, has often led academics and practitioners to use ‘vulnerability’ as a self-explanatory condition or phenomenon. However, vulnerability is neither conceptually straight-forward nor politically and morally neutral. Multiple definitions and operationalizations of vulnerability exist across and within different fields of research and practice, without a common and systematic understanding of the concept. The notion of vulnerability can also be instrumentilised as a tool for discrimination, stigmatization, control, exclusion or even reduction of humanitarian assistance, when access to protection is restricted to ‘the most vulnerable’. In the context of the H2020 project MIMY (n°870700), this paper examines the multiplicities and hidden pitfalls behind different conceptualizations and uses of vulnerability and critically reflects on their implication for the study and governance of migration. By unpacking this concept, we hope to highlight both limitations and opportunities enclosed in the notion of vulnerability and encourage migration scholars to understand, address and take a stand before its complexities. Based on these considerations, a multilevel conceptual model of vulnerability in the specific context of migration is proposed. The model aims to capture several types and understandings of vulnerability and how these are (re)produced at different levels and by different actors, including migrants themselves. Particular attention is paid to migrants’ biographical and psychological experiences of vulnerability and how policy and political frameworks may affect them