Research project in collaboration with McGill and York Universities
Objective of the project:
War and armed conflict wreak havoc on the lives of children and families worldwide, forcing millions each year to flee their countries of origin, in search of safety and refuge. At the end of 2021, 6.7 million war-affected children were stranded in protracted refugee situations, reliant on the political will of international and domestic actors to decide their citizenship, legal status, and futures (UNHCR, 2022). While research has examined the legal, bureaucratic, and ethical dimensions of protracted displacement, less is known about its impact on children, particularly from the perspectives of children themselves. Also, protracted displacement among war-affected refugee children within countries in the Global North has rarely been the focus of study or debate, despite that refugee children remain under-protected and neglected in these “hidden” sites of liminality. Â
Project brief:
Using interviews, focus groups and arts-based methods, the short-term objective of this project is to ethnographically explore, document, analyze, and to disseminate the lived realities of war-affected refugee youth in protracted displacement. Taking an engaged, youth-centred socio-ecological approach, the study will use multiple methods over several years to examine identity, rights, citizenship, belonging and imagined futures among war-affected youth in protracted displacement in Greece. Moreover, the study aims to identify the consequences of protracted displacement on youth’s mental health, and well-being.
The long-term objective is to mobilize local knowledge to develop contextually relevant policy and practice for youth affected by war and protracted displacement. War-affected refugee youth in protracted displacement are profoundly overlooked by policymakers in the Global North. Our policy and practice-relevant research aims to engage local communities to identify and generate best practices for youth that can be applied to other contexts of protracted displacement.
Additionally, two young people with refugee and migrant backgrounds have been recruited to assist in the activities and provide insights in the development of questionnaires and events for the project.
The research will use in-depth interviews, focus groups and arts-based workshops to examine the following questions:
- How does protracted liminality impact the experiences, needs, challenges, and opportunities of war-affected refugee youth living in Greece?
- How does liminality shape youth identity, belonging, rights, citizenship and imagined futures? How does liminality affect refugee youth’s wellbeing, mental health, and access to health care services?
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