Assimilation or exclusion? Refugee access to health in Germany after the migrant crisis

• In Event: 3449 - Migration Crises: Case Studies and Comparative Analyses from Across the World

Abstract

This paper argues that following the 2015 refugee “crisis,” German media and political discourse has shied away from assimilatory practices for refugees and asylum-seekers, reverting towards a differentialist model of national belonging as outlined by Brubaker (2001). This new phase of exclusion and boundary-drawing is increasingly negotiated and discussed by way of health paradigms, denying refugees and asylum-seekers equitable access to care and sustainable livelihoods upon resettlement. Bridging the gap between sociological theories of immigrant assimilation in the German context and empirical studies of social determinants of refugee health, this paper breaks down “health as citizenship” into four dimensions—sense of belonging (do health institutions promote or limit social cohesion, and do they impart social or cultural meaning), legal status (who is “entitled” to provisional care), rights (what “contract” exists between the refugee and the state), and participation (is healthcare a “privilege,” and does it allow for exclusion based on migration background)—in doing so, I address what limitations remain for refugees’ access to health in the German context.

Author

• Christopher Levesque, University of Minnesota