Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

Recent years have seen increasing attention being paid to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This article provides an overview of research in the field and its implications for an understanding of these children as a particularly vulnerable category. The existing research focuses primarily on investigating the children’s emotional well-being from psychiatric and medical perspectives. Moreover, in these studies such emotional problems tend to be linked to previous and current traumatic experiences, in particular separation from their parents. By contrast, this article suggests that a critical need exists for research on unaccompanied children’s life situations based upon exploration of their own perspectives.

This article explores how unaccompanied young refugees living in a rural village in Sweden make sense of home and belonging. From a poststructuralist approach, belonging and home are understood as ongoing processes that are negotiated with others, and in processes of othering and racialization. The article demonstrates that the form of housing available, together with their experiences of social exclusion in the village may contribute to othering, and thus challenge their feelings of home and belonging. However, they do construct some kinds of belonging and feelings of home based on social relationships and places they may have access to.

The article investigates the ways in which the unaccompanied young refugees talk – or do not talk – about racism and discrimination during the interviews using Goffman’s presentation of self. Qualitative interviews are seen as process where meaning is produced through interaction. The analysis shows that the young people use a range of different strategies such as expressing gratitude, questioning negative stereotypes, minimizing the impact of racism or by presenting themselves as subjected to racism. The article suggests that it may be a challenge to investigate the effects of racism and discrimination in interviews with people who may be subjected to it.