Abstract
This paper examines the experiences of belonging of unaccompanied young people who seek asylum in the UK. Informed by Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage theory, this paper proposes a new conceptualization of belonging to embrace alternative ways of being, becoming, and belonging. Adopting a qualitative methodology involving 21 in-depth interviews with unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people aged between 16 and 24, and professionals and carers working with and supporting these young people, this study explores how belonging works, how it is undermined and disrupted, or supported within conditions of the UK’s migration and asylum and legal procedures. In doing so, this study directs attention towards affectivities and capacities produced by the processes of migration and asylum regimes, by the potentiality of future becomings and belongings, and by the enactments and micropolitics of supportive and trusting adults. This study argues that unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people’s belonging takes place within life characterized and constrained by the discursive and material milieu of migration and asylum policy and practice.
Presenters
Ozlem Ogtem YoungResearch Fellow, Sociology, Social Policy, and Criminology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Unaccompanied Young Migrants, Belonging, Assemblage
