Struggling for home where home is not meant to be A study of asylum seekers in reception centers in Norway
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3043944Utgivelsesdato
2022Metadata
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Originalversjon
Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology. 2022, 2022 (92), 15-30. 10.3167/fcl.2022.920102Sammendrag
Th is article focuses on how asylum seekers in Norway struggle to create a sense of home within a physical and political environment that puts signifi cant challenges to their eff orts to do so. Based on a national survey and fi eldwork, we demonstrate that poor housing and the political derived marginality challenge ex-istential and material home-making processes, thus making it an ambiguous and strenuous experience. Th is view is rooted in a critical phenomenological under-standing in which home is built through inter-relational and intersubjective rela-tions that constitute self and senses of belonging and/or estrangement, as well as well-being and mental health. Th e agentive struggle for home is a crucial aspect of asylum seekers’ experiences of belonging, well-being and mental health, thus being at the heart of questions of social justice. This article focuses on how asylum seekers in Norway struggle to create a sense of home within a physical and political environment that puts signifi cant challenges to their efforts to do so. Based on a national survey and fieldwork, we demonstrate that poor housing and the political derived marginality challenge existential and material home-making processes, thus making it an ambiguous and strenuous experience. This view is rooted in a critical phenomenological understanding in which home is built through inter-relational and intersubjective relations that constitute self and senses of belonging and/or estrangement, as well as well-being and mental health. The agentive struggle for home is a crucial aspect of asylum seekers’ experiences of belonging, well-being and mental health, thus being at the heart of questions of social justice.