Unaccompanied Refugee Youth in Switzerland and the 'Refugee Crisis': The Emergence of the Child Asylum Seeker

Lems, Annika (16 April 2016). Unaccompanied Refugee Youth in Switzerland and the 'Refugee Crisis': The Emergence of the Child Asylum Seeker (Unpublished). In: 23rd International Conference of Europeanists. Philadelphia. 14.-16.04.2016.

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In this paper I will reflect on the emergence of the distinct figure of the child asylum seeker which has entered public and political debates in Switzerland within the last 2 years. It is a figure that is identified through certain attributes such as youth, trauma, lostness or need for protection, and it is a figure that is imbued with certain rights (namely children’s rights). While this has helped young people to receive special treatment, the question arises what the repercussions are for those who do not fit within these categories. What, for example, happens, when different notions of youth, childhood and adolescence clash and disrupt ideals of innocence and childhood? And given that negative public discourses are largely focussed on the apparent danger and uncontrollability of male, single asylum seekers, what happens when categories mix and mingle? In this paper I will shed light on the interplay of institutional expectations of what constitutes a 'proper' child refugee and the ways young people themselves play with, test and contest these norms.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Social Anthropology
UniBE Contributor:	Lems, Annika
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
Language:	English
Submitter:	Annika Lems
Date Deposited:	24 May 2016 14:08
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:54
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/80381